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Post by truckcab79 on Sept 20, 2020 13:18:34 GMT
Here goes another one. I’ve already built one of these and couldn’t be happier with it.
Having left the hideous world of retail about 18 months ago I am now a self-employed garden designer, landscaper, handyman. Most of my work to date has been patio builds, decks, pergolas etc and haven’t as yet put out serious attempts to offer pizza oven building services, though I have had a couple of interested customers who may come to fruition later.
For now this is my first professional build. Don’t expect a rapid one though as although this is a paying job it’s for a family member and as such is being completed at ‘mates rates’ and in my very rare spare time. Will be lucky to get one day a week on it currently.
It will follow the basics of the Pizza Oven Supplies round oven base but will have a side extension which will house a serving area and tandoor oven. Overall design will be somewhat fluid as we progress. The nice thing is that all of the brickwork will be old clays dug either from the garden of the property or paths that I’ve taken up to lay a new patio for them already.
Come along for the ride.
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Post by truckcab79 on Sept 27, 2020 18:09:46 GMT
The oven as delivered. Different moulds to mine as the dome is now in 5 pieces so you don’t have to deal with a hugely heavy rear dome half. That was the only part I couldn’t do on my own last time as it’s just too heavy to lift that high up single-handled. Also included was the insulation blanket, foil, chicken-wire, flue, cap/spark-arrestor and insulated door. No ‘new’ bricks needed at this stage as the customer has a load of reclaimed old bricks. Lovely mix of colours and slightly random sizes. Should make for a nice rustic finish. End of day one and we’re here: Essentially aiming for this though it will at some point gain a side extension for the tandoor also: Oddly the guidelines have the inner blockwork so that the front face is slightly exposed. I don’t really think that looks great so have spaced them out wider. This means a marginal change in terms of how the dome floor is supported and I’m sure it makes no difference but I will add one or two angle iron cross-braces set flush into the top blocks in order to ensure it’s more than fully supported. Not really necessary I’m sure but there won’t be any chance to add it later so better to go with over-kill while I can.
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Post by truckcab79 on Sept 27, 2020 18:50:20 GMT
Sorry. Missed oven as delivered photos.
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Post by truckcab79 on Oct 10, 2020 18:21:22 GMT
Day two and a very productive one. 6 courses of bricks cut in half and laid and two courses of blocks. Forecast rain didn’t arrive thankfully. Moisture in bricks and the air meant that mortar was slow to go off so could only rake out and clean up half the courses ready for future pointing. The rest will have to be done tomorrow.
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Post by truckcab79 on Oct 17, 2020 21:29:25 GMT
Pleased with how this is going. Only 3 and a half days in and I’ve got 12 courses of brickwork, all the blocks and the arch built. The guide says to corbell a couple of the bricks over in the twelfth course to help support the oven floor. Did it, but don’t really think it’s necessary for such a small span and besides I’d always intended to fill the void up with rubble and top off with excess mortar. Having said to corbell the bricks on the perimeter it seems odd that the largest unsupported span, the one over the wood store has no additional support. While I’m sure it’s not necessary you can’t add anything after it’s built so I cut into the top row of blocks and flush fit a section of 50x50 x5mm angle iron across the oven floor span. Much happier with that design. Then cut the arch bricks. Thankfully all four mitred bricks and the keystone cut neatly first time round with the no breakages. Made up former and set them in place. Mortared and fiddled the arch bricks into place and then because I didn’t want to disturb the arch decided to point the brickwork. Bit early really as with the cold and wet weather I could have done with having a bit longer for it to go off and be able to tool it. Got it done as I lost the light but will need to brush off and sponge bricks tomorrow to clean them up. Laid the oven floor sections on temporarily just to get a feel for it. Pleased with how this is going.
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Post by truckcab79 on Oct 19, 2020 12:44:29 GMT
And with the former removed a couple of days later. Ideally it would stay in as long as possible but also needed to get under it to clean up the mortar joints before it sets too hard.
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Post by truckcab79 on Nov 2, 2020 21:19:54 GMT
More now completed. Oven base down and levelled. Fire brick floor laid, though they’re just loose in this photograph. Dome on the current version of the Milano is supplied in 5 pieces. Last one I built was in three. New version is much easier to handle (still bloody heavy), and one reasonably fit and able person can build single-handedly, though two would be safer. I spent a long time fiddling around with the dome trying to lose any gaps between the separate sections. Eventually got it close and marked it all up but still wasn’t happy with it. Made a quick call to the always helpful Nick at POS and he advised that the new moulds are a little oversized and could do with a little more clearance between pieces to make it easier. I’d already done a dry run on a flat board so I knew the curvature and size of the pieces meant a good join was possible, just struggling to get it there when on the base for real. With Nicks advice to use a ratchet strap around the base of the pieces and that the curved sections will sit a little higher than the front sections I got a pretty perfect match. If you’re reading this because you’re building your own then persevere with the fitting. It is possible to get them to sit perfectly together, but it does take a bit of time, thought and readjustment. Worth doing it properly. The instructions said that the pieces were fixed together with Vitcas high temp sealant None was supplied with this kit though it was with my last. I guessed that the fire cement provided was to be used instead, and Nick confirmed this. Personally I wouldn’t use the fire cement, certainly not between the joints. It’s very stiff and would allow little adjustment. Maybe If you mixed it up with some water to make a wetter paste, but not as supplied. The sealant is much more practical to my mind. And then just because I had it I used the fire cement to paste over the joints and fill them. Then cut the half bricks in readiness for the oven arch build on my next visit. Finally installed tiles across the front of the oven. Advice is to use a cement and PVA slurry on the back, which will work fine but I used SBR and cement instead as I had plenty to hand and it sticks like nothing on earth. Looks like an oven now and won’t be too long before it’s up and running. The owner is going to wait a couple of days and then do a few tiny fires to drive some moisture out of the casting this week.
