East London pizza oven and grill

[Neil.B]

Great morning as keystone laid and went way easier than I was expecting.
First I used the angle grinder for 10 minutes and rounded off the hole a bit better.

[Neil.B]

Originally I was going to cement the angled brick to form a circle for the keystone, but instead I cut the points off and cut a 9 sided polygon as the keystone but as I was laying them I ended up with a big gap so added another triangle, i didn't bother changing the keystone to a 10 sided polygon.
I decided to lay the triangles directly on the dome, slight bit of unevenness, but I'm well happy especially as my bricks we quite out of line through the dome.

My IT would of worked out pefect centre...if I cut my bricks better.

[Neil.B]

From outside the arch and inside the dome

[Baza]

FANTASTIC Mate!
You've done it! Huge hurdle and it looks great!
now the firing can begin! GO SLOW, I'm told --- little fires to start - and apparently can lose focus and start cooking now that it is closed!
Good luck getting through those!
Well done!
Barry

[Neil.B]

Thanks Baza , I can only do small fires as I don't have a chimney yet.
The original plan was to have the pizza oven and smoker directly feed in to the grill chimney, so only one chimney would be exiting the roof instead of three.

[Neil.B]

A good day today.
Two layers of ceramic fire blanket, more thermolite blocks laid and vent/chimney started.
I have been thinking how to do the vent as I have a very thin landing. I want as big a vent as possible, but all the different ways I could think of would of meant the thermolite block would be seen inside or the vent would be thin.
I finally thought of cutting the firebrick and thermolite block at angles. It now means the vent will be 6" wide.

The blocks look a bit of a mix but once all the blocks are rendered it should be a nice finish.
I'm building an outer arch using the same yellow bricks as the base.

[Neil.B]

Chimney taking shape. I wanted the smoke chamber large to help stop smoke entering the pergola. No idea if its going to work, but worth a try.

[Neil.B]

Outer arch done.

Need to decide on the landing, I have 30mm slate paving that will look nice but not sure if it will handle the ambient heat. Maybe some thin firebricks underneath to obsorb the heat, rather than insulation.

[Ope-dog]

You're making great progress! That slate looks awesome.. can't wait to see it all buttoned up. :-)

[Neil.B]

Thank Ope-dog , I haven't done the slate yet. All the blue/grey is thermolite blocks that will be rendered.

[Neil.B]

From the inside. Still needs cleaning.
Most builds only have about 1" around the inner arch for smoke to be directed to the vent/flue but are 9" long.
Mine has 5"*8" in most areas. I'm hoping the 6"*3" side channels along with the large area above will allow smoke to exit without coming out the front.


I wasn't originally happy with my brickwork, but after the first fire I think it looks good.

[Ope-dog]

Well if your thermo blocks look that snazzy, I can't wait to see the actual slate! :-)

Great job closing the dome!

[Neil.B]

Ope-dog the slate is paving that i have under the chimnea and the path/patio (once i lay them), another item i got of Facebook market place for free

[Neil.B]

Smoke seems to hover half way up the dome, is this normal or is it because I made a makeshift chimney with no flue and there isn't enough draw?

[Neil.B]