Newbie in Derbyshire

[richardcarlin]

Hi all, just joined as I'm attempting to build my first wood fired oven. The plan is to build a half barrel shaped oven from reclaimed red clay bricks then insulate it.
I have a bit of a "thing" where I like to take nothing and turn it into something. Ie. Without spending any/much money. It gives me a great sense of achievement and I don't get earache off the wife if my "silly" ideas don't cost anything.

So the story so far........I have built a base/frame from some very hefty timber. I have reclaimed bricks from a neighbours wall that he knocked down. The only thing I'm struggling with is the insulating materials for under and over the oven. I've done some research and popular opinion seems to be that vermiculite/perlite is the cheapest option but as I'm basically on a zero budget here I was wondering if there is anything else that has been used so that it spreads my searching for other useable materials. Basically everything up to now has been begged, stole (not literliterally) Or borrowed and I'd like to keep it that way if possible. Many thanks

[oblertone]

Welcome, quite a difficult task as insulation is the one thing you shouldn't scrimp on; however many WFO builders have excess material after their build and regularly offer it for free (see relevant section on here).
A very cheap alternative is to use storage heater blocks for the under the oven and floor; they are plentiful on eBay and gumtree. I paid £4:12 for 50+ as a basis for my build; I've got 12 left if you want to collect them from Devon !

Paul

[richardcarlin]

Hey, Thanks for the generous offer but that'd be a bit of a treck from here. Bugger! I took a storage heater to the dump about a month ago for a mate as well. If only I'd known. So if I can get hold of some are these used as the cooking surface or beneath it as insulation?
Sont want to seem like a kindling here, I will buy materials if b I have to but I just think it'd be pretty cool if I can manage to build my oven completely free of charge as I already have most of the stuff and I've not spent a pennpenny. Most of it kind of came my way for other purposes in the last couple of weeks. It's almost as if it was meant to be ?

[richardcarlin]

*That should read "Don't want to seem like a a kindling here" oops. Can't figure out how to edit it

[richardcarlin]

Aaaaagh! Stupid auto correct. Kindling = skinflint. Sorry ?

[cobblerdave]

G'day
I don't think you are a skinflint at all for " re purpose ing" materials. But something's just don't come your way sometimes and you have to buy them. The insulation I believe is so important to the proper functioning of your oven, I would spend some cash on that especially considering my savings on the bulk of the oven.
Just my 2 cents
Regards dave

[oblertone]

If you view my build thread you'll see I used a lot of scavenged material but there are some corners you shouldn't cut, and one of them is insulation. Good luck and do document how you get on, I'd love to see another 'budget' build.

[richardcarlin]

I'm taking pics at various stages so once it's done I'll post them up. Thanks for the help. I'm going to use vermiculite/perlite I think. Its not cost me a penny so far so I can't grumble. I've found a 100 litre bag for 18 quid on eBay. Am I likely to get it any cheaper than that elsewhere

[my2girls]

Hi there

I share your need for doing it for nothing , with a wife who also doesn't like me spending money on silly ideas .

So for my oven I started with some 4x4 post (off cuts from work) for my base

My concrete slab was cast from leftover concrete ( from a a house foundation at work)

My oven floor insulation was thermalite blocks( from work) with a layer of concrete over this followed by some ceramic ceiling board usually used in sub station ceilings .
This I had to buy for £25 from Jewsons

My oven floor was going to storage heater bricks but I couldn't source any so had to buy some 40mm fire bricks of ebay for £50

My dome is made with reclaimed solid clay bricks which I picked up from a demolished old factory

My chimney is a steel 6" pipe from a roller shutter

Vermiculite I had to buy from ebay for £40 for 2 bags
Cement to mix with is from work

I had a bit if chicken wire but had to buy a ceramic blanket from ebay for £35

So all in all I spent around £140 which I was a little disappointed with but things like vermiculite and ceramic blanket are quite specialised items and couldn't come across anything else to use , one thing that I kept reading was don't scrimp on insulation.

I also managed to get my wife and family on board with my silly idea with a little help from Jamie Oliver on YouTube cooking pizza and steak in a wood oven , which got people excited so give that a try !