So, my obsession with wood-fired ovens has spilled into action. I will begin to document my effort to create an italian domed wood fired oven. I found very specific plans/how-to doc at http://www.fornobravo.com/ . This site also contain a forum for past, current and would-be oven constructors.The oven "look" I am aiming for is similar to the one shown in the picture here on the left.
The pompeii oven is a tried and true feat of efficient design and engineering. An oven constructed as prescribed in the how-to's can be very useful and life enhancing.
My version is a corner oven; a part of a larger outdoor living area project. Here in North Florida, living outdoors is very pleasurable except for the months of July-Aug-Sept where temperature/humidity combos are unpleasant.
I started on December 27, 2008 forming a base for the stand where the oven will sit. Note the necessary elements (beer, friends) to building the slab on the picture on right. Friends are necessary to bounce ideas and to check yourself. Beer just eases the pain of lifting 40-50 80lb bags of concrete mix.
The slab was built much like a monolithic slab where there is a footer around the perimiter. My thought was that since the majority of the weight pressure falls on the perimiter of the slab, a deeper reinforced footer would better sustain the construct--specially here in Florida where the soil is sandy. The footer (around 13/14" finished depth) contains 1/2" rebar which connects to the main slab. The main area has wire mesh and rebar and is poured at 4/5" in depth. We'll see if I have screwed it all up.
Here's a picture of the finished stand foundation. We're set to run block on it on 1/10/09. Hope I can keep the momentum going!
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