Hi from Northern California

[Les]

Re: Hi from Northern California

Very nice pallet to start with - tons of potential here. You should have a lot of fun! There is a lot of weight associated with an oven - do you know if there is any steel inside the slab? It most likely won't matter considering where you are located, just curious.

Les...

[Ellie]

Re: Hi from Northern California

Yes, there is rebar in the slab. I am excited to be here and to get the plans going. I am reading all the posts I can for ideas.

I have two options for building. I have a brick layer who lives directly across the road or a friend who will come over and help me do it myself. I suspect that it will come down to $$.

Ellie

[Modthyrth]

Re: Hi from Northern California

Welcome, Ellie! It's entirely doable on your own, even if you don't have any experience. There are some remarkably sophisticated and elegant builds on this site, but you'll also find some, like mine, that are more...rustic, let's say. ;-) I just went for good enough. If it stands and it cooks great pizza, that's all I care about! I've also discovered that stone veneer work looks great, and is really quite easy. My oven will look good once it's all said and done, and very few people will look inside the dome.

[nissanneill]

Re: Hi from Northern California

Hi Ellie,
location, location, location.
That's what it's all about. Convenience to other facilities and services!
I have started a plan to get my head around what you have got and where they are located in relation to the house and prevailing weather, but there is much missing information.
Obviously you would want to place your oven in the kitchen area rather than the gazebo area.
Where are these located in relation to each other (as I can't see any features in your pictures).
From your kitchen picture, the wall behind your grille (what we call a barbeque) looks to be running at 45˚ to the side walls and leaving a corner behind the vertical wall. This could be the best place to locate the oven, built through the wall with the back of the oven out of site (just like Hendo's)
Relocation of the grille and water/gas pipes etc is easy and not difficult not expensive to do.

Neill

[Ellie]

Re: Hi from Northern California

I wish I could draw like that!! Anyway, the outdoor kitchen is on the patio right next to the back of the house. It is very close but there is not enough room to do what I want. Further, it gets VERY hot here. After reading how much heat these ovens put out, I know I cannot have it next to the outdoor kitchen under the patio. It gets to 118 degrees here and frequently 95 or more on the patio.

The gazebo area is 40 ft. away from the house, but it is near water and electricity. Wow, you are right: lots of help here!! I am so glad I came here.
Ellie

[Ellie]

Re: Hi from Northern California

The slab is north of where I am standing to take the picture and the house is south and to the right of that. The the outdoor kitchen to the north east of the patio on the house.

Thanks, nikki, it is good to know that it can be done by a novice. I like brick but stone is really beautiful. Gosh, this is going to be fun planning.



E

[nissanneill]

Re: Hi from Northern California

Ellie,
been playing around with your layout, as I can detect from your description is as the .pdf basic plan.
Option 1
If there is room behind the diagonal wall (behind your bbq/grille), a hole could be cut into that wall and the oven constructed on a foundation/stand/slab with the oven accessible from your outdoor kitchen.
I am aware that you say it is very hot, but the roof that is existing would only be adding to the temperature. I would suggest that fast growing shade trees be planted and that better ventilation of the area be looked into. Curtains made of hessian with water soaking up them were used very efficiently as an artificial cooler here down under many years ago and even today, that principle is used in evaporative air conditioners.

Option 2
Build the oven with the domed opening adjacent to the cylindrical 'smoker'?. The oven would be outside and not under the roof line of your existing shelter and would not cause any major redevelopment of your existing areas.

Option 3.
This may involve moving the corner post (support for your shelter/roof but the oven would be outside and maybe not hindered by existing garden improvements. My oven is built similarly to this option.

Option 4
Build the oven directly behind the 'smoker'? where it is totally outside. You might look at building a roof extension later if needed to give shelter all year round for access to the oven.
I would certainly look into shade bushes/trees, even if they reduce your views but a nice shade tree on a really hot day is refreshing to say the least as it gets over the old century here in Adelaide, but not to 119˚F.

Could you get a picture of your property from Google Earth rather than drawing it.
I tried to work out what goes where but it may not be accurate.

Cheers.

