Greetings from the Cotswolds!

[donx22]

Hi everyone, have been lurking on here for a while now and finally have had the opportunity to get started on my build.

Have been deliberating over precast/ sections or doing everything from scratch with firebrick which would be my preferred and original option.

Due to to still restoring / rebuilding a house, just getting married and working away A LOT I have finally decided on a oven from Spain which I found while out on a business trip.

Very well constructed oven, and have used one at their facility which I was very impressed with, will still require entrance landing construction and I have been making the base, stand and outdoor kitchen area for a while now so basically given in to the wife to go for the easier and quicker option of a half pre-made.

Now for some of the more interesting bits, instead of the boring background.....

Pictures!!!

This is when I was creating the slab..... I want a sort outdoor kitchen dining area for the glorious sunshine we always have in UK (will be covered!)



Just to give you an Idea of the size. That's 3.5 x 3.2m with a raised section for seating, up to 300mm deep in some sections because of the slope of the garden and minimum of 180mm. The reinforcement you see was just the first lot. I managed o get quite a lot more threaded bar into it which was all tied in before the concrete was poured which i managed to pick up at the local recycling center (who throws away threaded bar!? manged to pick up M10 and M12 bar, 22 pieces in total ranging between 1.2m and 1.5m perfect really)

[diggerjones]

Looks great, I would be inclined to put some dpc under the slab. In an ideal world you would put some mot down and wacked

[donx22]

A DPM was placed under the slab and all the ground is hard as hell believe me! its all clay where i live so it became nearly impossible to dig by the time I had got to that level (all dug by hand!).

I'm currently in Japan, this happened all around Christmas time.

so what do you fill a big hole in the ground with..... 6.5 tonnes of concrete C30 that's what! friend have joked I'm building a bomb shelter.... they're not completely wrong. this thing is not going to move once in!

I was a very proud man at this point, and very broken from shoveling all the concrete and soil



Next I had lots of fun arranging my brickwork, couldn't decide for ages in the layout



Then every other whole was filled and rodded so that I could tie in my supports for the worktop, I will be using some beefy angle iron and more threaded bar for the cross braces



Finally this is the layout i decide on, Obviously pizza oven in the corner with a good wood storage size underneath. The bbq is there for sizing up as i will be putting a build in where it sits now. Plan on probably a good gas BBQ with a lid as i figured it will make life a lot more convenient, after reading lots of articles on gas vs coal i think I will go gas, at the end of the day I will have a pizza oven! The bbq probably wont get used that much, but while im at it it would be rude not to include it into the area :-D



Anyway this is the stage I am at now, as soon as i return form Japan the oven should arrive about a week later so I'l have my work cut out that weekend making the form work for the worktop and then mixing and pouring the concrete.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as you all have a lot more experience!
I hope you guys like it and if anyone on the forum is close to Cirencester then more then welcome to pop round have a cuppa and make judgment