New build advice from Cardiff

[taz]

Hi everyone,

Was hoping to get a bit of advice/ tips for my pizza oven build.

We bought a house a couple of years ago and the previous owner had built a clay pizza oven on a base made out of garden sleepers with normal paving pricks as the cooking base. This worked 'ok' for a short period but did seem to be quite fragile. It ended up being destroyed when a roofer nearly fell and put his foot through it. I've been contemplating rebuilding it for a while and have now decided I should just go for it. I've watched a fair number of YouTube videos but I feel that most seem lacking in finer detail. I'll explain what I plan to do below and would be very grateful for any advice and tips.

I have almost no experience in any sort of construction so please forgive me if any of what I say sounds absolutely mad!

- The current stand made out of sleepers is fairly strong but slightly small for the build I plan. I'm planning on extending this by adding more sleepers to the sides and front to give a total surface area of 1.5m x 1.4m. 

- I then plan to cover this with a layer of perlite or vermiculite cement ~ 5 cm thickness (I have a couple of bags of both) - Unsure which ratios to use for this and how long to cure it.

- I have fire bricks from an electric storage heater which I will use as the base - Planning on laying these over the vermiculite base with fire cement I bought from Vitcas UK. 

- The dome will be approx 80cm in diameter and made out of a vermiculite mix with an exercise ball as a template. First layer approx 5cm width then reinforce this with chicken wire and another layer approx 5cm width. 

- Leave the dome to cure for a couple of weeks maybe, then transfer to the base and secure over the firebricks with fire cement. 

- Light a few fires on consecutive days to allow further curing.

- Cover the dome with ceramic blanket and secure with chicken wire then render (again not sure of what ratios people have used for the render and does it matter)

- Finally, using either paving blocks or fire bricks (after cutting them), create the front arch. ( are paving blocks ok to use or should I use firebricks?)

- Light a few more fires on consecutive days before using it properly with a large fire.


Hope this makes sense.

Any thoughts and advice are most welcome!#


Best wishes

Taz

[oblertone]

Paving blocks (pavers) are concrete and will crack, firebricks or building bricks are fired in production and won't.

[taz]

Apr 22, 2021 19:24:10 GMT oblertone said:

Paving blocks (pavers) are concrete and will crack, firebricks or building bricks are fired in production and won't.

Thanks oblertone. Does the rest of my plan sound fairly doable /sensible?

[oblertone]

Have a search for vermicrete for correct ratios but just remember there's no such thing as too much insulation so I'd go deeper than 5cm 👍🏾 Storage heater blocks for the floor will work well, no need to cement them down just lay in loose sand to get a level.

As to the dome, no personal experience but others have built similar and are happy.

[downunderdave]

Apr 25, 2021 14:12:41 GMT oblertone said:

Have a search for vermicrete for correct ratios but just remember there's no such thing as too much insulation so I'd go deeper than 5cm 👍🏾 Storage heater blocks for the floor will work well, no need to cement them down just lay in loose sand to get a level.

As to the dome, no personal experience but others have built similar and are happy.

community.fornobravo.com/filedata/fetch?id=437429&d=1572731611