Timo's Oven...Because I can!

Welcome to OvenBlog

timo — Sat, 02 May 2009 15:36:59 -1000

Hello, my name is Tim and I am building a Pompeii brick oven over the 2009 summer (hopefully). A lot of you may be wondering why build a brick oven in the first place? Well, you're not the first to ask, and won't be the last. It has to do with the process and challenge of the task and the sense of making something totally unique.

That's why I ride an orange Stella scooter from Genuine Scooters. How many people do you know that ride Harleys? Now, take it easy, I love Harleys, too, but the point is to be unique (and cheap) I ride a scooter. That's my father-in-law on my scooter. He had something very similiar to it way back when Sears sold Vespas. I'm the other dude.

Now this Pompeii OvenBlog is to document my journey: The challenges and frustrations, the knowledge gained, and mistakes made for others to hopefully avoid.

The next post will offer some background information about getting started and plans for making a three minute pizza and baking 25 lbs. of bread by the beginning of school this fall!

The Plan

timo — Sat, 02 May 2009 15:55:50 -1000

The plan for the Pompeii oven is simple. Use about 200 halved firebricks and about 2 tons of cement to create a 700 degree inferno for cooking. The type of cooking here is based on ancient methods.

Here are some of the basics layout requirements put out by the Lake County Building Department

Said structure must be at least 4' from any other structure and combustables.
Property set backs of 7' and 15' must be used. I live on a corner and already talked with my neighbor, Mark. He's cool with the whole idea. I will be sure to share some good food with him.
5" crushed rock and 5 1/2" of concrete wil satisfied the permit inspector for the oven base. If the base uses let's say (40) 80# bags of concret, that's 3200 pounds. I will survive a tornado in this structure. That doesn't even include the concrete block stand that goes on the base.
Before building can begin, must call in for set back inspection.

That's about it for now. Here's a picture of

where the oven will go.

I had to take out part of the deck. I hate wood decks, so my plot to slowly replace the deck with concrete has begun.

Here's what it looked like about an hour after working.

Here's what it looked like after three hours. That's all for now.

Staked Out

timo — Sun, 03 May 2009 12:27:56 -1000

Today I did mostly yard work. Actually I did mostly yard work yesterday, too. The picture shows the location of the oven. Amazingly, the setback from the deck is 4 ' and 69" from that mark is the end of the corner point of the deck and that's the back edge of the oven foundation.

Tomorrow I'll call the Building department for a setback inspection. After that, I begin digging the foundation with digging out the left over 4x4 posts from the old deck.

Digging the Foundation

timo — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:02:05 -1000

Today is May 7th and I dug the foundation after work. It took about 2 1/2 hours to do just the sod and dirt for this part. But, I must digress to an event from earlier in the week concerning the Lake County Building Department. Eric from the department called and told me I had to dig 42" down to the frost line a footing to support my oven.

I was almost ready to start digging and this happens out of the blue. After haggling for a few minutes he shared his concern about recent outside fireplaces falling down or developing a lean. I do not want my oven to lean or fall down, but I did not believe 42" frost footing was needed. Eric then wanted pier footings at the corners. I was amazed and told him, look, whatever you think is appropriate for code, tell me and I'll figure it out.

I did tell him, though, that my van weighs about 4000 pounds and it sits on 4" of concrete reinforced with probably nothing more than 6' wire mesh. My plans call for a solid 5" crushed rock base on which 5 1/2" of concrete sits.

A half hour later he called and said he spoke with his department chief and I didn't have to include more support because the over all height is not more than 8-9'.

So, that was the last of my discussions with the building department, hopefully.

Anyway, here are some more photos of the foundation digging. The bottom picture shows what it looks like after taking out 6" of sod and dirt and 2" of clay. The rest of the concrete slab will sit above grade.

I have been very busy trying to get a master order ready for Menards. They usually have the best prices for builder's materials. I can order up to 18,000 lbs. of material and have it delievered for $50. So, I want to get my money's worth. We're talking concrete blocks, a pallet of bagged concrete, rebar, lumber, lanscape timbers, mortar... It's gonna' be special when that truck stops by.

Time to go listen to some snorring and feel the muscles ache.

Framing the Base

timo — Sun, 10 May 2009 15:25:12 -1000

Today I was able to squeak out some time to pick up some material, order some materials, and frame the foundation. A couple of days ago it rained at some point during the night and filled the "pit" in a bit. There was about 1" of water in the far end of the pit, but it was dry on the near side. I took this as meaning the pit floor wasn't as level as I thought it was so I went ahead and took a hoe and leveled it a bit more.

Menards is having one of their great material sales going on right now. Last week they had concrete go on sale (4) 60# bags for $9. So I bought a pallet of concrete. That almost 4,000 pounds of concrete. I also picked up some sand, masonary cement, portland cement, 1/2" rebar and some 3/8" rebar. I need to bend some curves, so I thought bending the 3/8" would go a bit easier.

I also bought some lanscape timbers. They were $9.90 a piece for the 4x6x8's. They are going to go on the trench that's yet to be filled with crushed rock.

I have been wanting a nice wall for the garden for a while so this seemed like a nice time to go ahead with this project, too.

PS. If anyone's wondering about the size of the foundation framing, it's 69x43, which leaves a 45 degree angle for the short side where the front of the oven's vent and landing will go. The 2x6x8's will give a 5 1/2" depth for the concrete base. Luckily, I was able to frame this on the part of the deck still there and I measured using the 345 rule and mailed two cross supports to keep it square and in place.

