Disassambling/Relocating an WFO

[BaronVonChickenPants]

Greetings all,
I'm a long time lurker with grand plans of building an igloo style WFO and outdoor kitchen.

We have talked about this at work and the other day my boss was talking to his uncle who said "Do you know anyone who wants a free pizza oven, it came with the house, I don't use it and it's taking up too much of my shed."

My boss was there on the weekend and took this photo so I know what I'm up for:


He said the base is about 2.4m square.

So here's the catch/where I require your experience and advice.

• It does not fit through the door of the shed.
• There is no vehicle access to the backyard so it needs to be reduced to wheelbarrow loads.
• It is located 300km away so I would like to get it dismantled, loaded into a trailer and home in a weekend.
• How do I best store the pile of dismembered WFO until I'm ready to build.

What is the best way to disassemble, relocate and store the oven without completely destroying everything?

Would anyone care to speculate at what the weight might be and how long it would take 2 or 3 blokes to disassemble and load up the pile of oven.

Any help is much appreciated.

Regards,
Jordan.

[ATK406]

Re: Disassambling/Relocating an WFO

Interesting problem you have there. It would be hard to answer your questions without knowing more about how the oven was constructed and insulated (ie. How big is it? Was it built with fire bricks or casted refractory panels? Was it insulated with insulating bricks/ceramic blankets or a layer of perlcrete/vermicrete? I’ll assume you don’t know the answer to these questions. However, based on the picture it looks like it might be a type of commercial oven which are often constructed with prefabricated refractory sections/panels for the dome and hearth floor. It would be tricky to salvage something like that.

As for weight you are probably looking at 1500# or more depending on the size of the oven and base construction.

I am a HUGE fan of reclaimed materials, but I've got to say that I am skeptical that this would be worth the effort, unless the owner is willing to pay you to remove it. I understand that firebrick is really expensive in Oz so maybe it would be worth it to you (assuming you can salvage these materials). If it is not constructed of firebrick and is constructed of casted sections instead, I suspect that much of these materials (and your time) would be wasted in the process.

Good Luck, let us know what you decide to do.
AT

[Greenman]

Re: Disassambling/Relocating an WFO

It certainly is an interesting dilemma you have. Were you able to get a fork lift into the picture you might be able to do some interesting stuff. Like removing the chimney and flue and cutting the whole thing off below the slab. If you have to take it apart completely (don't get much into a wheelbarrow) it would be almost better and easier to spend your energy in starting from scratch.

Your bosses uncle would probably want to keep and use it if he got a bit of therapy.

[david s]

Re: Disassambling/Relocating an WFO

You could cut a hole in the roof and hire a crane.

[wotavidone]

Re: Disassambling/Relocating an WFO

You could cut a hole in the roof and hire a crane.

Yeah. Lift it out in one piece or forget it.

[stonecutter]

Re: Disassambling/Relocating an WFO

You could cut a hole in the roof and hire a crane.

Hahaha! I don't know about OZ but in the states, a crane would cost a ton of money, never mind the time and cost to rebuild the shed roof.

Get the floor material if you can and build one yourself. I'm with ATK on this, I doubt the effort is worth it.

[david s]

Re: Disassambling/Relocating an WFO

Hahaha! I don't know about OZ but in the states, a crane would cost a ton of money, never mind the time and cost to rebuild the shed roof.

Get the floor material if you can and build one yourself. I'm with ATK on this, I doubt the effort is worth it.

I totally agree, a rebuild would be better and crane hire here is outrageous too, but it is a solution to the problem. Baron Von Chickenpants asked for solutions re removal and it would be a better solution than cutting it into pieces and trying to reassemble it. Who knows, he may have access to a crane.

[BaronVonChickenPants]

Re: Disassambling/Relocating an WFO

Thank you everyone for your input and creative solutions

Unfortunately a crane is out, although I would love to be able to just pick it up and bring it home, it is just completely impossible to get to the shed, even from neighboring yards.

My understanding is the oven is 25-30 years old, the present owners purchased the house in 2000 and haven't had the inclination to use it in this time, now he wants to get it out of the way so that he can get his lathe and table saw into the shed.

The previous owners were an Italian family who used the oven almost constantly.

I'm fairly certain construction is brick, not refractory panels panels, but no clue as to the insulation or render layering.

I am told the external size is approx 2.4 metres/8 feet, I don't have the space or need for an oven this size and am really only looking at it as a source of materials.

Has anyone dismantled an oven before? Are there any techniques to employ to aid in the process?

I'm still undecided but pretty keen even if just to reverse engineer how it's made and get a few bricks.

Thanks again for your help,
Jordan.

[david s]

Re: Disassambling/Relocating an WFO

Then get a sledge hammer to it and retrieve the bricks, then build your own.

[stonecutter]

Re: Disassambling/Relocating an WFO

Has anyone dismantled an oven before? Are there any techniques to employ to aid in the process?

I have, around 10-12 historic beehive ovens ( dont remember exactly) , but none of them were close to 8'.....I think the largest one was probably around 36".

For an oven like that size since you don't need all the material, giving it the sledge treatment might be a good idea...though I wouldn't bash the whole thing apart with one.

I would knock hole in the roughest looking top section of the dome and from there, use a chisel to chip off the cladding...if you have a pneumatic chisel or a combi hammer ( hammer drill/chisel) that would speed things up.

Working from the top down, I would only remove enough cladding to work a few courses at a time, so that from that point all you need to do is loosen and remove the bricks in each course.

Doing it that way saves a lot of material and avoids putting fissures in the brick from the impact of a sledge.

[stonecutter]

Re: Disassambling/Relocating an WFO

Looking at the picture again, I would remove the vent and throat to create some working room, and salvage material from the dome and floor.

[BaronVonChickenPants]

Re: Disassambling/Relocating an WFO

Thanks Stonecutter,
that sounds like a well developed technique and just what I was looking for.

I do have a couple of combi-hammers and hopefully I can enlist some labourers to help on the promise of future pizzas.

Thank you everyone for your help, I will make sure I take plenty of pictures and provide progress updates.

Regards,
Jordan.

[cobblerdave]

Re: Disassambling/Relocating an WFO

Gudday Jordan
Plenty of pis sounds great! We have plenty of construction pics but none the other way . An oven dissection sounds interesting
Regards Dave

[david s]

Re: Disassambling/Relocating an WFO

Gudday Jordan
Plenty of pis sounds great!
Regards Dave

The combination of alcohol and demolition work sounds like fun, if a little dangerous.

[cobblerdave]

Re: Disassambling/Relocating an WFO

The combination of alcohol and demolition work sounds like fun, if a little dangerous.

Gudday
You seem to be the only one that enjoys predictive text
Regards dave