building pompeii style oven

[vantheman]

Hi i am building my first pizza oven and only want to build a small dome shape. (pompii) i understand that you use fire bricks too cook the pizza on and i know you use fire bricks to form the dome then insulation over that then is it clay? what sort of clay and insulation do i use? also what do i make the base for it all to sit on?is it a speacial mix of reinforced concrete? I am going to copy a video from youtube which looks pretty basic, is this right?

YouTube - building a wooden fired pizza oven, light construction. Lav din egen brændefyret pizzaovn DIY any help would be appreciated thanks Luke.

[GianniFocaccia]

Luke,
If you are able to download the Forno Bravo plans (I read where a bloke from England accomplished it), this should be your first step. If you can't, review the threads of the builds here a little further. Almost all builders build their oven stand from concrete blocks (aka CMU's, cinder blocks) with hollow cores that are reinforced with steel bar (rebar) and filled with concrete. A reinforced (rebar again) support slab is then poured on top of the blocks and you are ready to install the insulation that your oven will sit on.

The biggest area of confusion for new builders, IMO, concerns oven mass and insulation.
All ovens benefit from continuous insulation under, around, and on top of the cooking chamber. The larger the oven mass the more heat one can put into it (and it takes longer it takes to heat up) and the longer it takes to leak it's residual heat. Bricks and mortar designed to retain heat are thick, dense and heavy. Bricks and insulation designed to insulate (above and below the oven) are lightweight and full of tiny air pockets.

If you go through the photo gallery here you will see what each builder did to individualize their ovens while following the general guidelines of the FB plans.

Good luck.

John

[fxpose]

Originally Posted by GianniFocaccia

The biggest area of confusion for new builders, IMO, concerns oven mass and insulation.

I agree with this.
If you stick with the FB plans and study the numerous build threads here on this site you shouldn't have any problems.
Confusion arises when non-pompeii style oven plans from other sites, for instance, come into play and when you try to incorporate elements from two or more plans.

[eprante]

No need to reinvent the wheel, download the plans and look at some of the ovens built on this site. Did I mention read the plans several times. Good luck, enjoy the process.
Eric

[vantheman]

thanks for all the comments guys. i will download the plans and study them hard. i am just trying to make it as simple and cheap to make as possible. but by reading threads and comments thats not the way to go.