Tweet
Hi folks of the forum,
Long-time lurker and first-time builder here. I've been reading this forum on and off for 9+ years now with the dream of one day building my own brick Pompeii-style WFO. Life, family, career and other assorted excuses prevented me from ever picking up a spade. The recent surprise death of a 47yo friend has me thinking about the folly of putting off dreams and ambitions. So now 9-years later I've decided to compromise and buy a pre-cast oven and build the stand, insulation, enclosure and do the associated landscaping myself and sidestep the trapezoid brick-cutting faff that I knew would be too much of a time commitment (until I retire perhaps...).
I remain in awe of all the beautiful brick ovens built by folks on this forum. I've spent hours staring at photos to understand the how and why of construction. I feel a touch of regret not to be cutting firebrick myself, but lots of excitement at finally pulling my finger out of my rear end and starting. Shout out to Dino, Gulf, Mongo, Utahbeehiver and Brad Mole and many others for their build threads. I've stalked them all like a proper fanboy.
I managed to pick up a good quality 34" Italian pre-cast oven from an insolvency reseller in England at a bargain price. COVID and recent high-inflation was tough on pizza oven retailers apparently. It should arrive on a pallet on Tues 9th July. I hope it arrives in the correct number of pieces. It's perhaps slightly smaller that I wanted but I'm consoling myself that the build cost will be lower and that I'll fire it up far more often given the faster heat-up time.
I really wanted to buy a Forno Bravo oven, but they're not available in the UK currently. The Italian "Volta" ovens are also sadly no longer available in the UK. The Australian brick oven kits popular on here are also unavailable in Europe and import cost is prohibitive. And finally, the various other UK alternatives that I looked at all had glaring design flaws like chimney in chamber, insubstantial vent opening (Vitcas), or just plain terrible casting. Stumbling on this discounted Linea Napoli VZ oven was a stroke of luck I think; provided it turns up in NE Scotland intact.
I'm going to keep this thread up to date. Please, please, PLEASE chime in with any advice or observations where I may be going wrong, or heading into trouble with the build. Digging starts on Monday (I have to dig up and repair a blocked Victorian sewer pipe on Sunday to appease my wife!).
Cheers
PS - is this the best way to add photos? Use the "upload" function and size medium?
Long-time lurker and first-time builder here. I've been reading this forum on and off for 9+ years now with the dream of one day building my own brick Pompeii-style WFO. Life, family, career and other assorted excuses prevented me from ever picking up a spade. The recent surprise death of a 47yo friend has me thinking about the folly of putting off dreams and ambitions. So now 9-years later I've decided to compromise and buy a pre-cast oven and build the stand, insulation, enclosure and do the associated landscaping myself and sidestep the trapezoid brick-cutting faff that I knew would be too much of a time commitment (until I retire perhaps...).
I remain in awe of all the beautiful brick ovens built by folks on this forum. I've spent hours staring at photos to understand the how and why of construction. I feel a touch of regret not to be cutting firebrick myself, but lots of excitement at finally pulling my finger out of my rear end and starting. Shout out to Dino, Gulf, Mongo, Utahbeehiver and Brad Mole and many others for their build threads. I've stalked them all like a proper fanboy.
I managed to pick up a good quality 34" Italian pre-cast oven from an insolvency reseller in England at a bargain price. COVID and recent high-inflation was tough on pizza oven retailers apparently. It should arrive on a pallet on Tues 9th July. I hope it arrives in the correct number of pieces. It's perhaps slightly smaller that I wanted but I'm consoling myself that the build cost will be lower and that I'll fire it up far more often given the faster heat-up time.
I really wanted to buy a Forno Bravo oven, but they're not available in the UK currently. The Italian "Volta" ovens are also sadly no longer available in the UK. The Australian brick oven kits popular on here are also unavailable in Europe and import cost is prohibitive. And finally, the various other UK alternatives that I looked at all had glaring design flaws like chimney in chamber, insubstantial vent opening (Vitcas), or just plain terrible casting. Stumbling on this discounted Linea Napoli VZ oven was a stroke of luck I think; provided it turns up in NE Scotland intact.
I'm going to keep this thread up to date. Please, please, PLEASE chime in with any advice or observations where I may be going wrong, or heading into trouble with the build. Digging starts on Monday (I have to dig up and repair a blocked Victorian sewer pipe on Sunday to appease my wife!).
Cheers
PS - is this the best way to add photos? Use the "upload" function and size medium?