Installation Progress

[CanuckJim]

All,

Just in case anyone's been wondering where I've been lately, the attached pics will go far in explaining just how busy with installations The Pizza Builders have been.

The first two show the framing and stone work on the Artigiano 100 job in Hockley Valley, Ontario. The small pieces of wood between the 1" veneer stone pieces are 3/8" spacers left in place until the Thinset dries. Since then, the spacers were removed and two walls shown pointed with a sand and Type N mortar (3:1) mix, plus a good splash of accelerant because of cold weather.

The second two pics are of a very nearly completed non-FB oven in Scarborough, Ontario, a burb of Toronto. partially inside a very large outdoor kitchen. The client already had the oven, and I have to say the fit and finish were nowhere near up to FB standards. The castings were extremely rough and did not line up properly. Had to fabricate a vent, too.

Jim

[sarah h]

Wow, nice work! I like the stone in both.
Are you finished with outside work now?

[CanuckJim]

Sarah,

I truly, devoutly, really, contritely hope I am, but I doubt it. The Hockley job is not finished: the back wall has not been laid, the other side wall has not been pointed, and the BBQ enclosure in front of the oven has not even been started. Problem was, we were delayed two and a half weeks on delivery of the stone. I'll probably have to cover everything and wait for spring. BIG snow storm today. My fingers just won't take extremely cold weather anymore, and even with tarps and heaters, mortar can't take it either. You still have to mix it somewhere, and my saw needs water too. There's a limit to how much windshield washer fluid I can put in the saw bucket. It still freezes overnight. Looks like I might have some interior installations coming up fairly soon, however.

Maybe I should just stick to baking bread until March.

Jim

[rcspott]

Jim,

About metal stand that the oven is sitting on, what size and guage are the legs, and how was the top built to support the slab on top of the metal if indeed it is a slab.

Thanks,

Rich

[CanuckJim]

Rich,

I'll have to talk to the fabricator about the gauge of the legs. Try to do that today. Looking down on the tray in plan, Lloyd welded a cross of flat strap steel, four inches wide and an eighth thick. The cross meets at the center leg, and it's welded to the angle iron on all four sides. We lined the tray with half inch cement board, then poured a reinforced pad over it. Plenty strong, works fine. I'm just beginning to play with Sketch Up, so a drawing is out for now.

Jim

[CanuckJim]

Sarah, Rich,

Here's two more pics of the Artigano installation. Perhaps because of the excellent dome design, this one draws better and cleaner than any of the others I've put together. The site is on a high on a hill overlooking a valley, and it's very windy, gusty there this time of year, but still no draw problems and shown is the first big fire in it.

It's difficult to get a good photo angle on it right now, because there's a very heavy insulated tarp blocking the wind on the front of the oven. And, yes, you Aussies out there, that is snow on the ground.

The cement board visible on the left is part of an L-shaped counter and BBQ enclosure that has not been veneered yet. In fact, the pics are deceptive, because the back wall of the enclosure has not been veneered, nor has the other long wall been pointed. This will have to wait for spring because of the weather. The landing area was deliberately kept on the short side for this one.

The sawn veneer stone is local, from a place called Wiarton, and it's proper name is Cascade Sawn Tigerstripe from Quarry Rock ThinStone Veneer, QR ThinStone Veener.

Jim

[rcspott]

Jim

Very nice work!

Thanks for the info on the steel support

Rich

[Acoma]

Jim, this is looking very nice. Funny about stone, my wife is asking me attempt this stone look (see link).

Milano Oven 15

[CanuckJim]

Acoma,

The pic you've used looks like "cultured stone," a manufactured product that's very light in weight. You could easily stick it on with thinset, but you will still have to do some cutting (wear a mask) to keep the joints to a reasonable thickness. Be careful choosing colors, because some types will fade from UV. You might want to seal any cultured stone job. This type of material is a good candidate for using a grout/pointing bag and sloppy mortar for pointing. It's very absorbant, so the mortar comes to the finish pointing stage much faster. Real veneer stone has the opposite problem; it doesn't absorb much of anything, so patience is a virtue.

Jim

[CanuckJim]

Rich,

Haven't been able to contact my fabricator. He's in Montreal taking down and repairing the cast iron facade on a 14-storey building, so he's a tad busy. When I do get to him, I'll get the gauge for the leg steel.

Jim