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Post by truckcab79 on Mar 24, 2018 17:36:39 GMT
Well done ,all looking really good  Cheers Starseeker. Much appreciated. |
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Post by downunderdave on Mar 24, 2018 21:06:34 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 My apologies, I think I have misinterpreted your intended build. I thought you were intending to build the inner dome out of those brick splits. If they’re only for decorative facing then please disregard my warning. |
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Post by truckcab79 on Mar 24, 2018 22:38:52 GMT
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 My apologies, I think I have misinterpreted your intended build. I thought you were intending to build the inner dome out of those brick splits. If they’re only for decorative facing then please disregard my warning. Aah. Thought as much. Definitely decorative only. They’re not even refractory bricks so wouldn’t dream of building the oven structure with them. The oven itself is a modular pre-cast. Its then insulated and clad so that it looks like a brick-build. All will be clearer as the build progresses. Many thanks. |
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Post by truckcab79 on Apr 1, 2018 19:49:21 GMT
Same but different. Got a few more bricks laid. Not very interesting for you I’m afraid but helps me documents the entire build. Probably won’t get anything done tomorrow despite not working, though I have a couple of weeks off coming soon which should help move things on.    Don’t like to leave it with a half finished course but mortar ran out, and no time to mix more as mother in law round for dinner! |
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Post by truckcab79 on Apr 11, 2018 16:48:17 GMT
And a little more...    I know it’s only April and I’ve probably started this a bit early in the year, but the weather really hasn’t done me any favours with this. However next week should be better, and I’m off work so hopefully will see a bit more progress. |
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Post by truckcab79 on Apr 14, 2018 14:51:37 GMT
Bit of a milestone for me today as the brickwork reached the top of the blockwork! Next step is to mortar the lintels, slabs and base, but in the meantime some more boring pictures of my brickwork for your delectation.    |
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Post by starseeker on Apr 16, 2018 18:56:51 GMT
Very impressed, Great looking brickwork |
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Post by truckcab79 on Apr 16, 2018 19:32:21 GMT
Started on the lintels today. They in turn support a pair of 600sq slabs and a pair of 600x300. In addition to two lintels you need to lay a row of bricks. Instructions not clear but I’m guessing that the reason that you don’t use a third lintel is so that you can overhang (corbel?) the bricks so a bit more of them is under the slab. I ended up doing this anyway as well as wiping a wedge of mortar under the overhang and also spacing the slabs apart slightly (instructions show that they butt together) and then I filled the gap with mortar. Was happy that overall this gives better support. Peace of mind as I’m sure the original version would work perfectly well. Worth noting I also had to use a very stiff mortar for both the slabs and lintels as when I first put them down on my regular mix, the weight just pushed it all out. Especially so on the lintels. Once in place and level I kept misting the slabs with water occasionally so It didn’t all dry out too quickly. Ended the day with the base all now closed in. Oven base goes on next!      |
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Post by oblertone on Apr 17, 2018 9:12:40 GMT
Little by little it's coming together; fair weather ahead !
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Post by truckcab79 on Apr 17, 2018 19:41:57 GMT
Fair weather arrived and so much nicer to work out there. Also mortar far better to work with in this weather. Following on from the build of the supporting base I started by dry assembling the oven floor. Couldn’t work out why I couldn’t get it level in all directions. Finally realised that the floor supplied is not flat. Didn’t expect it to be perfect but assumed that floor itself would be reasonably flat on the top surface. Finally realised that the issue was that the front left hand section (the oven opening), dropped substantially on that side. As if mould had been skewed while setting. Clearer in these pictures.    . That last one shows the back of the front section (it’s supplied in two halves), levelled left to right, and you can see how much it dips at the front. Not much I could do about it and realised the issue was isolated to that section only. I could level across the back section for L to R and use the right hand side to level front to back. Just means I’ll need to build up refractory bricks more on that front left section. A pain but sortable. Finished result below.  Once that was sorted, rear section went on easy. Whilst that set I started to build up the remaining brickwork. Some fiddly cutting round the front arch, and without the blocks behind for support it’s quite difficult to lay the narrow half-bricks. I ended up slapping some mortar behind each to do the job. At some point after all the brickwork is done you fill the void around the oven floor with rubble and mortar to give a flat surface for tiling. I preempted this by filling the large voids at the front with some old engineering bricks I had laying around, to give support to the half-bricks while I built. Much easier that way. Finally convince wife and teenage son to assist with ‘The Big Lift’ and got the back half of the dome in place.   |
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Post by truckcab79 on Apr 17, 2018 20:44:29 GMT
Very impressed, Great looking brickwork Cheers Starseeker. Been a lot of work, but enjoying it. |
