Expertise needed on pizza oven quote

[elebherz]

Thanks for viewing! I have received some quotes for a pizza oven over a glass fireplace for about $7000. According to all I've read on the forums, it is best t have a round oven that gets up to 800 degrees for ideal pizza temperature. The contractor is suggesting this oven stay below 650 degrees in fear of cracking. Additionally, the design doesnt appear to be round which suggest much longer heating times.

I'm out of town now but would like to upload the design for your valued opinions. Ultimately, this is meant to be an entertainment area that heats up quickly, could supply warmth if needed, and could have multiple pizzas cooked at the same time.

I'm also looking for a practical design that allows for easy cleaning, any suggestions? perhaps a door that opens in the back for brushing/washing out ashes?

I'm a total newbie so rip me apart if you can! It's for the best!!

[elebherz]

Here is a design by the contractor. It is half barrel vaulted and he is suggesting the temperature stay below 650 degrees. From all the forums read, it looks like pizza ovens should be hotter than this..

[RTflorida]

Oh, where to begin. I will keep it short and sweet, I think you may have considerable nit-picking of this plan.
1) Start with going to the Forno Bravo Store and "purchasing" the FREE plans
2)Finda another contractor, he may know fireplaces, but he obviously has not built a usable, efficient pizza oven.
3) Dimensions too far out of proportion, even for a barrel vault. 21" x 24" will not give you enough room for a small fire and 1 pizza, let alone multiples
4) 4" flue is too small
5) Flue position is in the middle, will suck the energy (heat) straight out. With this design you would not have to worry about going over 650 degrees - you would never be able to do it. Flue needs to be just outside the entry.
6) 650 degree temp limit is rediculous. Save you money and buy a heavy duty pizza stone for your kitchen oven, you will make just as good pizza
7) Cracking can and probably will occcur to some extent, these ovens expand and contract with the heat/cool cycles like breathing lungs. They cause no harm unless they are on the outside and allow rain/snow entry
8) Cleanout door is not necessary and merely add another source of heat loss or moisture entry point
9) I see ZERO mention of any insulation, either in the dome or the hearth
10) Download and read the FREE plans several times and spend several hours reviewing the extensive list of builds on this site, both round and barrel vault. Even a few steel ovens are well documented here. Spend no money with this guy until you have seen what is really possible. You will be glad you did.


RT

[brickie in oz]

I think RT has just about covered it.

Get another quote from someone who knows about insulation, flue position and size of oven needed for it to work.

The quote is very cheap, for me to do a similar build but one that actually works and above 650f, and have an oven size of 1Mx 1.2M and properly insulated, including material would be around A$12,000.
Built also with a proper chimney from the fire below, not just a couple of inadequate 4" pipes.

[elebherz]

Hi RT,

This is music to my ears! Just minutes ago (probably as you were writing) my girlfriend and I were mapping a 21x24 design and were utterly perplexed. Your other suspicions confirm my gut feeling of not moving forward on this. Your post makes this decision much easier. I will take your advice and start a new project all together. Very glad to have come across this site 4 days ago and continue building my knowledge thanks to posters like you!

Much appreciated..

Ev from CA wishing I had some background in building stuff!

[OzOvenBuilder]

Whoaaaa! $7000 would be cheap if it actually worked the way you wanted it too!
I think Al is close to the mark there, & when you're investing that much it HAS to work the way you intended.
To the right buyer, an addition like this can add many thousands of $ to the sale price of a house on the market too!

[GianniFocaccia]

Ev,
I'm not sure where in CA you are, but unless you're dead set on having a true brick oven built, you may want to consider installing one of the pre-cast Forno Bravo ovens James sells on this site. They are of a proven design, come in many sizes, and can be installed very quickly. You could get by for less than $7k is my guess.
If you do go the brick oven route there is nothing wrong with a barrel vault oven design. Just make sure you get references of customers from your contractor. There are far too many guys out there who are not really qualified and leave you with a cool-looking oven that is unfortunately unusable.
John

[Lburou]

Originally Posted by elebherz

Here is a design by the contractor. It is half barrel vaulted and he is suggesting the temperature stay below 650 degrees. From all the forums read, it looks like pizza ovens should be hotter than this..

Is it possible that he means 650 Centigrade?

Have him build the base and hearth for you and put a FB modular oven on it.

[roobqn]

Spend some time looking around this forum and how people built their ovens. You will see that most of them have had absolutely no experience with construction work let alone brick work. My wife and I spent almost a full year researching ovens before we built ours 2 years ago. This included taking a Wood Fired Oven bread baking class with Jim Wills up in Toronto (CanuckJim).
We built a vault type oven over the course of a summer and had a friend do the pretty brick work in exchange for hunting rights on our land. Sans the pretty brick work we spent less than $2500 on materials and we used refractory insulations and cements which increased our costs. The finished cooking service qas 36"x60" and we can get it fired to 700 degrees in about an hour and a half.
While we went back and forth about finding a builder, and actually talked to one who thankfully said he had no clue how to approach a job like this, we were glad we did this with our own two hands. Gives us a sense of accomplishment and pride.
Do your research, then research some more, and dive in and do it yourself. No big issues if you have to call in some help from time to time, but do most of it yourself.

[aceves]

Hi elebherz,

RT hit it RIGHT ON THE MONEY. He hit every point about the ineffective design of that contractor! Good thing you decided not to go with him. Spend some time on this site and do it right the first time. No need to rush this job, as you will use it for years to come, and you want it done right.

Good luck and happy building if you decide to build!

Aceves