When I was planning to build my oven, I was a bit overwhelmed by the array of related blogs and websites, but also a bit disappointed by either the lack of detail (including useful reference pics) or the complexity of the design and construction techniques some people were using - some of the footings out there would be fit for a cathedral!
As someone with limited money and expertise, I felt a little depressed. But the one commodity I did have (apart from a decent backyard) was patience. Let me say from the start that if you are prepared to work slowly, to scrounge your materials second-hand over time and learn as you go, there's no reason you can't build an attractive and perfectly functioning brick oven in your backyard.
I'm building this webpage retrospectively (the oven has been built now for over a year). All told, it took me about a year to build my oven and it cost well under $1000 in materials.
I'll have more to say about the materials I used and where I got them as we go. I'm also new to web publishing so forgive me if it takes a while to get all the information up. Meanwhile here are some pics of the finished oven to give you an idea of where we're heading...
In my next post I'll talk a little bit about design considerations and how I got started. Look for new information in the pages list to the right of screen.
Great site thanks for tsking the trouble, you seem to have covered it in the end, what did you use please? Cheers jim, uk. jimnoonan@sky.com
ReplyDeleteHi Jim - thanks for commenting and I'm glad you found the site useful. I'm afraid I haven't updated it in a LONG time. I'll try to rectify that in the coming weeks and cover the rest of the project. Very basically, however, I covered the brick dome with a layer of 'rock wool' (ceramic insulation), fixed taut over the dome with a layer of fine chicken mesh. The chicken wire helps support the next layer, of insulating concrete, just like normal concrete but with the aggregate/stones replaced with vermiculite (a synthetic, lightweight and porous stone used in hydroponics). Over that I finished the dome with a layer of lime-based cement render (just the pre-pack stuff from the hardware store). using lime-based cement render (and adding lime to the insulating concrete) apparently makes for a more flexible cement, better able to cope with expansion under high temp. A few cracks are inevitable but my oven has lasted very well. I'll try to post some pics. Hope that helps in the mean-time.
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