Classic Aussie outdoor BBQ converted to Pompeii 39" 1m oven

[kevo356]

Hello all,
Long time reader but first time posting to show what ive built after reading all the advice on this forum.
In Australia mot houses built before 1990 had big brick wood fired BBQs, I recently bought a house with one that was tiled over for some reason, so decided to convert int into a Pizza oven.
This is my second brick oven build, but first using all correct refractory bricks and base insulation.

I wanted to retain the original chimney so i made sure the opening was starting from the opening height so there's still lots on heat stored above the chimney opening height.

Enjoy the photos,

Kev

[kevo356]

Making the concrete base, For some reason the old BBQ was tiled over and had three different height levels ??

[kevo356]

I used a single 25mm compressed insulation board to separate the slab and cooking surface bricks.

[kevo356]

[kevo356]

[kevo356]

Insulation time

[kevo356]

Final render over the mesh and wire. Rever mix is 6 part white washed sand, 1 part lime 1 part cement.

We will wait for all of it to dry then either paint or mosaic tile the dome. the base and chimney will be rendered next weekend.

Hope you enjoyed the photos

Kev

[kevo356]

After leaving the oven for a week to dry out i started the slow heating run in cycle. Its so good seeing it fired up finally after a lot of dreaming and planning !
I've rendered all of the brickwork to hide the cinderblocks, and did the flue as well to match.

Then the stone benchtops were cut and put in place. These are local sandstone from Western Australia. It will need concrete sealer to prevent staining in the future as its porus but im happy with the look !

Cheers