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Post by truckcab79 on Apr 18, 2018 18:09:11 GMT
Bit more brickwork today. Thought I’d get further but those half- bricks are a pig to lay without anything behind to support them. The kit was supplied with a load of spare full bricks and it would be easier to build with those but aside from the fact there would not be enough to do all of the top three ‘unsupported’ courses, I’m loathe to use any of them and then find out I make a mistake and need them later. As mentioned before the space between the unsupported courses and the dome is to be filled with rubble and then levelled off with mortar. I found it easier to start building up the rubble behind the half-bricks at this earlier stage and then big dollops of mortar for added support. Nice weather was lovely to work in but made the mortar a whole different material to what I’ve been used to working with in the rain and cold. Better for it though. Kept misting the bricks down to hopefully ensure nothing sets too quickly. Started on the cut bricks over the arch too. Actually went fine. No wasted bricks from mistakes, and a pleasingly, ‘more luck than judgement’ symmetrical finish. The instructions with this say you can cut with hammer and bolster, but not sure I’d want to try that with any degree of accuracy resulting. All my cuts have been with angle -grinder and diamond cutting disc. Resulting dust being a good reminder of why it pays to have the bricks largely pre-cut for you. Anyhoo. Photos of today’s progress.   |
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Post by truckcab79 on Apr 19, 2018 20:26:49 GMT
Finally finished the base brickwork. Rest assured I’ll never be employed to do it professionally but I’m very pleased with the result, not least the fact that I managed to get a nice symmetrical finish on the front, with keystone, and two courses above all nicely laid out. That was all I managed to get done today. Started late and then my Land Rover decide to spring a leak from its fuel tank (40 year old series 3), so spent a while cleaning up and minimising damage. Will need a new tank and two new outriggers, but that’s a story for a different day and forum.   |
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Post by oblertone on Apr 20, 2018 13:55:18 GMT
Looking good, but is there a lip at the front, or is there more floor material to go inside ? I only ask because a front lip will make it very difficult to slide a peel in and out.
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Post by truckcab79 on Apr 20, 2018 18:54:29 GMT
Looking good, but is there a lip at the front, or is there more floor material to go inside ? I only ask because a front lip will make it very difficult to slide a peel in and out. Aah. I’ll answer your question, admit to a schoolboy error and relate today’s proceedings at the same time.... Dry-fitted both front halves of the oven. One side curvature matches well, the other not so much. Seems to be a casting issue as I can get it to match top and bottom, but curvature in middle is different to back section. Middle is out by about 20mm at worst. Shouldn’t affect anything and will never be seen. Then took it all apart again to start on floor Floor is covered with 2” refractory bricks, so that isn’t the finished level you see in that last pic. However I noticed yesterday that the floor looked a bit lower than I expected. Sat a refractory brick on and popped a tile in place on the outer brickwork to get finished levels. Was short of matching up by about 12mm. Took me ages to work out why. Re-read instructions and dawned on me that the slabs that I had bought were 38mm. Instructions said use 50mm. (They are not supplied with kit). Too late to undo it all now. Not concerned about the weight bearing as all of the weight is carried by two reinforced lintels. The slabs just spread the weight out. However it does affect finished height. Annoying as I could have easily added the height under the floor by using a thicker mortar bed. Nothing for it but to add it to the floor height so instead of a mortar bed of 10mm I have around 22. Fortunately I hadn’t bought the standard door as I intend welding up my own in due course, as the opening is now lower by 12mm. I suspect it may also affect the arch so I may have to cut the first brick down on each side. No big deal. Anyway. Fitted floor. All pre-cut but nothing numbered so a dry-run and then i marked each for position before soaking them as recommended and fitting in place. Given the thick mortar bed had to use quite a stiff mortar. More work than it sounds. Lots of fitting and re-fitting to get a perfect floor. Downside of pre-cut is that I couldn’t select the best side of a brick if it had any small chips. Had to use as is. Fortunately most had survived their transport and storage relatively unscathed. Final job was just to run a very watery mortar slurry across the top. Not to fill the gaps as they were almost non-existent, but a good way to check for completely level as your fingers don’t pick up the fine grooves as a difference in height. When dried out it will just brush out or burn away.   Will need to do some work on chimney. Casting isn’t great where the two front halves meet. When the front top of arch is perfectly aligned like this:  Then the chimney opening from above looks like this:  Obviously the chimney piece won’t just slip in without me Clearancing that hole a bit to get it round. I therefore also have a question regarding the chimney. Anyone know how far down the cast hole it needs to sit? Nothing mentioned in instructions. One end of chimney is correct size to slide into the rain cover / hat. So the other, slimmer end goes into the casting. It’s only slimmer for about 3 inches so I assume that’s all it needs to go down? It will get further support past the top of the casting by having a two brick high brick cladding so stability not an issue I don’t think. Sound ok? |
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