This article is about the brick oven I made in my back yard. There are lots of similar articles on the interwebs, but I decided to post mine anyway. There are a lot of variations, so my oven may be informative to others who are designing their own oven.
Just to be clear, this is a black oven. The fire is burned on the hearth. Before cooking, you have to move the coals to the back of the oven (for pizza) or sweep them completely out.
Mr. Wikipedia says:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masonry_oven
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood-fired_oven
Just to be clear, this is a black oven. The fire is burned on the hearth. Before cooking, you have to move the coals to the back of the oven (for pizza) or sweep them completely out.
Mr. Wikipedia says:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masonry_oven
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood-fired_oven
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There are basically 2 methods for making a foundation: slab or footings. I used a slab because I felt that the weight and geometry of the oven did not require footings. A house, which weighs much more and is distributed over a much larger area, requires footings. Variation in soil type and moisture level in the soil at different locations around a foundation are more likely to occur for buildings that have a large footprint. This little oven is light and compact in comparison and does not need such an elaborate or expensive foundation.
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Foam insulation is basically a solid form of petroleum, so you're right to be worried about it. However, I don't think there's much danger in my design.
* If you are building in an area with cold winters, you may want to dig the foundation down to the 'frost depth' for your area. You can get this information from your local building or planning department. This will prevent the footing from being moved up and down by the soil freezing and thawing which could break up your masonry structure, or cause it to lean. A deep bed of compacted gravel would make an acceptable substitute for full concrete foundation, as most of the water will drain out of it.
*I would locate something like this away from large trees, especially if using a very shallow foundation. The tree roots will eventually move the foundation.
I believe the author is in Minnesota, if it's like Maine, no one is really going to dig down 6 feet to get below the frost line. That would be a huge hole.
If you ever make another one:
One traditional (oldey tymey) way of forming the dome (beehive) is with moist sand. Make a dome of sand and lay your bricks over it. Once the mortar has set, scoop the sand out.
I think my form was really poor and unpleasant to work with. There are still bits of pink foam in my yard from the struggle to get the form out!
Making forms, I think, is boring but very important. If I were to make another oven, I would make the forms FIRST.
Otherwise let it be a summer oven.
I was wondering : the small roof over the oven seems a little bit too close to the top of the oven (despite insulation). What do you think ?…
It's a black oven, which means the fire burns on the hearth where you eventually cook food. Obviously, some effort is needed to minimize the amount of ash that ends in the food. I use a wire-bristle brush to which I've attached a long handle.
After pizzas are made, there still a lot of heat to be used. After people left the first pizza party, I cooked a pumpkin and roasted a chicken. The oven was still 300 oF the next morning. I fired it that night for more pizza, and am cooking chickpeas, 2 more large pumpkins, and my wife's chili-lasagna invention. I'll dry some pumpkin seeds, too. There'll still be lots of heat left over. I'll have to coordinate with my neighbors next time...
I am impressed that it stays that hot for that long. Impressive.
And your brick front looks good, as well as your arch. That's not easy to do.
I was worried about heat storage because I laid the firebrick the thin way (2") instead of the thick way (4.5") would be a problem. But I couldn't afford 300 firebricks, so I'm glad it works.
People have been making ovens out of stone, brick, and clay/mud for thousands of years. The obsession with firebrick is a recent development. It's reliable, but probably overkill for most residential ovens. If I did this again, I'd do firebricks for the hearth and first course, then finish it off with regular bricks.
No, mainly I've been working on the party pipeline---pizza makers keeping up with the oven and vice versa. It's tricky when only a few of your guests have been initiated. 30-40 pizzas is a typical party, so small differences do matter.
I just ordered a perforated banjo peel with sliding grips:
http://www.fgpizza.com/store/media/2030-Banjo-Peel-pizza-turner.jpg
Anyway, an aluminum peel is better and cheaply available. I didn't buy one because it couldn't be shipped and received in 15 minutes.
Rather than stucco, you might consider mortaring up the rubble face until reasonably smooth then skim-coating with concrete to smooth it even more. Finally, finish the sides in whitewash and have a country look to it. That would highlight the front brick nicely (which looks great BTW).
http://www.galvanizeit.org/images/uploads/drGalv/hdgsteel_food.pdf
Otherwise, great work!