Why I Oughta...

Yesterday, I showed how I built a platform for the Mudmixer in order to pour the raised hearth in our backyard wood-fired oven stand construction project.  Today, we show the details of the actual pour.  Using the Mudmixer and 35-or-so 60# bags of 4K PSI concrete mix, I was able to complete the job in just about an hour of run-time.  I spent quite a bit of time trying to make sure the forms were level and square and using a mix of sand (to fill cores), caulk and backer rod, I filled as many of the gaps in the forms as I could to keep the slab from leaking too much. The good news - the forms held.  They didn't bow.  And...they didn't leak that much.  Same with the supports under the Densshield boards.  Below are a few photos showing the raised, reinforced hearth pour.  The first one shows the platform and the poured hearth: Below, you can see the drain pipes that were able to sit right at the surface of the hearth: Below are a couple of shots showing how snug the Mudmixer was to

A few days ago, I shared an update on our DIY backyard wood-fired pizza oven build that showed the latest progress:  the installation of the final rebar and bracing (wires) for the raised, reinforced concrete hearth.  I'm set to pour that 4.5" thick hearth (plus the filling of the pressed bond beam block cavities (so...around 8" deep around the perimeter and 12" deep across the opening spans), but the forms of the heart sit 42" above grade.   Like I did with the foundation slab, I'm planning on using the MudMixer to help pour the concrete.  The problem that I'm facing is that the Mudmixer's chute stands just 16" from the ground.  That means....that I have to either use buckets to lift the mixed concrete up from the Mudmixer chute or....raise the Mudmixer to allow it to 'POUR' directly into the raised hearth. If you look back at this post where I showed the foundation slab pour, you can see that I made a platform for the Mudmixer to allow

After bending and installing the rebar, reinforcing grid and vapor barrier , it was now time to pour the foundation slab for our diy backyard wood-fired pizza oven.   As I posted about last week, I shrunk the foundation slab down to be 72" wide and 80" front-to-back.  It is 5.5" thick (2x6's for concrete forms).   This is sitting on top of six inches of 1/2" compacted gravel and a 48" deep of large rock drywell.   I used an online concrete estimating calculator tool and when you put those dimensions in, it says that I needed 42 60# bags.    I have to pour two slabs - this foundation slab and then, once I build the stand, an insulated hearth.  Each approximately the same size.   When adding those two up, I ordered 85 60# bags and had them delivered.  I opted for 4000 PSI concrete - as a little bit of an upgrade over the baseline concrete. Knowing that the labor involved in this pour is in two parts, I opted to split them up:  first...hauling the concrete