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Post by truckcab79 on Mar 10, 2018 18:21:50 GMT
Couple of hours spare so managed to get another course up. Little by little...
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Post by truckcab79 on Mar 10, 2018 18:22:18 GMT
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Post by truckcab79 on Mar 11, 2018 18:44:48 GMT
Minor set-back today when I was brushing off the drying mortar. Thought the 7mm joints on the last arch brick laid looked a bit thick and when checked off with my gauge stick realised I’d gone to the top of the next mortar joint instead of the brick. Mortar only half set in this weather so knocked them off and scraped the mortar away relatively easily. No big deal and better to realise now than later!
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Post by truckcab79 on Mar 14, 2018 13:43:56 GMT
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Post by truckcab79 on Mar 17, 2018 10:30:34 GMT
Time for the arch. Laid it all out around my former so that I could mark it up and number each brick. It was apparent that the first two arch bricks on the left hand side were cut a bit undersize and left a gap that was too large for me to to be happy with. Tried an old clay brick from a wall in the garden (knocked out where the wife wouldn’t notice!) but that was way too dark. Gave the supplier a call and he was very happy to send out a replacement but wanting to get on with it I queried the 30 full bricks that were supplied with the kit. Turns out they are just spares in case of breakages so cut one of those in half. Aside from a rougher texture as it’s been tumbled, a good enough match to the others. Laid it all out, marked my former and assembled my brick supports, packers and wedges, then checked it was all level. Quickest bit of all was assembling the arch. Helped by the markers I’d made to line everything up. I used a wetter than usual mortar mix and also sprayed each brick with water so it didn’t dry out too quickly. Still sucked the water out really quick so probably should have soaked the bricks first. Settled for misting a hose over them once in place. Hopefully that’s kept it wet enough to get a good bond. As per kit instructions I bent a loop of wire info the joint between each brick. Not sure this can add a huge amount to the strength so long as the mortar bonds properly but can’t hurt either. And the almost final version. I’ll post a pic of it cleaned up but before I got a chance to do so, the heavens opened, and at the same time, my angle grinder packed up (can’t complain after 25 years use!) whilst I was trying to cut down the concrete lintels for the next stage of work. I’ll add one in a few days. So long as the cold weather last night hasn’t affected the mortar, then I’m very pleased with how it turned out. Here’s a pic of the pre-cleaned and pointed version.
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Post by truckcab79 on Mar 21, 2018 19:03:17 GMT
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Post by albacore on Mar 21, 2018 22:03:48 GMT
Well done! There's a lot of good work there that's been done in some very adverse weather conditions!
Great pictures, too.
Lance
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Post by oblertone on Mar 22, 2018 16:49:53 GMT
That's an awful lot of brick cutting with an angle grinder !
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Post by truckcab79 on Mar 22, 2018 18:04:31 GMT
Many thanks.
I’m not sure the kit is actually a huge saving over the full brick version once you buy all the blocks and stuff, but all those bricks come ready-cut by the supplier so well worth paying for the time and dust saving, and for better relationships with the neighbours!
Ignoring that undersized corner brick on the arch all I’ve had to do so far is trim one brick a fraction. It’s should all be set out to use full brick sizes for the majority.
It’s also a bit tricky to lay half bricks. It’s neither tiling nor bricklaying. Seems to be going ok though.
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Post by oblertone on Mar 23, 2018 9:54:08 GMT
My apologies, I didn't realise the brick slips came with the kit already cut. It will look the 'dogs danglies' when finished.
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Post by truckcab79 on Mar 23, 2018 11:38:29 GMT
My apologies, I didn't realise the brick slips came with the kit already cut. It will look the 'dogs danglies' when finished. Yes. Surprised it makes it cheaper than a full brick version to be honest, given the labour involved to cut them all for you. Appreciate the supplier is using half as many bricks and you have to buy some blocks etc locally in addition, but even so. As said, well worth it for the convenience, and if I was a faster bricklayer, probably the speed!