Neill

[Frances]

Re: Hi from Northern California

Hey Ellie, I have another idea!

That gezebo area is so lovely with all those twirly bits... so if I were you I'd remove the material off the top of it, build an igloo oven towards one of the corners of the area, and grow vines up the metal frame. I imagine it would end up looking kind of grecian.

If you're not already completely sold on brick, I also think a very simple white oven would look great there, like a statue shining out through the vines.

Of course that would depend on how sturdy the frame is.
Personally I see no absolute necessity of having the outdoor kitchen and the pizza oven in the same place - I find we are either grilling or making pizza and baking, but not both at the same time.

So anyway, that was the idea that spontaneously turned up when ? saw your picture....

[Ellie]

Re: Hi from Northern California

Neill, you nailed it. Wow, you are really good at this. The only thing different is the outdoor kitchen ends with the corner of the house. I have a picture that shows the outdoor kitchen from the lawn. This will show why I cannot do it very well in this area. The back of the kitchen is very close to the pool.





If I go with the gazebo area, I can add the outdoor grill (my barbecue is gas) and a 4' surface for dutch oven cooking. We often have large parties and the 40' covered patio area is simply not enough and people migrate to the gazebo area as well.

Frances, I like the vine idea....Very cool. Grapes perhaps. I do know that I will have to take the gazebo covering off and put up a real roof.

Ellie

[christo]

Re: Hi from Northern California

If you build on the gazebo slab - I'd think about leaving the gazebo up until you are finished with the build - looks like a great shelter to work under!!

Best of luck!

Christo

[nissanneill]

Re: Hi from Northern California

Ellie,
to have shade trees with or close to a pool is more work. Even with fairly fast growing eucalypt trees, they lose some of their leaves in really hot weather and you are forever sweeping them up. But the shade provided is wonderful and worth the effort. Leaf blowers make the job almost effortless. These are preferred as they are pretty hardy over the deciduous trees but it does come down to personal preference.
You certainly have plenty of room to play with and that opens up a multitude of opportunities.
Your parties will increase in numbers and guests once they try your oven produce, so, the gazebo are might be inadequate to your (future) needs.
You need to sit down and talk it through with the other half as to what you want to achieve, how we are going to achieve it, where and when. An itinery of tasks can then be made, budgeted and work undertaken.
Depending on how handy you are (or even prepared to get your hands dirty and your back aching), you can always rake in the willing helpers but really, it is all achievable by anyone who really wants to make it happen without spending a fortune.
I have a lovelly pool, a very neglected back lawn, (to be redone after summer), a 'revisited' veggy garden and the new outdoor kitchen area almost complete at the rear of the house but nothing as large as you have to work with. They are all very close together and options are limited but it all will work wonderfully for the grand children, kids and friends.
Your opportunities are limitless especially with the amount of room, only time and money (and a lack of drive or determination) will limit your construction.
You will need to keep the oven a short distance from the large tree or at least have it well protected with insulated and spark arrester (as I have done with mine).

Cheers.

Neill

[nissanneill]

Re: Hi from Northern California

Just a quick but more expensive thought.
Double your back patio area but uncovered. Run wires through the beams or narrower timber battons to support the grape vines (although you will need to discourage the local birds form taken them long before they are edible).
This would then allow you to place the oven further away from the existing kitchen, but not too far from the household preparation area, provide shade and room for the increasing guest numbers and paved with cement slabs within your lawn a really light, breezy alfresco area close by the pool and all that is needed for a lazy enjoyable get together.
The smokers could always gravitate away to the gazebo area away from us puritans.
Food for thought, but a lot more expensive, but then again a lot more useable and added value!

Neill

[Ellie]

Re: Hi from Northern California

Food for thought is right, Neill. I had never thought of having it near the other patio. It would be easier to prepare food, that is for sure, having it closer to the house. Even for the dutch oven thing... those things are heavy! It is also away from the trees which hang over the gazebo. hmmmmmm.

More thinking and now I am ready to ask questions in the other areas of the forum. What a warm and friendly welcome this has been

Edited to add: I am going to go with next to the pool and patio. I called a bricklayer who happens to live across the street and we'll see what we can come up with.

Ellie