Brisbane Build

[Hatzi]

The initial idea and research for my oven happened about 6 years ago.

The slab base for the oven was put in place around this time while I was working on renovating our pool and outdoor entertaining area.

The slab then sat there for about 5 years.

[Hatzi]

So after 5 years, I decided that the pizza oven needed to get started.

Pizza oven base was started - with some help from my son.

Completed July 2019

[Neil.B]

Excellent, congratulations on finally starting.
It's good to see your son involved. What he learns now will come in useful as he gets older and will save you doing DIY around his house when he is older

What size oven are you building?

[Hatzi]

Internal diameter is 970mm

[Hatzi]

Weekend 1:

One year past, and a fair bit more research.
Finally went to buy refec brick and mortar..... but ClayPave has gone into liquidation and did not have any. So spent hours on the internet to find suppliers in Brisbane.

Guess what .... there is not many.

Anyway, bought my bricks and mortar ... the long awaited build had STARTED!!!!

The Blue board is the external diameter of the oven.

[Hatzi]

Weekend 2:

Now to work on the floor .... decided to use 300 x 300 x 40 tiles.

Planning and then cutting - angle grinder worked a treat!

[Hatzi]

Weekend 3:

Some more research as i was working on the cooking floor and the plan changed slightly.

Decided to lay the refec tiles on top of hebel bricks.

[Hatzi]

Weekend 4:

Due to available space, decided to place bricks as seen - with the 110 x 110 side facing internally. This would mean that the internal diameter would be 970mm while the external diameter of the dome will be 1120mm.

Decided to have the first course as a half brick rather than a full brick. So started cutting bricks with what I had - a 100mm angle grinder. Was not happy with this. Luckily brother came to the rescue and offered his 7" angle grinder. All I will say is OH MY GOD!!!

Managed to complete the first two courses

Ebay, Gumtree and any other second hand tool site - here I come!!! Looking for a brick saw!!!

[Hatzi]

Weekend 5: Long Weekend

Yippee, during the week was able to track down and purchase a cheap second hand brick saw.

Life (well at least brick cutting) has been made so much easier and a lot less dusty!!!

Now starting to drive the wife crazy - due to the work area.

Third course completed. After much more research, decided on how to do entry. Each brick would have a rebated 10mm cut in it (as seen in the second pic). This was INTENDED for the door to sit flush against.

[Hatzi]

Weekend 5: Long weekend

Long weekends mean extra build time.

Time to start working on the dome entry. The doorway will be 500mm wide by 30mm high. Lots of research done on how to draw a perfect oval.... Finally found it and made the doorway frame.

By the end of the long weekend the archway was completed as was the 4th course of the dome.

Things are moving along pretty well so far.

[Hatzi]

Could not wait for the weekend!!!

Stressed about removing the arch Frame --- would my arch hold together and stay upright.

Bit the bullet and very cautiously removed the frame ---- IT WORKED!!!

[Hatzi]

Weekend 6:

All my research up until now was based on websites and youtube builds.

Finally decided to look more carefully into the this forum ( I have never been a fan of forums) - what a treasure trove of info the forum has. I wish I looked into it earlier!!!!

Anyway, while looking through the forum and in particular taking note of UtahBeehiver's and oasiscdm's builds, my ideas and plans changed once again. Spent a week looking through these builds and finally decided to join forum so that I could ask a few questions to help me understand.

Main issue was not understanding how to join the dome to the arch .... with UtahBeeive's help I understood it!

The photos explain what happened next

[Hatzi]

Knowing that the next 3 weekends I would not be able to spend much time on the oven, I spent a couple of hours after work on the days that I did not have to take the kids to sport working on the oven

Throughout the week the "new" dome entry was completed as was the 6th course

The internal cuts did not all line up - did not really surprise me. However it was nothing that the angle grinder and a diamond cup grinder could not fix.
Unfortunately did not take a pic of the finished product after I attacked the arch with the cup grinder.

[Hatzi]

Did not get much done over the last couple of weeks.

Managed to "almost" complete the 7th course.

[Hatzi]

School holidays are here - now I can commit to the build without any interruptions - other than the wife and children

Working on competing the dome.

While waiting for the 7th course to dry - I had another idea which changed my original plan.

the original plan was to use perlite (already bought) to fill the gaps between each brick. However after looking at how much "mud" had been created by cutting the bricks, I thought to use this "mud" to fill in the gaps. The logic behind this is, it is the same material as the bricks are made of, therefore it would have the same thermal conductivity as the bricks.

Still thinking of laying perlite over the dome then laying the insulation layer (similar to what oasiscdm has done)