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Post by downunderdave on Mar 24, 2018 11:16:50 GMT
Welcome to my build. It’s a Milano 750 from Pizza Oven Supplies in Stoke and is my first build. I arrived here via a £100 Tesco pizza oven bought last Summer. Chosen after the rave reviews of the Aldi version. The tesco one was more substantial and they had matched the Aldi price as it was originally sold at £150. It it was fun, but cooking for four of us was. a long process only able to cook one at a time and taking 10-15 minutes to do so. To be fair if I persevered with it longer and let it heat up longer I probably could have improved this. Whilst I don’t like doing things second rate I started out with what I thought was a reasonable budget, looking at what seem like some very good value pre-built ovens on eBay for under £500. Fully appreciated that they were not going to be the best of the best but reviews were good in the main. Deciding factor on not going this route was that the oven size I wanted would be a struggle to get through the house. Could only manage it on its side, and that seemed too much of a risk. Much research led me to the modular route which I considered was a good route to a quality oven at a sensible price and timescale. I have a few projects on the go and it seemed sensible not to take on something that would take up all my time. As these things tend to escalate, I started out with a 600, thinking it was good value, and I could build it cheaply, render it and build a sleeper base for it nice and quickly, to thinking 750 was bigger (and therefore better) and maybe a block base, then taking the plunge and going for a ‘kit’ of oven and all brickwork. By this time my budget had increased and I doubt I’ll see much change out of £1,500 by the time I’m done. The Milano 750 is a kit in the loosest sense of the word but has the bulk of the laborious cutting completed. In addition to the kit you need 25 concrete blocks, a couple of lintels, 3 slabs and of course the materials for a base. What you get is the oven in 5 pieces, all the bricks you need as well as the log store and brick arches already cut. In addition the insulation, silicone, chimney, chicken wire and a couple of bags of grog and something else that escapes me. The fact that all the bricks are cut is a huge bonus for me (and the neighbours!). Included are all the brick slips to clad the blockwork. To be fair they’re not really slips as such, ie tile thickness, but are full bricks cut in half lengthwise. I’m surprised that given the amount of work involved in cutting the brickwork that the kit is not more expensive. In my case I opted for reclaimed bricks as I prefer the look, but new are available also if I recall. While most cast commercial ovens are around 2” thick and perform well, it is a different story if building an oven with 2” thick brick walls. To form sufficiently strong bonds between brick units they really need to more like the full width of the brick. I’m not saying it won’t work, but other builders report they don’t pass the test of time. Fortunately the form of a dome is such that it’s self supporting so the structure should still stand. Good luck
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Post by truckcab79 on Mar 24, 2018 11:25:08 GMT
Welcome to my build. It’s a Milano 750 from Pizza Oven Supplies in Stoke and is my first build. I arrived here via a £100 Tesco pizza oven bought last Summer. Chosen after the rave reviews of the Aldi version. The tesco one was more substantial and they had matched the Aldi price as it was originally sold at £150. It it was fun, but cooking for four of us was. a long process only able to cook one at a time and taking 10-15 minutes to do so. To be fair if I persevered with it longer and let it heat up longer I probably could have improved this. Whilst I don’t like doing things second rate I started out with what I thought was a reasonable budget, looking at what seem like some very good value pre-built ovens on eBay for under £500. Fully appreciated that they were not going to be the best of the best but reviews were good in the main. Deciding factor on not going this route was that the oven size I wanted would be a struggle to get through the house. Could only manage it on its side, and that seemed too much of a risk. Much research led me to the modular route which I considered was a good route to a quality oven at a sensible price and timescale. I have a few projects on the go and it seemed sensible not to take on something that would take up all my time. As these things tend to escalate, I started out with a 600, thinking it was good value, and I could build it cheaply, render it and build a sleeper base for it nice and quickly, to thinking 750 was bigger (and therefore better) and maybe a block base, then taking the plunge and going for a ‘kit’ of oven and all brickwork. By this time my budget had increased and I doubt I’ll see much change out of £1,500 by the time I’m done. The Milano 750 is a kit in the loosest sense of the word but has the bulk of the laborious cutting completed. In addition to the kit you need 25 concrete blocks, a couple of lintels, 3 slabs and of course the materials for a base. What you get is the oven in 5 pieces, all the bricks you need as well as the log store and brick arches already cut. In addition the insulation, silicone, chimney, chicken wire and a couple of bags of grog and something else that escapes me. The fact that all the bricks are cut is a huge bonus for me (and the neighbours!). Included are all the brick slips to clad the blockwork. To be fair they’re not really slips as such, ie tile thickness, but are full bricks cut in half lengthwise. I’m surprised that given the amount of work involved in cutting the brickwork that the kit is not more expensive. In my case I opted for reclaimed bricks as I prefer the look, but new are available also if I recall. While most cast commercial ovens are around 2” thick and perform well, it is a different story if building an oven with 2” thick brick walls. To form sufficiently strong bonds between brick units they really need to more like the full width of the brick. I’m not saying it won’t work, but other builders report they don’t pass the test of time. Fortunately the form of a dome is such that it’s self supporting so the structure should still stand. Good luck Hi there. Apologies but I don’t know what that means. The build so far is just the block and brick base. I have a cast modular oven dome that goes on top of this and is about 70mm thick (I’ll measure when I get a chance). The base is 70mm also and then topped with 50mm refractory bricks for the floor. Dome in turn is then clad with insulating blanket, mortar and brick slips (1/4 bricks) to then finish it. I’m not sure if you think the bit I’m building is the oven or that I’m building the dome out of the same half bricks I’m cladding the wood store with......or more likely I’ve completely misunderstood your post. Can you explain. Much appreciated.
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Post by truckcab79 on Mar 24, 2018 11:31:30 GMT
This is roughly what I’m building if it helps.
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Post by starseeker on Mar 24, 2018 16:43:46 GMT
Well done ,all looking really good
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