Oven Kit or Buy materials?

[mivigliotti]

Just wondering what most people have done in building their ovens. I live in Ny and shipping is prob gonna be on expensive side so was wondering have most people bought the kit fron Forno Bravo or bought materials separate?

[dmun]

New York's a big place. If you are in the NYC metro area you have lots of choices, like progressive brick in NJ. The main advantage to the kit is that you don't have to run around sourcing stuff. The price is competitive, you get those large refractory slabs for the floor, which are expensive to buy locally, and the cost of shipping is what it is.

If you have more time than money, you may want to shop locally. That's what I did, but my build was non-standard, and the kit was not yet available.

[lhuhn]

I looked at both options and decided on a combination of local purchases and ordering from FB. The kit seems to be priced fairly but the shipping was significant.

[tusr18a]

Half the fun of the project is figuring out where to source the materials. Who would expect that the perlite supplier would have been the local hydroponics store? Who would have expected that the local tool rental business had the most cost effective and convenient solution for ordering a few yards of pre-mixed cement. They filled trailers full of cement that you pulled behind your truck/suv. On top of that, the local suppliers were a great source of information.

[JRWQuattro]

Now I know why Growco was sold out of perlite the other day! I ended up switching to Vermiculite to finish the insulating layer on my oven.

Checked out your pictures and your oven is looking great. Your oven is the 4th oven in Grand Rapids that I know of now, although every oven I'm aware of is still in progress. Maybe because it is too much fun using the oven to stop and finish it.

I ended up getting many supplies from Industrial Firebrick as well. The forum helped to determine what to ask for as they would try to steer you to other products sometimes.

[Mike D]

I am also thinking of the kit, mostly for the large floor tiles. Do the floor tiles sit inside the dome? (as in, do they come in a round form to build the dome around it?) Can they be cut to shape? From the hours I have spent reading all the fantastic threads, I like the idea of having the floor separate. The shipping is not that bad where I live.
Mike D.

[tusr18a]

I was definitely the culprit. In order to fill the cavity between the dome and the brick walls, it took 8 of the 4 cu feet bags. When I went in last week, the ower of Growco mentioned that you were out there. Sorry! Growco wasn't able to keep up with my needs either. I had to use some vermiculite in the chimney area of the build. I also bought a bag of perlite from the hydroponic store over on Leonard. I had not heard of Industrial Fire Brick. I have purchased all my masonry supplies from Belden.

[dmun]

Do the floor tiles sit inside the dome? (as in, do they come in a round form to build the dome around it?)

Nope. They are just squares.

Can they be cut to shape?

Yep, they are made of the same material as firebrick, and cut easily on a 10" wet saw.

[ThermoJax]

As far as the kit vs the build it yourself, having just finished my dome, but not my vent yet, I think I wish I had purchased the kit from FB. They sell a pompeii kit, which is the bricks. They don't say if they are precut and perhaps numbered. That would be a real deal then. But, thinking back, if I could, I think the price of the Casa or almost any of the kits that are sections that just fit together would be super easy and quick. I think you should consider purchasing one of FB sectional ovens, and then you could be done by Thanksgiving instead of stretching it out for a few months. Fun to build, but think of your guests faces when 2 weeks later you have a functioning oven with the kit. I think FornoBravo's prices are worth it. Look at the forno bravo channel on youtube. Also look for the forno bravo factory visit. I thought it was pretty informative.

Good luck

Tom

[dmun]

They don't say if they are precut and perhaps numbered. That would be a real deal then.

Nope, it's just the materials that are hard to source locally on a skid.