North SA Pub oven

[wotavidone]

Kid at work was telling me how she was having a little drink in a local pub when the publican announced a free beer for everyone who helped him build an oven.
Apparently it was constucted fro red bricks cut in half and assembled with lime and cement mortar. The floor is red brick on a steel tray.
It was all done and dusted in a weekend.
I asked if it worked OK and my informant said, "it works great, it cooks a pizza in 15 minutes".
A little hard to see in the photo I just shot over the beer garden fence with the wife's phone, but the unbraced corners sag a bit, and there is clearly no insulation, and I swear I could see daylight through a couple of the mortar joints.

[david s]

Hope they poured some decent foundations. The stand looks a little precarious.

[wotavidone]

Yeah, I don't know whether they put the post in out of plumb, or it is starting to lean over, but in the flesh it can be clearly seen to have a slight forward lean.

[david s]

Probably used the "she'll be right" method rather than a spirit level.

[TropicalCoasting]

When the cheese starts sliding of the pizzas they will probably prop it up with a 4x2.

[brickie in oz]

Originally Posted by wotavidone

a free beer for everyone who helped him build an oven.

A free beer?
He obviously got what he paid for, when it collapses and injures someone it will cost more than a beer to get out of it.

[Neil2]

I do not know the foundation details or soil conditions, but following is a simple technique that is unlikly to cause damage.

If it starts to lean too much you can try to stabilize or even right the oven by placing a large amount of weight on the ground on the "up hill" side. By "large amount" I suggest something of the order of 500 or more lbs.

This may take some time, but will eventually compress the soil on that side and start righting the oven.

[brickie in oz]

Neil, do you by any chance come from Pisa in Italy?

[wotavidone]

I think the publican has gone now. The pub was closed for a while. There are new people there now. According to all reports, they are pretty good at running a pub. You have to pretty smart to make a quid from a country pub these days, so hopefully they'll figure out this thing is a bit iffy and sort it out. I reckon I'll go there for a meal soon, its getting a good name for tucker.

[brickie in oz]

All the pubs are dying because most ppl are now scared to get caught for drink-driving so they drink at home.