Hi from Hull

[spider44]

Hi everyone. Planning to building an oven in the Pompeii style for Pizza and baking bread etc. Have started digging the foundations and looking forward to taking part in the forum. 

[cannyfradock]

Hello spider.....welcome aboard.

ATB with your build and feel free create your own thread in the Pompeii section.

Terry

[leetheldc]

Hi there I'm also from hull good to see another build in the city looking forward to following your project lee

[spider44]

Thanks Terry and Lee. Good to have someone local on board Lee. I'm roughly following the Forno Bravo plans for the 36" Pompeii oven but taking on board forum members experience. The slab is going to be 1.8m (W) x 2m (L) x 15cm deep. I've worked out I need about 1000Kg of concrete or 0.5cubic yards. Using a mix of 5:1 Ballast to Cement I make that roughly 160Kg Cement and 840Kg Ballast. Jewsons are quoting £65 approx delivered which sounds reasonable.

Did I read on the forum that Jewsons do a 10% discount for forum members? I'll use 4" crushed brick underneath the slab and tamp it down well (looking forward to some rock bashing).

Not sure where I would access rebar from and the wire frame or how much it should cost? Wondered if Lee might know of a local supplier?

I'm aware I need to keep the concrete wet whilst it is curing so will be covering it with a tarpaulin.

I'll start a build thread once I find the cable for my camera to upload the photos...

[leetheldc]

Jun 9, 2015 7:42:08 GMT spider44 said:

Thanks Terry and Lee. Good to have someone local on board Lee. I'm roughly following the Forno Bravo plans for the 36" Pompeii oven but taking on board forum members experience. The slab is going to be 1.8m (W) x 2m (L) x 15cm deep. I've worked out I need about 1000Kg of concrete or 0.5cubic yards. Using a mix of 5:1 Ballast to Cement I make that roughly 160Kg Cement and 840Kg Ballast. Jewsons are quoting £65 approx delivered which sounds reasonable.

Did I read on the forum that Jewsons do a 10% discount for forum members? I'll use 4" crushed brick underneath the slab and tamp it down well (looking forward to some rock bashing).

Not sure where I would access rebar from and the wire frame or how much it should cost? Wondered if Lee might know of a local supplier?

I'm aware I need to keep the concrete wet whilst it is curing so will be covering it with a tarpaulin.

I'll start a build thread once I find the cable for my camera to upload the photos...

Hi there spider you won't go wrong following them plans and a little forum guidance as for concrete mix I would beef up the ratio of cement a 3:1 is more of a general mix. What did Jewson qoute you on a bag of ballast delivered for £65? Which Jewson did you use? Yes the discount works i use them in my line of work mainly sutton fields branch so could maybe help you with better prices I get a good rate from them also mkm stoneferry both of which stock the rebar and wire you wanted defiantly keep the slab wet and covered like you said it will really help the curing

[spider44]

Thanks for the info Lee. The £65 included the concrete as well but I'll need to adjust the quantities with more cement. The ballast was £30.89 for 850Kg bulk bag and the cement was £3.97 per 25Kg bag. I didn't mention the 10% but those prices seem pretty reasonable and with 10% off I'll be fairly happy? If I use the 3:1 cement to ballast mix then that will be 250 kg cement (10 sacks) and 750 kg cement approx. I have the loan of a cement mixer and some wire frame so I think I just need to sort out the rebar from MKM - I'll ring them tomorrow and place the order with Jewsons. Really appreciate your advice.

Just one other idea I'd appreciate any thoughts: On the Forno Bravo plans they suggest forming the foundation to finish 2" above ground - I assume to help prevent water getting into the wood store and I think I read somewhere it might be adviseable to incline the slab a little downwards towards the front so water runs out. Good idea or not?

Best wishes

Patrick

[leetheldc]

Well yes that's a great price get you re bar from jewsons as well then hit them with the 10% after they give you all in price. Great point in the slab height I left my slab low to cover with paving and over the winter it was soaked I even painted the floor perimeter with waterproofing paint didn't really work all will be fine once paved but if your keeping the slab seen then you are spot on with what you said keep on that plan good luck lee

[cannyfradock]

Spider

Just double checked your calcs and I come to same (ish) figures. 1.8 x 2 x .015 = .54 cubic....x 2.2 to give dry material weight = 1.118 ton which equates to about 24 cwt or 48 25kg bags. I realise that you're buying a jumbo bag of ballast/all-in but I relate back to 25kg bags to calculate how much cement I need. I don't want to disagree with Lee as he is spot on with his advice and I've learned some handy tips from his posts, but, I always use a ratio of 6:1 for my concrete. The correct ratio is 4 parts chippings, 2 parts sand and 1 cement. We now all use ballast/all-in so the ratio is 6:1. With this in mind you would need 7 x 25kg bags of cement....giving a total of 1.225 tons....which is in the ball park figure.

One other thing that I always do is to add a membrane/DPC whenever I can. I put a poly membrane under the concrete floor slam and add a DPC (damp proof course) on top of my first course of blocks (3 courses of brickwork). I've always made the finished floor/log storage area under the oven the same height as the finish floor level of the area. I've never thought of raising it slightly above the FFL......but will do on my next build. (thanks for the tip Lee)

Terry

[daggle]

Hi

I'm with Terry on this one, I've just laid my base and used ballast/cement at 6/1 and it's like bell metal!!

Good luck and keep the posts coming.

Al

[rivergirl]

Welcome and good luck with the build, I am so looking forward to photos

[spider44]

Thanks so much for the wise words and advice (Lee, Terry and hi! Rivergirl and daggle - thanks for saying hello). I'll stick with the 6:1 mix Ballast:Cement and have a word with Jewsons to amend the order which should be OK as they are not delivering it until Saturday. I'm pleased there is agreement with the incline down a little towards the door and aiming to raise the slab a couple of inches above ground level. MKM wanted just over £105 for the rebar (12mm x 60 meters) but I've managed to source some from neighbour who happens to have a scrap yard for a good deal less. I have ordered a large damp proof membrane and picked up 1/3 ton of hard core so all the ingredients are coming together for the big mix on Monday evening. I'll put another damp proof membrane between the first and second course of blocks (Cheers Terry). Still cant find my camera usb cord but taking pictures and when I find the cord I'll start a new thread of the build.

[ducky]

Hi spider. I'm in hull too and looking forward to following your build thread. What are you building your base from, brick or block?

[leetheldc]

that's why these forums are great you get lots of opinions and you can take form them what you want! hope the pour goes well where in hull are you Patrick. ducky you are also from hull I missed that one where taking over!

[spider44]

Hi Ducky! That makes 3 in Hull so far... I live off Beverley Road near Beresford Park Lee and i agree the forums are invaluable. I'm hoping to do the oven from fire bricks and using vermicrete for insulation for hearth and dome but my plans are flexible depending on what's available at the time and how much they cost. I have a kind of deadline as I've promised to be up and running for the middle of August so if time get tight I may have to adjust a little. I'm following the Forno Bravo plans for a 36" Pompeii but I like how the people on the forums have worked with their ovens and been willing to adapt and respond to each new situation. I'm still not decided whether to do much cutting or rely on home brew to tie everything together on the dome. Cheers Patrick

[spider44]

Sorry Dolly I misread your post - I'm building the base from hollow concrete blocks from Jewson. best wishes Patrick