If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

[Bacterium]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Great thread - I've laid the slab for my 2nd oven build (moved house) and will use this thread for ideas.
Main change for me will be adding underfloor insulation and maybe a spot underneath for a small bar fridge. To keep ingredients and drinks.cool over a long pizza session

Will again include an ash shute for sweeping out coals.

[wotavidone]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

I have not yet finished my oven. However, if I was able to do it all again, I'd buy a FB Andiamo 70 and be very happy.

[brung99]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Thanks for your thought John.

Regards,
Bruno

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

There are several schools of thought on oven size, but most factors can be summarized here:

1. The majority of 36" oven owners say they have no problems with the size of their oven and wouldn't go bigger if they built a second oven.

2. An empty oven always looks bigger. Imagine the cooking space available with a fire/coals inside and you'll find approximately 50% of available space is usable.

3. If you plan to cook for a large crowd all at once, you will appreciate the space of a larger oven, especially the sweet spot it provides.

4. It is thought that a 39" (1m) oven will require the same amount of wood to heat up as a 42" oven.

5. If you are really unable to decide, build the larger oven. One can't enlarge one's oven if it turns out to be smaller than optimum.

6. If your cooking acumen calls for multiple days of cooking relying on residual heat, consider designing thermal breaks into your oven in addition to ample insulation.

John

[brung99]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

I'm still in the planning stages and trying to determine the right size for my needs. I've had a look at some 1mtr (approx 40in) kit ovens to gauge their size and they look HUGE inside. I'm considering maybe downsizing to about 90cm (36in). My main reasons is to save on the amount of wood i would need to fuel it, and i think this size will still be large enough to cater for entertaining and family get together/parties etc. Anybody out there who regrets building too large an oven or vice versa ??

[Lill Dave]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

After 2 years of use I finally got a roof , and before I installed it cutting off access to the dome forever , I cut through the mortared dome to install a vent . when I opened it .. no moisture , but the vermiculite had settled and I was able to pour in and spread about 1 1/2 cu.ft .
I'm still working on the adjacent work surface .. you need lots of room to lay out loaves of bread , flour shakers, water sprayers, and your peel .
I am next going to install a water bottle cage from a bicycle to hold my bottle of beer.. too many knocked over by enthusiastic/clumsy cooks!
tim

My roof is finally over the oven. Hate to cover up that beautiful dome so when I do the siding I am think of putting .25" clear plex arround the front , if it looks wierd i'll replace it with with the other siding , pictures to come soon.

[SCChris]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Can you get the oven "grandfathered" to use wood or coal? It's worth checking with the local authorities.

Chris

[leonard tolisano]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

I want to use the pizza oven my Grandfather built in the basement of his house in 1919. For a variety of reasons the oven cannot be wood fired and meet current buildings codes. I have seen several restaurants that have converted from wood to natural gas. This would be an easy conversion if the gas heating unit was available. Any advice??

[fornax hominus]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

After 2 years of use I finally got a roof , and before I installed it cutting off access to the dome forever , I cut through the mortared dome to install a vent . when I opened it .. no moisture , but the vermiculite had settled and I was able to pour in and spread about 1 1/2 cu.ft .
I'm still working on the adjacent work surface .. you need lots of room to lay out loaves of bread , flour shakers, water sprayers, and your peel .
I am next going to install a water bottle cage from a bicycle to hold my bottle of beer.. too many knocked over by enthusiastic/clumsy cooks!
tim

[Pompeii Nate]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

There is some GREAT information here. Nice idea for a thread. It has me thinking about a lot of things. Thank you!

[Lburou]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Brickie, your thread came at the perfect time for me. I read and reread this thread and incorporated many of the improvements mentioned below.

With a do-over, I might not taper the dome bricks and would definitely add more mortar between the bricks and not try for brick to brick contact on the inside of the dome -its both unnecessary and needlessly complicated. Above all, I would NOT use a soldier course, a sailor course would improve the bond matchups and reduce cracks in the dome!!!

If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Id make mine 200mm (8") higher so I dont have to stoop over to look into it.
Id add more insulation on top, Id also like a bigger bench out front.

We made the oven entry 46.75 inches high....Perfect for us....No bending at all!

More insulation under the floor (4" instead of 2" ceramic board), a slightly lower door (12" max), and a bigger opening to vent smoke to the flue.

much much more insulation in the floor
Jim

We put four inches of rigid insulation under the floor. I did have more settling on the insulation than I expected though. The settling was under the dome (about three sixteenths of an inch or so which made the oven floor higher in the middle than under the dome -dome is on the oven floor).

