42inch pizza oven

Dimensions

Materials

Tools

1. 1 Wheel barrow
2. 1 Concrete mixer
3. 1 Shovel
4. 1 Hammer
5. 1 Non-rebounding rubber mallet
6. 1 Chalk line
7. 1 Circular saw (Cutting wood and bricks)
8. 1 Grinder (Cutting reinforcement steel and besser blocks)
9. 1 Builders level
10. 1 Measuring tape
11. 1 Bricklayers trowel
12. 1 1/4" by 1/4" (1cm by 1cm) square notched trowel
13. 1 Builders pencil and paper
14. 1 Bucket, 1 brush and 1 sponge
15. Safety equipment. eg. Gloves, dust mask, eye protection, ear protection
16. Tile saw or tile cutter (If tiling the oven surface)
17. Paint brush (If painting the oven surface)

Steps

Step 1	Level the ground and place reinforcing steel bars. Lay a 1800 x 1800 x 100mm concrete foundation. Further information: Pizza oven foundation out of brick
Step 2	Lay a 1800 x 1800 x 600mm square of bessa blocks three bricks high. On the front side leave a 1.5 brick gap in the middle to allow for access.
Step 3	Place steel lintels across the bessa block gap and then lay the top layer of bessa blocks.
Step 4	Place cement sheeting across the center 1400 x 1400 space. Place reinforcing steel bars over the cement sheeting. Create a temporary wood dam around the void to contain the cement. Lay a 1400 x 1400 x 100mm concrete foundation. Lay an additional 1400 x 1400 x 100mm vermiculite cement mix foundation for under the hearth.
Step 5	Lay fire bricks either directly on the concrete foundation or on a thin bed of sifted sand and/or fire clay. This may be left dry or wet to make a paste. Further information: Pizza oven hearth
Step 6	Create a temporary wooden foundation in the shape of the vault. Lay the fire bricks over the temporary foundation to create the dome and entrance. Alternatively use a leveling tool to help maintain the proper brick angle. Further information: Pizza oven dome out of brick
Step 7	Lay the additional front fire bricks to create the flue.
Step 8	Raise and level the outside section of bessa blocks to the height of the final fire bricks.
Step 9	Place fire blanket over the oven dome. Place a 4" (10cm) thick layer of vermiculite cement mixture (5:1) over the blanket. Further information: Pizza oven insulation
Step 10	Clad over the insulation layer and attach the chimney to the flue.
Step 11	Finish the oven with a tiled or painted surface.

Notes

The creation of an under-hearth foundation that does not sit flush with the outside walls is a distinct step in this plan that is unusual from general oven foundation plans. This may be done to ease the process of creating an in hearth opening for wood ash or minimise the firebricks use. Generally it is recommended that the hearth foundation be laid to sit fully against the outside walls thus reducing the eventual finishing work required. To produce this larger foundation simply create a larger temporary wood form which sits outside and flush against the besser block walls. Support and level this form with 2" by 4" legs and shims as with the internal sheeting structure. This would result in a 1800 x 1800 x 200mm foundation rather than 1400 x 1400 x 200mm.

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  Partial foundation frame

 
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  Complete foundation frame