Hello ... from England

[mickfitz]

Greetings

I've decided to make an 'oven' part of my overhaul of the garden. I'm a bit nerdy and like to research before I do things like this. I'm also a bit tight-fisted (UK speak for not spending money ) so I'll be trying my best to do it as cheap as possible.

Looks like a great forum to learn

Mick

[dmun]

Re: Hello ... from England

Hello, Mick, Being tight fisted in the UK means looking for used materials, particularly firebricks which are way overpriced over there. Welcome!

[mickfitz]

Re: Hello ... from England

Thanks for the welcome. Yep ... fire bricks are crazy money so I think I'll be going for hard engineering bricks.

Mick

[Carl]

Re: Hello ... from England

Mick,

Welcome to the forum! I was pretty hard up when I built my oven, so had to cut costs wherever I could. Total net cost was around ?200 - you can see my posts on this forum for details, or have a look at my blog. Cheapest UK supply of firebricks (if you can't find them second hand) was YRPL. Use the search tool on the forum to find lots of useful advice from the other UK builders who can provide you with lots of advice on the best suppliers.

Carl

[mickfitz]

Re: Hello ... from England

Carl

Just followed your build ... in a word 'SUPERB' mate and very close to how I picture mine. The hut/shed/summer house is essential for us UK guys eh?

Where abouts do you live? I'd guess from the flint around Wiltshire?

How has the clay interior stood up mate?

How deep was the slab you built for the foundation?

As you can guess I will have a load of questions for you :-)

Mick

[Carl]

Re: Hello ... from England

Mick

Cheers - I'm really pleased with it, but I'm not getting to use it enough cos I'm still working on redecorating the house (another big project...). The more I use it, the more I want to use it!

Your geography's spot on - Salisbury. More flint than soil round here... I'd definitely do the shed again - haven't exactly had much of a summer have we...

Clay interior's doing fine so far after a dozen firings or so, no spalling or anything worrying yet. The mix I used should be pretty similar to firebrick. It's pretty hard now, but not really fired solid as it would in a kiln. I keep thinking of rigging up an air blower and taking the thing up to 1000 degrees... Couple of small cracks - hairline sort - but nothing I can't live with. I can't see anything this size that's heated to 500 degrees plus not cracking somewhere, unless it's in many small pieces. I can really see the wisdom in some of the unmortared dome designs that allow movement - but that's cleverer than my level of skill right now...

I wanted a brick oven, but didn't have the money or time to build the dome from firebrick. The bricks were pricey, but the added cost of the refractory mortar made the decision for me in the end. I will build one one day, but wanted to start with a cheaper option to see how much I liked it. I like it a lot, as it turns out

Slab was 6" deep, over about another 6" of rubble - mind you this was pretty much on the underlying chalk since we only have about a foot of topsoil round here. No movement yet, fingers crossed.

There's a lot of builders far more skilled than me on this forum, but any questions I can help with, just ask away.

Carl

[mickfitz]

Re: Hello ... from England

Hello Carl

I lived near Salisbury for several years so I got used to seeing the flint buildings etc

I quite like the way you built the dome and if it's doing the biz then I can see me using it. There is a load of kiln bricks on ebay at the moment for ?600 that could be used to build the dome, but I'm hoping to come in well under ?600 for the whole build!

I think I will build the hut/shed before I start on the oven. I live in Cheshire now and the rain is mental up here

Do you mind if I contact you direct to ask any questions?

Mick

[Faz]

Re: Hello ... from England

Hiya and welcome,

I am a fellow Brit, but unfortunately not yet had the chance to build my oven. I've got a lot of materials up the side of the house - concrete blocks for the stand, perlite for the insulation (both free from Freecycle), high density refractory brick/block from night storage heaters (a combination of EBay and Freecycle) now I just need some rebar and some time!

My wife thinks it will never happen but hopefully I can make a start this year.

Good luck.

[Carl]

Re: Hello ... from England

That's good advice from Faz - spend your time accumulating your building materials, then design to suit what you've got. Freecycle, ebay and simply talking to your friends and neighbours will often help find you what you need. I was donated 16 bags of cement and 2 tonnes of sand from a friend of a neighbour down the road who had over-ordered on a back garden project. He wouldn't accept a penny for them, so long as I carted them all away that day!

Don't be afraid of asking what might seem a daft question in public on the forum. I've found this is a friendly place - and there's lots of expertise that can help you. Often there's no 'right' answers...

Failing that, happy if you want to send me a private message to discuss if you prefer.

[aureole]

Re: Hello ... from England

In all likelihood, I'll have a bunch of leftover material after this build - I'll post up whatever leftover bits I've got.

[layla17]

Re: Hello ... from England

Great to meet you Mickfitz. I'm Layla and I'm new here too. My husband is designing an oven so I decided to get some information on the forum. I'd rather help him and avoid having him making a giant mess.

[Langy3366]

Re: Hello ... from England

Hi Aureole,
Where did you get your firebrick from. At just over a pound that's a good price.

What size are they ?
Regards,
Mike.

[aureole]

Re: Hello ... from England

I got them from Midland refractories: it's a side-branch of Yorkshire Refractories (YSOL) - search the forum for "Yorkshire" and you'll see a load of references.

They also do the Ceraboard- you'll need 2 sheets and it's ?60 a sheet: however, don't let it get wet, at all - it'll go very soft until it dries again. They'll set air-set mortar ready mixed (which isn't much use, except for setting the hearth bricks), and also some Penncrete. The Penncrete may be a useful hydralic mortar, but it doesn't have much adhesion - for that, ask them for the stuff with ball-clay in for extra stick - I spoke to the Penn refractory that makes it about this, so they definitely do it, I just didn't get it from Yorkshire refractories (and wished I did).