Next up, Menard's drops of the ordered materials on Wednesday. Hopefully the driveway won't crack when they leave it all. In the meantime, my neighbor, Troy, was nice enough to let me borrow his trailer. I think tomorrow I will go and get a load of crushed rock dropped in his trailer just to see how much I can actually move in it. I need to get that rock down ASAP so I can entertain mixing 36 bags or so of concrete next weekend.

That's about all ofr now. Tim

Had a neighbor walk by and mentioned the oven project. Looks like word is getting out and the pressure to get it going is on

Trailer Gate and Pallets

timo — Tue, 12 May 2009 02:46:20 -1000

Well, I didn't get the chance to get the crushed rock after school yesterday, so I'll try again today. I needed to make a gate for my neighbor's trailer, too. I don't know how much rock is going to fit in the trailer. I am guessing about 600-700 pounds worth. In crushed rock terms, that's not a lot, but it's better than paying $65 to drop off $40 of rock. The way I figure it, I can run back and forth 20 times and not spend $20 on gas.

We are expecting heavy storms on Wednesday. I am hoping my daughter will tarp the cement when it's dropped off. If not, I'll end up with $400 of already set concrete in the bag, which is worthless. We'll see if she can pry herself out of her bed. I'll have to be calling to hopefully wake her up.

I also made a pallet out of some of the ripped out deck wood. Not pretty, but should help to keep the cement drier.

That's all for now.

My Back Hurts...

timo — Wed, 13 May 2009 14:36:59 -1000

See this pile of 60 concrete blocks and 18 landscape timbers? That's what I did after school today. The rest of the bagged concrete, masonry concrete, portland cement, and sand is nicely wrapped in Tyveck, plastic, and a tarp due to the impending giant storms to hit soon. Nothing yet, but it's only 7:40pm. That's all for now.

Garden Wall and Leveled Rock

timo — Sat, 16 May 2009 15:43:43 -1000

Today I was able to work on the garden retaining wall. Everyone on the home improvement tv shows always say to never use treated wood lumber for a garden wall. But try driving around and finding a garden wall that isn't using some treated wood somewhere...right. I use 4x6x8 lanscape timbers stacked three high. I used deck screws for the ends and corners, tomorrow I will use 1/2 rebar to stake the walls to the ground. Should last for about 20, or so, years. I might line the inside with plastic to keep the treated wood from touching the inside dirt.

Speaking of dirt, I plan on doing a 1:1:1 ratio of perlite/topsoil/spaghnam peat moss at a depth of 7". I'll incorporate some natural fertilizer within the mix and hopefully the weekend after Memorial Day I can plant the plants and start it all. I want to also line the garden floor with some newspaper to cut down on weeds, too.

The bottom of the pit was once again full of water. I finished pumping out the water with a handy drill pump. Then I added the rest of the crushed rock and tamped it down rock hard in most areas. Problem being there's a 2 square foot are where the crushed rock won't compact becasue the darn clay floor was super saturated. I am hoping that it will STOP raining long enough for the whole thing to completly dry out. If I have time tomorrow I would like to cut rebar and place it along with the 6" wire mesh screen on top.

I won't be able to actually put it all together and leave it though because I'llhave to see if that wet area is dry and retamp it down.

Oh, yeah, I still have to move that 4,000 pounds of concrete to the backyard tomorrow, too. I have to move it tomorrow, or we can't get the trailer out of the garage for camping next weekend.

This is the messy looking picture. That's all for now.

Sunburned and Grateful

timo — Sun, 17 May 2009 14:35:52 -1000

Early today I got set to cut rebar with my new grinder. I have never used a grinder before, so I slapped on a metal cutting disc and took off on that rebar. I have tried to cut rebar before with a hacksaw- that's nuts. The grinder went through it like butter.

I was very happy about my $17 grinder purchase. I cut rebar at 2' and pounded it in and all went well until I lost the drill bit in the lanscape timbers. I fished it out eventually, but I still have a few more holes to drill.

I moved about a yard of old soil from my garden to my neighbor's house- he needed it and I didn't so that all worked out well.The bottom of the garden was leveled and awaits the topsoil.

I really have to get the garden done so I can get back to work on the oven.

Dang Garden

timo — Tue, 19 May 2009 16:35:33 -1000

That dang garden. After taking the top layer of old garden soil out (The layer containing all the weeds, weed seeds, and sucky clay) and leveling it I went and picked up a yard of topsoil from Lester's Material Service. They have the largest paved brick area I have ever seen in my life. Think parking lot times two.

The dude on the payloader dropped the topsoil a bit rough on my neighbor's trailer. It popped one side out a bit and so when I hit a bump, a bit of soil would scramble in front of the car behind me. I could feel Jackass vibes directed at me from many angles. I have to take a picture of that trailer as it's getting a bit more work out of it lately and looks like poo.

I borrowed my next door neighbor' Mantis 2 stroke tiller to work the garden mix together.

So, the one I borrowed is 18 years old and needs a lot of work. The kill switch broke the first time I touched it. The gas filter was clogged. The dang spark plug wasn't even tight, and to pull on the thing to start meant curling your back in some strange way that was torture. Be sure to buy yours today.

All told, the garden now has cow manure, topsoil, peat moss, sand, perlite, chicken manure, and wood ash in it now. The stuff is like potting soil.

Now, after tilling hte soil over and over and lining the bottom with layers of newspaper it's done. I layed some older 2x8x8 boards down the middle on blocks so I don't have to step on the soil, too. In a perfect world the garden would only be 4' wide, but that's the way it goes.

Now here's a video that pretty much explains what I have ahead of me this summer. I am on step...#1. Dang.