The adventure begins

[backinoz]

My wife and I have been talking about building a pizza oven for a while. Our enthusiasm was helped along with a couple of DIY stories on Better Homes and Gardens, and since then have been actively looking at options and alternatives but until today the plan kept changing.
The FB site has been great although the amount of threads I have read about pizzas ovens hasnt helped me to stop procrastination or to finalise design. In saying that it is clear that what ever the problem, query, or question you might have somebody has walked some of that journey before and got to taste a wood fired home made pizza at the end of it and has posted their journey on FB. If thousands of others can do it then so can I.

Today was the first day of the adventure and dirt has been turned. At this stage the dream is a 42" Tuscan. Im sure there will be plenty of turns and changes yet to come but it's what you see on the way is sometimes more important than the destination. I have started taking photos but will work on putting all that together when I have more output to display.

Cheers

[backinoz]

Re: The adventure begins

Base slab is complete and still no blisters.
Spent the week from turning first soil preparing the formwork and getting ready for pouring the slab. All went very well and surprised how easy it was getting everything level and square. My previous experience says it is harder than it should be but....

The slab is just over 2 mx2 m and 150 mm thick in its shallowest point. It is reinforced with 2 pieces of 12 mm reinforcing bar around the edge that supports the brickwork and a 6 mm mesh across the rest.

I estimated 14 bags of concrete and was pretty close to the mark with 12 but only ran out of aggregate and sand about two bags from the end. Lucky Max was there to duck to the quarry. There is enough blogs that indicate This is a common enough problem. Good thing I was working on the slab on Monday not the weekend.

Added a red Oxide to give the slab a tuscan/terrecotta look.

Final step was putting the family handprints and date in the slab.

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: The adventure begins

Hi Oz..
Looking good so far,, congrats on finishing the slab,,, soon the real fun begins
Cheers
Mark

[Alter ego]

Re: The adventure begins

It's looking good so far. Your daughter looks like mine when she comes down to "help" on my build. Perhaps a little over dressed for building or was it just the ceremonial occasion?

Hvae you found a supplier of fire bricks in northern QLD? There can't be too much demand up there!

Paul

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: The adventure begins

Congratulations on your base backinoz (great name). Like you said, it's and adventure and a journey you and your family will cherish forever. So, enjoy the ride and thanks for posting your pics. Cheers, Dino

[Janine M. LeGrand]

Re: The adventure begins

Hi BackinOz,
Welcome and congratulations! You're on you way on a fun adventure--lots of work, and if you build is even half like mine, lots of questions/problems to solve. The folk here have been fantastic at helping me along with my crazy questions and difficult needs. I finished the basics of my oven several weeks ago--still not totally done but enjoying great pizza, bread etc. Honestly, I didn't believe everyone when they said that WFO food really tastes better, but it is true. I think it is the great browning you get. Real pizza, great beer can chicken--lots of good food. Wishing you the best luck with your build!
--Janine

[nissanneill]

Re: The adventure begins

Hi backinoz, and welcome aboard.
It is great to see another from 'down under' on board. What is your handle?
I guess the creator of this site James is further impressed by the increasing numbers to support his desire to get Forno Bravo set up and selling their wares in Australia.
Good progress to date, plenty of decisions and plenty to go.
Keep it going and you will be enjoying your oven well before christmas. Once finished, then the decisions and the cooking questions come, then the outdoor kitchen, etc etc.
You have just started your journey and it not likely to end!
What are your plans, design, materials, timelines etc?
Read my build as it is a little different and has many ideas and tips/tricks covered that will help you along the way. i am always here also to assist you through the build.
Cheers.

Neill

[backinoz]

Re: The adventure begins

Niell
Dont worry. I dont have any illusion that the adventure stops once the pizza oven is built. I am sure my wife is already scheming on how to tie it into an outdoor entertainment kitchen oven kick back area.
The only deadline I have is for a Pizza and Pool party for my daughters birthday before Christmas. Very achievable at this stage, but I am optimistic by nature.

[backinoz]

Re: The adventure begins

More progress. Going like clock work so far but anybody can build a brick wall I guess. Have built up the base by 5 courses from the slab. Now just over 840 mm high. I don't think I quite got the 10 mm of mortar between each course. Used left over house bricks so it ties in very nice.
Used just over one bag of cement which was less than I calculated. Goes to show that maybe Murphy doesn't work on saturdays.

Next week is Halloween so Im not allowed to make too much of a mess so I think it will be boxing up the top slab and sourcing the next lot of materials.

Having fun. Especially enjoyed a couple of Boag's Draught after everything was finished and cleaned.

[paulyboy]

Re: The adventure begins

Hey, great job so far, just laid the bricks in my base today too, we will be going neck and neck!
Paul

[jmhepworth]

Re: The adventure begins

Really nice brick work. You will enjoy working with the firebricks. Using rectangular bricks to make a dome is really fun.

Joe

[david s]

Re: The adventure begins

Hi Backinoz,
Looks like an interesting layout there. Did you call your local council ? Up here I was told the structure must be 1.5m inside the boundary fence. I found this out after I'd already built mine right up against the fence. Invite your neighbours over for pizza you don't want them complaining about smoke and resulting disputes.

[Johnny the oven man]

Re: The adventure begins

More progress. Going like clock work so far but anybody can build a brick wall I guess. Have built up the base by 5 courses from the slab. Now just over 840 mm high. I don't think I quite got the 10 mm of mortar between each course. Used left over house bricks so it ties in very nice.
Used just over one bag of cement which was less than I calculated. Goes to show that maybe Murphy doesn't work on saturdays.

Next week is Halloween so Im not allowed to make too much of a mess so I think it will be boxing up the top slab and sourcing the next lot of materials.

Having fun. Especially enjoyed a couple of Boag's Draught after everything was finished and cleaned.

For bricks up in the Nth, try Total Refractory Management in Slacks Crk.

[backinoz]

Re: The adventure begins

Another good day of work. Finished the formwork on Saturday.

Formwork was set up using some 12mm structural ply around a frame. This was off set from the brickwork using some 2"x3" which I got level and square around the outside.
Reinforcing was done with 6x2m lengths of 12mm ReBar as the base and a 6mm mesh over the top and tied together. Over the lintel I put a 75x75x6mm angle and a piece of 75mmx10mm flat bar. I think its an overkill but the old saying goes "If its worth doing its worth doing once"

[backinoz]

Re: The adventure begins

Top slab was not as hard as the base slab. 7 bags of concrete and just over 4 hours work. Trick was starting early so not to have to work thru the heat of the middle of the day. managed to get a bit of a cool down with a short bit of rain about half way thru but no consequence.
Only problem was that I finished to early to relax with a beer.