jons
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Post by jons on Jan 21, 2019 21:12:12 GMT
I have a brother. We are a teeny bit competitive. He’s only gone and bought a pizza oven! It’s a lovely oven it has to be said - a Clementi Pulcinella 80x60. Looks gorgeous. Obviously this means I now have to get a wood fired oven of some sort. The search has been going on for quite a while but ... we have a winner! Four weeks of surfing woodfire oven sites and hours on YouTube have ended with me choosing PizzaOvenSupplies.co.uk as the supplier for me. Order placed for a Milan 750 Pizza Oven Kit. The kit comes with a three piece dome and two piece floor as well as insulation, chicken wire, silicon and chimney. I very nearly bought the exact same oven as my brother but after looking around decided that a modular oven kit was going to work best for me. The plan is to build a brick base (Ibstock blue engineering bricks to match recent build) topped with oak sleepers. The base goes up the day after tomorrow and the oven arrives on Thursday. Haven’t looked forward to a delivery so much for a long time!  I’ll post some photos as things progress... the oven is going to the right of the bbq where the low wall border was... the random brick shot is the brick for the base     |
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Post by downunderdave on Jan 22, 2019 7:19:11 GMT
Rendering an outer shell directly over the blanket is a bit difficult, but not impossible. The two problems are that firstly the blanket is a bit springy so it moves a bit as you apply render to it. Secondly the blanket will be a bit lumpy so you need to adjust the thickness of the render to get back to a nice spherical surface. I find it easier to apply vermicrete or perlcrete which gives you a high build layer which evens out the lumps and bumps as well as drying hard and providing a firm substrate to work against. You can make it as strong or as insulating as you like. (see table). I usually do this layer around 1.5" thick. you should also let it dry and do your drying fires before rendering over it to prevent locking moisture in. Also make sure that you insulate well under the floor. I inspected an oven with a wooden base on top of which sheet metal had been placed then two layers of bricks. The wooden base was so badly charred it was beginning to collapse and the whole oven would need to be demolished and started anew. Concrete slab or lintel blocks are a better choice IMO as they handle heat better and don't move, rot or get eaten by ants, but you can probably get away with the oak sleepers provided you insulate well enough on top of them.  |
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jons
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Posts: 41
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Post by jons on Jan 22, 2019 22:48:13 GMT
Thanks downunderdave. That’s helpful. I’m looking into additional insulation although the supplier thinks it unnecessary as the dome is well insulated already. Better to be overinsulated than under in my book though... |
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jons
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Post by jons on Jan 23, 2019 7:54:02 GMT
Wider view shot of the patio. The build starts today in theory although it’s probably too cold for mortar and the bricks that arrived yesterday are the wrong ones! So we’ll see how things go. Weather warms up a bit tomorrow which would be better for the mortar.  |
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Post by truckcab79 on Jan 23, 2019 8:50:24 GMT
Best of luck with it. As you’ll have seen from my build I started in similar cold conditions. Not sure where in the country you are but we’ve got 2-3 inches of snow covering the garden. At least yours looks clear.
When it was cold I used a bit of frost-proofer in the mix, but more importantly made sure it was well covered each night to try to keep it warm. If it was really cold I didn’t risk it. You’ll know if your mortar has been affected when it ‘sets’ as it’ll just crumble away. Not worth wasting your time for the sake of waiting a bit longer if that the case.
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Post by truckcab79 on Jan 23, 2019 8:55:08 GMT
Sure I posted yesterday about the oak sleeper bed but can’t see it. There are a few built that way on Pizza Oven Supplies. The chap owning it also used to post on here and replied to a similar question from someone building one of his that it would be absolutely no issue because of the insulated base. As downunderdave says though, I’ve also seen a couple of builds where they have burnt through the timber. They were where they just had brick over sand directly over the timber. If you’re at all worried it wouldn’t hurt to put an insulating layer between them of course.