I would try and incorporate some lighting from the dome. Maybe use glass block as the plug and use it as a light pipe to shine light from the dome to the floor. Don't know if it is possible but that would be slick.

Les...

We mounted a spotlight above and behind the oven entrance and switched it inside the house. Good visibility for the entry but not for the back of the oven; the fire lights up the area pretty well. Sometimes I wear a light on my forehead.

...snip...
Oh, here's a biggie: Place your floor bricks from the opening of the hearth back. If you place them starting from any other point in the oven, you risk having small triangles along the front edge of the floor. Wish I'd paid closer attention to that.

We did that, thanks Keith.

I wouldn't have built my work surface so deep. I'm 5'9" and have problems placing wood where I want them in the oven. I could nitpick, but I'm pretty happy with the overall build.

With a 19 3/8 inch oven doorway, we made the entry arch 22 3/8 inches wide, 15 inches deep (without flaring), similar to Karangi Dude's oven.

I guess the only other thing I would change is perhaps adding more insulation, although the oven cooks everything fantastic and the way it should, it does have a small amount of heat loss through the top of the oven...not really enough to worry me though. But seeing all those pics of you guys in snow affected areas cooking and not having any snow melt is amazing! But this maybe just the oven still curing and getting moisture out. But I too love my oven, my most fav toy at the moment...and I have had at least 8 people wanting to build one after seeing mine!!

Scott

We used 40 cubic feet of vermiculite over two inches of ceramic insulation for our dome....7 inches of vermiculite over the peak of the dome.

I think I would isolate the entry arches from the dome like the commercial guys do.

Mark

We included three thermal breaks (see my signature).

I would definitely put another product in the entry way other than fire brick. It's not a problem when cooking pizza and breads, but beer can chicken and the Tuscan grill has made a mess of it. I would think that there is a lot of product that is "cleanable" that can withstand the reduced heat.

Les...

Our oven entry is a combination of firebrick and granite with a thermal break between.

Rick ,
I don't think you can have too much insulation. Most people wished they had put in a little more . Vermiculite does settle and although it has heat resistance it's not as effective as say ceramic blanket.
I'm wishing I had put a vent in the top of my dome in case I get a moisture build up in the vermiculite from doing stocks and adding all that steam to my breads.

We allowed the enclosure to meet the ceiling and left the insulation open to the attic space for ventilation (see the album in my signature).

I'd have invested in a good brick saw. I did everything with an angle grinder or chisel, and some of my stuff was less than neat. I covered it with mortar. works great and nobody notices, but I do. If I ever build another (I hope not), I'd pay more attention to the angles.

Bought a good used saw on craigslist. Sold it for the purchase price, net cost= $00.00. Well, I did buy a new blade

I haven't been using my oven very long yet, but I am somewhat perplexed by the challenge to store the numerous peels somewhere relatively nearby. I would give that some thought. Otherwise you have to fetch all these tools from the shed or basement all the time. ...snip...

I have a stainless door I'll be installing just under the oven entry, where we will store the oven tools.

[cobblerdave]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Gudday
Check out " First time oven build " by megapulse in the Australian section.
Ive just seem this oven in the flesh so to speak and the stowage is awsome!

Regards Dave

[vtsteve]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

I think I'd do a modified "H" base - shallow storage across the front, then a lengthwise divider to give shallow storage down *both* sides. My patio area isn't big enough to do the roll-out wood carts.

[cobblerdave]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Hi all
Wouldn;t change much
Pompei brick oven to Forno plans everything is tried and proven ....right down to the herringbone patern of laying the hearth so the peel don't catch.
42 inch yes.... 3 pizza at once....Good size entrance great for big pans could not see anything under 32 in being usefull
Fire brick and ceramic insulation yes.....Firebrick store a goodly amount of heat and ceramic keeps it in for longer usable slow cooking time.
Deep entrance yep.... love having a area for an "ambient" fire in the front. 42 in has big opening so it makes no difference to operating the oven.
Igloo dome Yes....just like the look
Dome built on a plywwod guide....Na would use the indespensable tool if theres a next time.
Stand with one entrance for stowage....No would have a entrance on either side for easy of access theres some wood down the back of mine thats been there since its been built!
Cut all the brick angles with a saw...No... did it with bulster and diamond blade on grinder....works well enough and didn't take to much time and still produces a dome which is a strong structure itself.
Use the forum more.. Big yes...Not a big computer user and never been in a forum theres heaps of information and some truely awsome builds in here.

Regards dave
Dave"s build Australian section

[Lake lover]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Well I have not built one yet, this is a good thread.

Still gathering materials. Also decide where to put it in the yard.