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Post by truckcab79 on Nov 12, 2020 7:34:52 GMT
Top arch formed and wire tied into the main dome for stability, and the vapour barrier, insulation and chicken wire to hold it all together now installed. Need to cut a couple of hundred quarter bricks now for the dome.
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Post by truckcab79 on Nov 12, 2020 18:19:53 GMT
Onward and upward. Cut loads of bricks into 4 pieces for the dome itself and started working my way up. Also pointed the top arch to give it as much strength as possible before I pull out the former tomorrow, then I’ll rake out the underside and point that also.
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Post by truckcab79 on Nov 15, 2020 8:33:22 GMT
Started closing in the dome. Took the arch form out and pointed the underside also. Not far off now but all the fiddly brickwork to do around the chimney. On the Pizza Oven Supplies website most of the built examples have the dome brickwork coming sort of up and over the dome at an angle toward the front. Makes it easier to finish them into the top/back of the arch I think, but I don’t particularly like it. Prefer the brickwork to continue in horizontal circles as it goes up the dome. That means that I need to turn the brickwork at 90 degrees across the arch and form the front of the chimney ‘stack’. It will make sense when you see it. I did it on my last one. Lot of work but looks good IMHO.
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Post by oblertone on Nov 15, 2020 10:25:37 GMT
Very ‘clean’ work; mine looked like a bomb site until it was finished.
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Post by truckcab79 on Nov 15, 2020 10:33:06 GMT
Many thanks. Not as clean as I’d like. Ive also been finishing and pointing the patio for the client at the same time so I was less careful than usual about the surrounding area as I knew it was all due a scrub Should have covered up more really.
As for the brickwork I tend to overfill the joints as I find it difficult to get enough support under these small footprints while they set up otherwise. I then scrape them out the following day (or leave the client to - but it’s my brother so he doesn’t mind). and sponge the faces as clean as I can, ready for pointing (too wet and cold to do it the same day. Takes ages to harden).
The really messy bits are thanks to the horrendous rain washing the mortar out. They’ll be getting a good dose of brick acid after it’s all pointed. Cleans it all up a treat just got to be careful if it’s breezy as you’re liable to get a good face full every now and then. 😂
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Post by truckcab79 on Nov 22, 2020 22:22:33 GMT
Another day on this and managed to get a few more courses of the dome up and the face of the chimney stack built. Hopefully it’s now clearer how I build the chimney area. The last pic from above should help. The dome actually ends up much more of a teardrop to enclose the front chimney section rather than have a more spherical dome shape. I’ll then extend the front chimney section as a square ‘stack’ which will completely enclose a short section of flue. This will be the permanent section, with a further 1m section designed to slot in as needed and remain removable for winter storage. Makes the oven much easier to wrap.
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Post by truckcab79 on Nov 28, 2020 18:52:24 GMT
One more day on this and to all intents it’s a fully functioning insulated oven. Won’t say it’s finished yet as it needs pointing and the whole thing needs a good acid wash to get rid of the excess mortar that ran down during the worst of the weather I’ve been building through. I’ll still post some final pictures of the finished article but for now this is where we are. As per my personal oven I’ve fitted this one with an enclosed section of flue that acts as a female section for the 1m flue that will be fitted. This makes it removable for storage and wrapping for winter. Much more practical in my eye and certainly on mine and seemingly this one the sections are tight fitting enough to ensure no smoke leaks during use. The enclosed bottom section doesn’t touch the brick chimney stack but is held in place by off-cuts of ceramic wool insulation stuffed in the gap between the bricks and the flue and topped off with a bit of heat resistant silicone to give me flexibility when it heats up and expands and more so something that would ‘set’ while I had the 1m long section slotted in place temporarily to ensure that I was setting it perfectly vertical. (Hence the post level you can see still held to it in the pictures). When set I finished it off with a thin skim of mortar that creates a slope between the inset piece of chimney and the surrounding brickwork just so that any rain runs away from the flue rather than toward it. This whole build is reclaimed brick and as a finishing touch I used some old tiles and broken slates from the customers’ garden to fill a couple of gaps just for the fun of it and to personalise it for them a little more.
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fox
valid member
Posts: 63
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Post by fox on Nov 30, 2020 7:50:44 GMT
Great job looks really good. I would have a couple of small concerns ... the ceramic fibre is susceptible to damp and may well suck in moisture through the brick and pointing. If that happens you will get steam on the next fireing and that will need venting to avoid cracking the outer dome. I would fit a small steam vent and also paint the brick with a water repellant silicone based clear finish. The other minor point would be to fit the internal base bricks at an angle to the entry as this avoids tools catching the brick edge when in use. I dont mean to be picky just pointing out what i have learnt from experience.
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