Just Joined

[phi1]

Hi

Newcomer to this, Wifes a fantastic cook we both love real pizza (not supermarket crap) so thought I would have a bash at building a pizza oven  

[chas]

Welcome, take the time to pore over the accumulated wisdom here and then have fun!

Chas

[rivergirl]

You won't regret it! Do you know which kind that you will be doing?

[dirtlover2005]

Welcome !

[cobblerdave]

Gday
its great to have a good pizza oven... But as you go along you'll find a wood fired oven is also a great bread baker roaster and griller. Take all you favorite recipes and throw away the temperature and times bit. You'll discover as you go these ovens are so forgiving on those. Fire in the oven, fire out, all still works.
Regards dave

 

[phi1]

Nov 27, 2014 14:10:47 GMT rivergirl said:

You won't regret it! Do you know which kind that you will be doing?

Dome, sort of beehive shape.

I am cutting into a chalk base in my rockery which is teared to form a base, will then cast a concrete base with rebar, I was thinking of a layer of Celcon blocks for insulation and then firebrick base.

I have just made a former for the oven opening 10" high, 20" wide.  Anticipate about 34 to 36" interior oven.

I will take photos as I go and try to post them on here.

Read loads of threads and to be honest it becomes very confusing for an amateur, I am not a bricklayer just wanted a DIY project so this should be fun 

All advice and criticism welcomed.

Phil

[kstronach]

Hi Phil,

welcome to the forum, not abit late in the year to be starting such a project? ? Hope we get some good dry weather or maybe you could cover the area with a gazebo! Anyways your door arch wants to be 63% of your finished dome height for the best air circulation into the oven obviously if the doors to small not enough air will get too the fire and if it's too big you'll lose too much heat so apparently 63% is optimal! So for a 34" 17" high your looking at 10 3/4" and a 36" would be 11 1/2". If you needed or wanted too you could prop your former up to get abit more height and it would make it easier to get it out once you've built round it too. All the best and don't forget to start a build thread with pictures!
The celcon blocks are fine under your floor you can lay them on lintols spanning your blockwork if you need to.
Keith

[phi1]

Hi Keith
This is a long term project ready for next spring, as I am retired I hope I can pick nice days, in the mean time I will start collecting the materials.
Thank you for the advice about the door arch opening, I want aware it was so critical, I will now alter the timber former I have made to accommodate the sizes you provided.
Regarding the base I live on the south downs and my house is built into a hill (house at front, bungalow at the back). I am digging into the rockery to provide a level base for the oven base which will be solid chalk, then a concrete slab with rebar and then Celcon blocks.
As you suggest I will start a build thread once I have fathomed out posting pictures (I'm a bit of a technophobe)
Thanks for your advice
Phil

[rivergirl]

I want to do two builds next year. One is my second Bert under a pergola and next to a hot and cold smoking area. The other is to make a fire pit with seats around dug into a long mound we have at the bottom of the garden. I was thinking of sinking an oven into the mound. So really looking forward to your photos!

[phi1]

I have found some "French Reds" at a demolition reclamation yard in Sussex. The sales staff there assured me they were old clay bricks suitable to build the dome of my proposed build.

Can anybody on the forum advise me if they will be suitable.

90p + VAT each seems like a reasonable price.

Phil

[kstronach]

hi phil,

if i were you i would take a hammer and bolster along and split one in half see what there like, you don't want anything soft and crumbly and the colour though the middle wants to be fairly even, avoid anything that has a lot of black inside the brick its been overfired and could become brittle. also they want to be quite dense so if you give one a tap with the hammer you want more of a ringing sound that a thud if that makes sense? check what both ends of the brick are good clean faces not chipped or spalled or cracked as there going to be the faces on show in your oven and take the full force of the flames.

this isn't the place you've been by any chance is it? . . . authentic-reclamation.co.uk/stock/bricks/

if so they look to have some good stock in something like these would probably be ok. . . authentic-reclamation.co.uk/stock/bricks/wire-cut/red-wire-cut-bricks/

or what about these on ebay if there not to far from you? www.ebay.co.uk/itm/folkestone-reclaimed-red-victorian-bricks-/221652786645?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item339b891dd5

if it was me i'd be wanting to negociate on the price abit too, because as a builder i know how many of these sort of old red bricks unfortunatly go straight in a skip.

good luck

keith

[cobblerdave]

G'day
I'd consider using fire brick for the hearth floor as its a lot tougher than red brick.
Regards dave

[kstronach]

Yep I second that or storage heater bricks

[cobblerdave]

G'day
I really need educating on the whole stowage heater brick thing!
I don't own a heater you don't need one here, so there not something that I've ever come across. Could someone enlighten me .
Regards dave

[kstronach]

Storage heaters are basically an electric heater filled with firebricks that heat up during the night when the electric tariff is cheaper and release the heat over the next couple of days. The bricks are usually avialable for free which is a plus point! The brick are very efficient at retaining heat so work well for the floor of a pizzaoven the sizeof them are 230 X 190 X 50mm