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Post by downunderdave on Jan 23, 2019 11:49:44 GMT
Thanks downunderdave. That’s helpful. I’m looking into additional insulation although the supplier thinks it unnecessary as the dome is well insulated already. Better to be overinsulated than under in my book though... It is not the dome insulation that concerns me. It is the underfloor insulation. I have no idea how insulative the underfloor panels that are provided with this kit are, but another member said the underfloor panels were made of the same material as the dome. The denser the material the less insulative and more conductive it will be. Just be sure the heat won’t get through it as timber will begin to char north of 250 C |
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jons
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Post by jons on Jan 23, 2019 16:10:54 GMT
Thanks downunderdave . That’s helpful. I’m looking into additional insulation although the supplier thinks it unnecessary as the dome is well insulated already. Better to be overinsulated than under in my book though... It is not the dome insulation that concerns me. It is the underfloor insulation. I have no idea how insulative the underfloor panels that are provided with this kit are, but another member said the underfloor panels were made of the same material as the dome. The denser the material the less insulative and more conductive it will be. Just be sure the heat won’t get through it as timber will begin to char north of 250 C As you say the base is made of the same material as the dome but just to be sure, and because I’d like to raise the height of the oven, I’ll add some further insulation. |
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jons
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Posts: 41
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Post by jons on Jan 23, 2019 17:09:42 GMT
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jons
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Post by jons on Jan 23, 2019 17:33:51 GMT
Best of luck with it. As you’ll have seen from my build I started in similar cold conditions. Not sure where in the country you are but we’ve got 2-3 inches of snow covering the garden. At least yours looks clear. When it was cold I used a bit of frost-proofer in the mix, but more importantly made sure it was well covered each night to try to keep it warm. If it was really cold I didn’t risk it. You’ll know if your mortar has been affected when it ‘sets’ as it’ll just crumble away. Not worth wasting your time for the sake of waiting a bit longer if that the case. It’s a little warmer down here in Brighton but still pretty cold! No snow though so that’s good. The landscape gardener who’s doing the build cracked on today as the temperature rose a bit during the day. It’s all covered up with hessian for the night. If it sets properly the sleepers will go on tomorrow. |
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jons
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Post by jons on Jan 23, 2019 18:40:25 GMT
So I’m considering resting the pizza oven base, which is made of a 100mm thick cement/perlite mix on another layer of insulation such as ceramic fibre board. Anyone have an opinion on this or done something similar with good results? To restate, the supplier claims that the oven base is insulated well enough to lay directly on wood. I do also have the aim of raising the level of the oven as the hearth will be at about 1000mm above floor level which is a little low.
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Post by downunderdave on Jan 23, 2019 20:23:18 GMT
So I’m considering resting the pizza oven base, which is made of thick vermiculite I believe, on another layer of insulation such as ceramic fibre board. Anyone have an opinion on this or done something similar with good results? To restate, the supplier claims that the oven base is insulated well enough to lay directly on wood. I do also have the aim of raising the level of the oven as the hearth will be at about 1000mm above floor level which is a little low. Vermiculite is a pretty good insulator, but the other materials, cement, sand, clay etc used to bind it will reduce its insulating value. The denser the material becomes the less it will insulate. Using the attached table you should be able to work out the density if you weigh one of the slabs as well as working out its volume. As a guide if using vermicrete as a base, to achieve sufficient strength to support an oven, a 5:1 vermicrete slab,100 mm thick is normally recommended. If using a calcium silicate board, which is a better insulator, to get the equivalent insulation you need 50 mm. Generally if using two types of underfloor insulation the superior insulator goes closest to the hotter side.  |
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jons
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Post by jons on Jan 24, 2019 14:00:43 GMT
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Post by truckcab79 on Jan 24, 2019 16:52:20 GMT
Nice tidy brickwork. Coming on great.
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jons
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Posts: 41
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Post by jons on Jan 25, 2019 12:21:39 GMT
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