Thinking about building an oven in the UK

[David no oven yet]

Hi

I've just come back from a family holiday in Mallorca where the villa that we rented had an outdoor wood burning oven. I'd never used one before & not really knowing what to do decided to have a go making & baking our own pizza. We were so impressed with the results & had so much fun that now I'm back home in the UK I'm going to have a go at building one myself. I have not yet decided on a design, still need to do some more reading & research before I decide. I've started to look for suppliers of firebrick close to my location in Newport South Wales, no luck so far. I'd be interested in talking to people close to where I live that have already built an oven regarding material suppliers etc.

Cheers David

[adman2u]

I have just completed a unit that has been able to smoke /tandori grill and bake. BUT I have not learned very well. Of the eight things I have done 5 burned. My last unit required tons of wood and was only a smoker. I must say the tandori thing is fantastic. Whole chickens in 30 minutes. Veggies to die for. It works like a blast furnace. I live in FL so I have not tried to do bread as we have plenty of heat outside as it is. Looking forward to first pizza. I need to let heat build up and use less coal and wood.

Couple of things I did - After I parged my firebricks with 50% concrete and 50% vermiculite for insullation (3 inches plus firebrick gives me 6 inches total) - I wrapped my firebox in cardboard two layers. My idea was to create an expansion joint. Then I poured the whole thing solid with rebar and concrete (bomb shelter style). I also made sure I poured a bit of vermiculite along the bottom of the firebox so concrete would not bond. I wanted the floor to "float" again for expansion.

My unit is on a terrace in my back yard I load the back "oven" side and cook tandori grill and smoke on the top side. I use fire bricks to close the door and the chimney. Open chimney for tandori and closed for smoking and baking. Lo-teck is good as I live very close to the ocean and rust is a huge problem with heat its death to metal. The bricks work very good.

Angle grinders rock!

Good luck to you