dome and arch connection? Pompeii Oven Construction Discuss dome and arch connection? in the Pizza Oven Design and Installation forums; Hi All, Just a question regarding the arch to dome connection, I am thinking of leaving the mortar out of ...

[stonejohn]

Hi All, Just a question regarding the arch to dome connection, I am thinking of leaving the mortar out of the connection and just really tight fitting the cut between the two. I would pack a little insulation there if need and mortar the outside, insulate and stucco before building a stone/brick enclosure. My question is does anybody have any thoughts that might be helpful? I have seen some bad cracks coming from this area and my thought is leaving some
"expansion joint" between the two might be helpful or really dreadful! Any thoughts?
Thanks
John

[splatgirl]

My approach was to try to tie the sides of the arch and the dome chains in together, so that the end bricks of the dome courses also created part of the arch. It made for some wacky cuts and grinding, but it was a way of avoiding that problematic vertical butt join between the dome and arch bricks. Of the four courses that made up my arch height, I alternated between a brick that tied the inner arch to the dome chain and a brick that tied the inner arch to the outer arch.
Unfortunately, I don't have any photos that show this specifically, but if you build up both the dome and the arch at the same time, you'll be able to see how you can do it with some patient grinding.
I'll probably never know if this was good idea or not, but it seemed like a better solution than ending up with that continuous vertical joint.

[stonejohn]

Was the interior arch still fairly attractive from the doorway of the oven? Were the cuts leaving a decent size brick at the connection of the dome and arch interlock? Thanks for the thoughts.
John

[Tscarborough]

From a pure construction point of view, the optimal situation would have the entry and the dome as two separate units, joined by a keyed construction that allows each to move independently while ensuring a smoke and flame seal.

In the real world, this is tough to do. The coursed method as stated above is good, and will be even more successful if the entry arch itself can be insulated.

In lieu of that, a joint with a flexible material to serve as stuffing should work fine.

I am doing a keyed entry and insulating it more than the oven itself.

[splatgirl]

here's a look at the arch. I think it looks just fine if one can live with the little reveal ground into a couple of the bricks vs. getting it by staggering two separate bricks.



the below shot gives a little better look at that particular detail. since this course placed the brick longways to get the arch/dome tie-in, it required a partial brick to extend it to meet the outer arch face. You can see where I've placed that but not mortared it yet on in the very right corner of the photo.


My 3-4" of batt insulation comes out to just about meet the face of the outer arch, so I guess that means it's insulated.

[stonejohn]

Thanks, The pictures helped my understanding alot. I still would love to see the arch tie in to the dome if you have any. I'm going to check out you build
Good info
Thanks again
John

[John K]

Hi John

I know exactly what you mean but I just couldn't design it to become one.

I did as good as I could and began to tie it in about 3 bricks high
will be interested to see what you do

Good luck

[stonejohn]

Hi John, that brickwork is super neat, really tight joints. The photos are a big help, I think mine will be the same setup ( I hope ) thanks for posting them for me. Do you have any shots when the 5 or 6 courses hit the archwork. I'm imagining just a butt joint right?
John

[John K]

John are you refering to the chimney landing connecting to the arch or the internal dome wraping on and around the arch?

[pizza_bob]

John,

Here is a link to a picture of my 5th course. Poke around my photos and build link - perhaps it might give you some ideas too. I took photos of every course.

PhotoPlog - Dome and Floor

Good luck with your build!

~Bob