Pics of my Kids, our Home including during Building, Pool Construction, and Pizza Oven Creation.

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Augustine's second birthday party. They got into the icing! Abby was 3...



The early times with the kiddos...





Abby, stay there...



Another build pic.

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Regarding the pizza oven...

Edit: Abby surveying the table with cavity. "What's dis Tatay?"



Within the concrete table we built is a cavity in which we put 9" of pumice which provides insulation and structural strength to the base of the oven with perlite poured in around it. We used most of the 35 cement sacks of lava chunks (pumice) that we brought home from Camiguin Island right here. Perlite is a refractory insulator I found here. So, a mix of 2 refractory insulators.



Set cardboard on top of the perlite which is is light and fluffy and I didn't want to take a chance on the floor pour screwing it up.



The mold for the pour is set first time. The pour extends out 4" past the brick, then there's the 4" brick, then the oven. So the oven open space interior will start 8" inside the form, and the thickness of the pour and flat laid 2" brick higher.



Pictured is Fidel, our excellent carpenter.

Once the pour was on I realized the door was too small. Dell did a quick redo on the form and the pour continued. Since the floor is somewhat isulated by using perliite I don't really care if its too big. When I climb up there and lay out the oven I want some space to play with.



Here's the floor at the door out to its full size. Some of those metal bars will be cut, others will be part of the onion dome. We're building an onion dome surround to contain the perlite insulation and just make it look good. Its to be modeled after an onion dome in Portugal. So, 2 domes. One brick oven dome then an exterior onion dome.



Dell is an excellent mason too.

I made the pour wider than the oven to spread the weight of the brick oven load wider, to more pumice. The pumice is connected piece by piece to the poured floor at the bottom. Below that is a series of decorative structural concrete columns which carry it to the floor.



So you see the floor pour on the left where the oven dome will sit God willing. On the right you see the start of the base of the onion dome and the metal bar sticking out. From there on up the onion will be refractory and the bar will be wrapped in paper and tape to give it some expansion room. Between the oven dome and the onion wall will be 16" of perlite insulation, loose. We'll build the oven first and then the onion and then pour perlite down between them. Then we'll start the warm up process which cooks the water out over a week. Then we'll cook a few pizzas.

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First course...



I set the first 2 bricks for the door opening in place and scribed around them while Sho set bricks.

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We built steps out gravel bags. The gravel is for the onion dome when we get to it. Eventually there will be a raised tiled platform.



There's 16" of insulation space between brick dome and onion dome.

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Form takes shape. We were able to use the plywood from the floor pour form.



This is the pumice (lava rock) which provides support to the weak point and insulates as well. More will go in later.



Ready for brick...as you can see the floor brick now goes out the door.

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Starting to look like something. Hopefully someday fairly soon we'll be shoving pizzas in this maw. Look at that keystone, erm I mean brick!



Squared off, getting ready for chimney. The chimney will be built out of brick on top of the squared off arches. It will curve back to the top of the brick dome and then go up out of the onion dome.



Say Hi! Sho...

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From the bar...



From the bridge...

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The chimney will be (2) 4" wide slots 16" long. Only one in this pic, but there will be 3 arches so two slots.



Pumice mortared in at the weak point.

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Look at the direction the dome bricks are going and the 2" top of the arch location that will receive them, or part of each course. I've seen it where the dome bricks are mortared onto the inner face of the arch and decided I wanted that load carried by the arch itself in a more sure manner.

The chimney brick will reach across and between the 2 inner arches opening and 2" of the 8" brick will sit on either side. That leaves a 4" chimney opening that I intend to have 16" wide. So the chimney bricks will span the 4" gap. The arch is 4" wide, so that leaves me 2" to set the dome brick on.



The 2" wide brick being set to receive the chimney brick.



These aren't the actual bricks that will span the gap, they're dome bricks just set there to show the plan. The full bricks will span the gap and form 2 sides of the chimney. This is my interpretation of a brilliant idea an amigo of mine, Brickie, had to make the chimney out of brick. It has to curve back on top of the oven dome and go up through the point atop the onion and Brickie hit on the brick plan, genius.

These non-actual bricks are 16" apart. So, that would be the chimney at this location.

You can see the slots intended to carry the chimney. The next course of the dome ties into this slot and begins the super tricky multiple compound angle cuts.

Can also see Sho starting to set the last of the arches, the long one...pics coming up! First, from this view you can see how we intend to span the distance from oven to onion. In that space I hope to get 2 long slim bread ovens for baguette bread and a pizza warming spot or two, but that's another day. Got murky plans at this point.

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Sho building the form for the long arch.



You can see where this segmental arch carries the weight of what is to come to the 12" of interwoven bricks to either side. Those 12" of bricks will be buttressed by the onion dome. Its all good.

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Like pants, one brick at a time.



So far to my eye this is the most graceful arch of the three.

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The intersection...



The long arch... Those Romans knew what they were about. This is more of a segmental arch, the others cantenary. The segmental arch carries the weight a long distance and tends to push it out to the sides. Catenary carry a short distance and push the weight downwards. With a series of (segments) segmental arches the Romans built aqueducts that would go for miles. On either end though you need to brace that weight pushing out. The cathedral builders solved this problem with flying buttresses. In this case the pour we just did will be plenty. (Shown below) To me, this is graceful, the inner arches...efficient.



Three arches, (2) 4" gaps for the chimney.



The outer wall pour supports the arches.

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Took Abby for a walk the first time we filled the pool. She was three years old.



I like snapping pics of the pool when its clean because its my job to clean it.



We went to Camiguin Island for pumice for oven structural insulation. Thirty five cement sacks of the stuff are in the oven build. Camiguin has 7 volcanoes, one active. This is 'The Sunken Cemetery'. During the last eruption the cemetery sank so they built this huge cross.

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I hung on tight so she wouldn't fall but later that evening I fell on my back in the pool and cracked a rib. My advice: Never crack a rib. Yep, was drinking beer with friends.



I could do Abby pics all day. Here she is with her cousin, Dot. Augustine was very sick when he came to us and missed a lot of stuff. He's better now.

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This cat 4 was supposed to come right through here. The eye would have been very close and it would have torn the place up. Thankfully it turned away and went to our south.



Abby scores a red balloon. Not bad for a little tribal girl from the mountains of Surigao.