Pad Question Getting Started Discuss Pad Question in the Pizza Oven Design and Installation forums; The previous owners of our house had a hot tub that they wanted us to buy but we decided against ...

[acbova]

The previous owners of our house had a hot tub that they wanted us to buy but we decided against it. So now we have a nice 6' square concrete pad with the furthest corner 12' away from the house and the nearest is about 3' from the house.

We have used this pad in the past for fires, so I guess that we could build an oven there and avoid what I hear is the hardest part of the build, the pad.

Could this work?

[Les]

AC,

You live in a cold climate. Do you know how thick the slab is and if it has footings? I would think that if it supported a hot tub, it can handle the weight of your oven. I would build it furthest from the house if it makes sense. It's been rare for me,but I have seen embers "pop" out onto my paver's.

Les...

[acbova]

Thanks Les,

So I have a few more questions. I did some research and it seems that some people say that hot tub foundations should be 4" others say 6", so I'm not sure what I have.

I could drill out a hole I guess and see how deep the foundation is, but supposing I find it's not quite thick enough, do I have any options for adding a few inches of thickness to the foundation?

How risky is it to have my foundation be not thick enough?

Thanks everybody!

[Les]

AC,

Like I mentioned, if it supported a hot tub - you should be golden. A common hot tub is going to weigh more than 2 ton! If you don't see any cracks (large), I wouldn't worry about building an oven on it. Granted, a hot tub has the weight evenly distributed, whereas an oven has the majority of weight on the perimeter, but if the foundation survived this long - the odds are that it was built right.

Les...

[brokencookie]

One item to watch out for is the distance to the house. Most fire / building regulations require that the chimney has to be 2 ft taller than any structure within 10 ft. This can add considerable expense to your build if you go with the Duratech.

Bruce

[acbova]

If I need to I can remove the fence. My thought was to make the opening face away from the house which I think places the chimney right at 10' away from the house.