38" Pompeii in Lincolnshire

[andis]

I have now been handed the perfect excuse to build a WFO.

I bought a house with a retaining wall that the previous owner had part built and intended to finish with a set of steps to the rear of the property.
But I had a better idea and convinced the other other half that it would be a cheaper option to build an oven in the wall.

I put in a foundation and built a corbeled stand before the winter drove me inside. This year I have poured the base and started planning a layout. The 38 is a compromise between 36 and 42 and it fits nicely in the space I have to play with.

The oven will be enclosed in a house with a roof and chimney to look like a mini version of the cottage. The bricks that will finish the job are hand thrown and reclaimed from my chimney and a bread oven. The house was a butchers and bakers years ago so it seems fitting to reuse what I can.

The damp issue of the retaining wall has been addressed with tanking slurry, concrete additives, plastic sheeting, soakaways and french drains.

I have 3 inches of vermiculite concrete and an inch of board under the oven floor. I am now up to the 3rd chain of the build.

My chimney will be a 300mm flue liner housed in brick to clear the roof line and topped with a 450mm pot.

I will put some pics up of the build so far.

Questions and constructive criticism welcome.

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[andis]

Base.

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[andis]

IT on folding base.

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[andis]

Underfloor insulation.

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[andis]

Cutting the floor bricks.

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[andis]

Build cover.

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[andis]

From above.

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[andis]

Progress so far.

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[ringo]

That cooking surface is neat neat neat!

Nice one

[rivergirl]

Cannot wait to see further photos !! Fabulous workmanship

[petec]

here ! here ! lovely build

PeteC

[cannyfradock]

Andis

Great workmanship and I love the idea that you can re-use the reclaimed bricks from the old bakehouse.

No constructive criticism but I haven't seen a full length brick arch on used in the dome construction (I have just followed others and used half bricks for the internal arch and then butted up an entrance arch after the dome is built).....this will probably make the the arch/dome transition a lot easier.

I like the central "jig" or "indispensable tool" as it's sometimes referred to. I use a form but I'm never content with tidyness of the internal joints on my ovens.

.....just one point to add...try to keep to the percentages....or in that ball park figure of oven building.....Height of dome = half the diameter of the oven and the height of the arch should be roughly 63% of the internal height of the dome.......this will make your oven perform to it's maximum efficiency.

"The damp issue of the retaining wall has been addressed with tanking slurry, concrete additives, plastic sheeting, soakaways and french drains."......I'm having the same problems with my current build.. ukwoodfiredovenforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=pompeiiovens&action=display&thread=1230 .....I've done similar to yourself, but I haven't tanked the area of the wall which is going to be infilled.....I'll pinch your idea.....hope you don't mind.

Terry

[andis]

Terry,

The tanking slurry is not the perfect solution to the problem but I didn't want to use a rubber or plastic based dpc as i wanted it under the floor as well. Tyre flavoured pizza would not be good. At around £25-£30 for a tub give it a go. Unlike plastic sheet it won't be punctured easily by stones.

My dome height at 19" will be half the floor diameter and the arch entry at 12" is 63% of the dome height. I all just fell into place nicely for me.

I looked at a lot of other builds and borrowed ideas from many but my arch is a little different. It works perfectly on my base. The chimney will not sit on this arch but on the next arch out so it has not got huge weight to support.

Learning as I go along is fun, but I envy you having the knowledge from previous builds to know that what your doing is going to work for sure.

Andrew.