28" homebrew cast oven in walled enclosure Belgium

[david s]

That's a beautiful build.

[Kris S]

Awesome build. I really enjoyed reading through your progression. I hope to make an oven at some point and hope it turns out half as good as yours!

Thanks! I'm glad you found it useful.
I decided to document my build too, because without other people's build stories I would undoubtedly have made some errors along the way!

[bnew17]

Awesome build. I really enjoyed reading through your progression. I hope to make an oven at some point and hope it turns out half as good as yours!

[AndreasP]

Looks great. It should be easy to clean with a pressure washer once the weather gets better

[Kris S]

I always wanted to try and cast a concrete countertop, have you considered that?
My current BBQ island countertop is tiled and keeping the grout clean is a real pain.

Hi, I went with the poured concrete countertop. Here it is now in rainy weather, so yeah, there already moss growing on top of it, impossible to keep superclean.
I don't really mind and I just put some tablecloth over it when in use. might still tile it in the future when I stumble onto something nice but i can imagine the difficulty in keeping the grout clean!

I also finally got around to painting the whole thing (apart from the tabletop) and replaced the wooden board trims below the roof edges at the side with some leftover slate ones.

[Kris S]

Looks good from here (California). How's the oven holding up?

Hi, it's holding up fine.

Had some time over the holidays and cooked some more sourdough breads, osso bucco and Irish beef stew, all from one firing.

The cracks inside the dome are there to stay, but don't seem to grow anymore...

[AndreasP]

Short update:

• started work on adding a prep table, I'd love to add a 1" granite table top but it would cost me as much or even more than the whole project combined up to now. So I'll probably just cast a top and tile it or something.

I always wanted to try and cast a concrete countertop, have you considered that?
My current BBQ island countertop is tiled and keeping the grout clean is a real pain.

[Warhorn6]

Looks good from here (California). How's the oven holding up?

[Kris S]

Yep, that's the plan, but will be a project for next year, too much other stuff to do around the house this year

[JRPizza]

It all came out very nice! Are you going to add any pavers (or similar) to make an area to stand on while firing and cooking? I can see that nice grass getting trampled/muddy in the wet season.

[Kris S]

Short update:

• started work on adding a prep table, I'd love to add a 1" granite table top but it would cost me as much or even more than the whole project combined up to now. So I'll probably just cast a top and tile it or something.
• finally repleced the makeshift uninsulated aluminum oven door with an insulated one. Thanks to Kvanbael for kindly giving me his leftover Calsil, and providing insight on how to make it !
• applied a cement render over the concrete blocks of bottom half of the oven, still needs paint, but need to finish the table first.

next weekend we'll have another pizza party!

[Kvanbael]

Yes, I do.

In case PM fails (I've had lost messages in the past), you can find me at <same first name as you>.vanbael@tele<you know what goes here>.be

[Kris S]

If you want a leftover piece of calSil board, and don’t mind the drive to St-Laureins….

that’s what I used for my door.

That would be great! Do you still have a +/- semi circular piece 48cm wide at the bottom and 22cm high left over?

I think I should have time to make a trip to St-Laureins somewhere between christmas and new year, I'll PM you.

[Kvanbael]

If you want a leftover piece of calSil board, and don’t mind the drive to St-Laureins….

that’s what I used for my door.

[david s]

I use a high temp silicone (Permatex Ultra Copper) to stand off the insulating panel from the timber faced door. This reduces/ eliminates heat by conduction so they are not touching. Apart from the adhesive effect of the silicone, the insulating panel is held on to the timber by 4 3/16” 316 stainless bolts washers and nuts. The smaller diameter bolts don’t conduct much heat. Have made many of these with great success.