Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven Pompeii Oven Construction Discuss Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven in the Pizza Oven Design and Installation forums; After a couple of months of learning, lurking and waiting for the last snowfall to melt I've finally moved to ...

[bbell]

After a couple of months of learning, lurking and waiting for the last snowfall to melt I've finally moved to the next step of pouring a slab.

We've finished with our 2 weeks of snow and now just wait for days without rain. It was supposed to be cloudy but dry. It wasn't. If one waited for cloudy and dry at this time of year I wouldn't be eating pizza till next fall.

I was able to spend a little of that time welding up a stand rather than using cement blocks. Figured it might save a little weight.

My thanks to all the mentors, their patience and their wisdom on this forum. It certainly allows us newbies to move from the head scratching to actually mixing cement.

A couple of questions....
I haven't decided on whether to buy, borrow, or steal a wet saw. If I were to buy one (and somehow rationalize it to my wife...), any suggestions on make, model, or blade size?

I will post a link below to the pictures I've taken to-date.

Thanks again for all the help!

Bill

[dmun]

A lot of us bought the Harbor Freight 10" wet saw.
Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices
It's more expensive than when I bought it, but I understand they go on sale from time to time. Look for a retail branch to save freight.

[Les]

Originally Posted by bbell

I haven't decided on whether to buy, borrow, or steal a wet saw.

Bill,

If dollars are an issue, I would borrow one. If that is not possible - then definitely steal one.

What Davis said - the HF is a good saw for the price. When you are done you should easily get a third of it back on Craig's list.

Les...

[jrparks]

Hi Bill,
Nice to see I’m not the only one dodging snow, wind, and rain in an attempt to build a northwest Pompeii oven. I just managed to pour my hearth slab last Sunday and my vermiculite concrete yesterday. With a little luck, I hope to complete by May.
I got my wet saw second hand. Try craigslist.com, I saw several options there today.
Good luck with your project.
Cheers,

[bbell]

Here's a question....

I intend to use a metal (steel) frame for the base. Does anyone know what the different support strength would be if you used 3 or 4 layers of cement board stacked rather than a 4" slab?

Just curious...

Bill

[jrparks]

Hi Bill,
Not sure if the cement board is designed for that kind of load. Since you are able to weld, perhpas yoo could consider using some 2" angle to create a form and poue a 2" slab reinforced with 1/4" rebar grid. You could even weld the rebar to the 2" angle for suport while you pour. Hope this helps,
Cheers,
John

[Les]

Bill,

I did a quick google. It looks like Durock is rated at only 30 lbs per square foot. That's not even close to what you need.

Les...

[bbell]

Les and John,

My thanks to you both. Good advice and good suggestions.

Any feel for minimum thickness the slab should be?

Bill

[Les]

Originally Posted by bbell

Any feel for minimum thickness the slab should be?

I'm not sure. I went 3 1/2 and felt that was minimum. It only gave me 1 1/2 inchs of concrete above and below the rebar. I spaced my rebar grid around 10 - 11 inches. I supposed if you went overkill on the steel you could get away with a smaller slab. Is there an issue with the recommended thickness?

Les...

[jrparks]

I think that the thickness is going to depend on how you designed and built your steel frame base. If you have adequate steel cross members then you can probably get away with a thinner slab.
Cheers,
John