Newbie Pizza Oven DIY HELP!!!

[hahnvihn]

Dear fellow helpers.

I have been wanting to create a pizza oven for some time now, and I have been looking at a lot of videos and instructions regarding this endeavour.

In every source I see, people seem to create a base foundation first.
The problem is, I have a BBQ previously left by the house owner made from brick. Is it possible to build a pizza oven on top of this brick BBQ?

I have linked 2 pictures of my existing BBQ,,
http://i.imgur.com/S0xWx.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/WewGV.jpg

Can anyone tell me if it is possible to build it on top?

[jeeppiper]

Re: Newbie Pizza Oven DIY HELP!!!

Hahnvihn...I dont see why you couldn't. What I would do is build a form on top and pour a 4" reinforced (rebar) concrete slab on top.

[brickie in oz]

Re: Newbie Pizza Oven DIY HELP!!!

Its way too small, by the time you put the dome then some insulation the oven will be just big enough to do 1 sausage at a time in it.

[deejayoh]

Re: Newbie Pizza Oven DIY HELP!!!

It would take about 30 minutes to demolish that BBQ so you could build your stand the right way. The stand is the easiest part of the build. Why cut corners there?

[david s]

Re: Newbie Pizza Oven DIY HELP!!!

The weight of an oven is mostly directly under the inner dome. The insulation layer and thin outer shell are much lighter. You want the support under where most of the mass is, so a cantilevered slab is actually preferable to a stand with the support at the perimeter IMO. Creating formwork to do this is a little more difficult, but if it were mine that is how I would build it.
Cantilevering the supporting slab in this way with the 800 mm deep stand placed under the centre of mass (middle of inner dome wall) would give you a 700 mm diam internal dome. That's way bigger than the oven in your kitchen.

[david s]

Re: Newbie Pizza Oven DIY HELP!!!

I think it would be a pity to demolish a quite attractive and presumably solid base already built.It is not clear from your photos, but it appears that the slab extends in front of the Barbecue then bricks laid over it. Perhaps you could lay some more bricks over it to make the stand deeper, there seems to be plenty of width. You can test what is under the bricks by drilling right through a brick and into the foundation below it. The difficulty in drilling through this layer will give you an idea of its strength and when the drill suddenly drills really easily you know you've reached the end of the thickness of the slab. This way you can test the strength and thickness and get an idea if there is enough foundation support.

[deejayoh]

Re: Newbie Pizza Oven DIY HELP!!!

I think it would be a pity to demolish a quite attractive and presumably solid base already built

I have to disagree. That base is at best half the depth of an oven stand that would support even a 30" oven. So any use of it will involve building up the front of it to support the oven (where the pad is)- which likely involves concrete, which means the "attractive" part of it is likely to be covered up once the oven is built in order to make it look decent. And who knows what the BBQ was built on in terms of a slab? "presumably solid" is a big if.

I say if you're going to go to the effort to build an oven, don't start with a questionable oven stand. I think the saying is "penny wise and pound foolish"

[Lburou]

Re: Newbie Pizza Oven DIY HELP!!!

Most of us start from scratch when creating outdoor spaces. I wonder if you could incorporate your existing structure into an outdoor area designed for cooking and eating.

Specifically, can you build the oven on one side of the existing structure, then, modify that existing structure to serve as food prep area, a serving area, or a table top?

[brickie in oz]

Re: Newbie Pizza Oven DIY HELP!!!

modify that existing structure to serve as food prep area, a serving area, or a table top?

Or really go out on a limb and put a bbq in it..........

[Lburou]

Re: Newbie Pizza Oven DIY HELP!!!

Or really go out on a limb and put a BBQ in it..........

I was thinking of something he could use after the oven is built We've cooked everything in our oven; roasts, steaks, turkeys, casseroles and bread. All three cooks in the house plan to cook something using the residual heat after pizza. He won't use the BBQ that much Brickie

[azatty]

Re: Newbie Pizza Oven DIY HELP!!!

He needs to retrofit it for a smoker. Sure, you can slow roast in the WFO, but it ain't smoked. And forget about cold smoking in the WFO.

[Laurentius]

Re: Newbie Pizza Oven DIY HELP!!!

Why can't you smoke in a WFO, I do it all the time, from turkeys to pastrami.

[azatty]

Re: Newbie Pizza Oven DIY HELP!!!

We'll agree to disagree on that point, since the choice of smoker is practically a religious topic. But I doff my cap to you if you can manage a long sub-80 degree cold smoke in a WFO. I only attempt it in an offset smoker with very accurate temperature control equipment. Although I suppose you could do it with one of the smoldering trays I've seen, but I sort if think that's cheating.

[Laurentius]

Re: Newbie Pizza Oven DIY HELP!!!

Never claimed I cold smoked in the WFO, but my WFO is 1000% better smoker, than my modified Brinkmann ECB smoker. Whats the smoldering tray, trick?

[azatty]

Re: Newbie Pizza Oven DIY HELP!!!

One product I've seen is a square pan that has spiral walls inside the pan. Sawdust is placed in the channels made by the spiral and is lit at one end. It smolders and because the sawdust doesn't flame up, the temperature stays down.

I'm a bit of a snob about smoking, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I design my own smoking equipment and have it custom fabricated, and so there's the source of my opinions about the matter.

What's your method for smoking in the oven?