Michael's 42" in Portland Pompeii Oven Construction Discuss Michael's 42" in Portland in the Pizza Oven Design and Installation forums; Hello and thank you for everything I've already learned at the site. I'm starting a 42" oven. I got the ...

[mklingles]

Hello and thank you for everything I've already learned at the site.

I'm starting a 42" oven. I got the foundation in on Friday (yea cement pump!). Blocks for base will go in next weekend and the hearth slab will be in a week from Monday.

The cement pump cost me an extra $300. The mini-mix cement delivery was only a little more expensive then buying 80 lb sacks of concrete mix. But, since I had to go up 8 stairs from the curb and wind around behind the house. It was money well spent. The foundation couldn't have gone in any easier.

Still haven't decided if I will buy a saw or try to make few enough cuts that I'm okay with my circular saw and cutting dry. Anyone have any input on scoring and breaking fire brick? Seems like the majority of my cuts will be just cutting bricks in half for the dome.

One more question: I just bought the parts to build an "indispensable tool". Am I better off using that or using forms? Seems I haven't seen many pictures of domes going up with forms, but lots of indispensable tool photos.

Thanks.

[100million]

buy used
portland all for sale / wanted classifieds "tile saw" - craigslist

then sell used IT IS THE BEST WAY
I would get a saw

[DrakeRemoray]

I second that, you are better off with a wet saw.

I built mine with forms several years ago now. More people are using the indsp tool now. It certainly gives you better control of the mortar joints to use the tool...

See my thread for a form based build. If I did it again I would probably use the tool.

Drake

[mklingles]

I've been considering trying to create a thermal barrier between the oven dome opening arch, and the chimney vent entry arch.

My question is does this have value? How hot do the bricks in the entry archway get and how hot do the the floor bricks in the entry way get?

My idea for implementation is to use a bit of the 2" FB board between the oven arch and the entry way arch. Then mortar it over with perlite and cement so it's not directly in the flame. Also I would transition from medium duty fire brick in the floor inside the dome to light weight insulating fire brick in the floor of the entry way. Good idea? Bad idea?

Oh and how come I haven't read that cinder blocks are heavy. I borrowed a pick up and still had to make to trips. Some Pictures will go up tomorrow.

[vintagemx0]

Hello Michael,

Congrats on starting your oven! We're in the Portland area too (Rock Creek area off SW 185th) and we built an oven last summer. We love it. We are really looking forward to honing some cooking skills this summer.

It's been our experience that the landing area and inner areas of the entry arch do get hot, but nothing of concern. I don't know if insulating the area from the dome would help very much, as it is the radiant energy from the luminous fire that seems to heat these areas up. I've felt-around on the bricks outside of our oven and they are pretty cool, so I'm pretty sure there isn't much conduction issue there.

We were planning on tiling the landing area on our oven, but we have since decided not too because of the radiant heat. We feel that if someone put their bare forearm down on, what is now concrete, that it would be "oh crap!" hot, but if it were slick, smooth tile actual injury could occur. Again, the source of heat is radiant from an active fire and not conduction through the bricks.

Imagine how heavy those blocks would be without the holes in them!

If you want, you are most welcome to come by and throw back a beer over some oven-gab.

Best wishes,

The Morgans

[fxpose]

Using insulating firebricks for the landing surface is a bad idea. They're too brittle and gouge too easily, even with your fingernails. I used them as my thermal break between the two areas but I don't know how effective that will be as my oven build is not yet completely finished. I will soon find out...

George

[mklingles]

Here's some photos of my stand. Nothing out of the ordinary. I dry stacked the blocks. Things were level enough for me, so I didn't mortar the bottom of the blocks to the slab. I'll have the concrete pump back on Monday, so I will most likely just have all the cores filled.

[Neil2]

Avoid using the term "cement" when you mean "concrete" (unless you are a Beverly hillbilly).

Using the incorrect terms can lead to confusion. One fellow on this site mixed his pearlcrete using premix concrete instead of portland cement. He had to do it over.

[mklingles]

I sit corrected, and I corrected the post above replacing concrete with cement.

[vintagemx0]

Have you gotten your bricks yet Michael? We got ours from Mutual Materials. We built a 36" oven and purchased 200 bricks. We ended-up with about 7 extras when we finished. (Lucky guesstimate)

You have the "grunt" work behind you for the most part. We look forward to watching your build.

Kind regards,
The Morgans