You don’t have to be a licensed architect or engineer to come up with your own design or style of pizza oven constructed at your backyard. What is primarily an important element to have is the desire to make your pizza oven within your means. There are points to consider in staring off the project which in a way can be referred to as step by step drawing up. Among them are the three steps:

Step 1: The type and size of pizza oven you want to build

The initial step is mainly done in the drawing board. It is quite familiar to any project that the doer has to make few sketches once he or she has come into terms with the preferred dimensions of the pizza oven. In simple understanding, dimension or area for polygonal objects such as square or rectangle is the total measurement of the length multiplied by width and then multiplied by height. But dimension for home-made pizza oven is derived from the measurement of a spherical shape. So, you have to use the mathematical formula S=2prh, wherein S is the generated surface area, p is the pi having a constant value of 3.1416, r is the radius and h is the height. Getting resolved with the measurements of the dome’s height and its radius, you can start making some drawings using varied measurements in spherical shape. The decision on the size of the pizza oven is directly affected by the availability of the materials or funds.

Step 2: Determining the base or foundation of your pizza oven

As pizza oven is entirely for baking or cooking pizza, it is normal to always keep in mind the element of heat. The importance of a solid foundation is simply necessary as it holds the pizza oven. Again making some drawings or sketches is a great help before deciding on which foundation is preferred considering the right materials with their proper measurements and specifications. If you opt to build a long lasting pizza oven, finding a good location in your background with solid ground to position the foundation must be given attention. Right construction of the foundation is based on proportion. Whatever is the total weight of the pizza oven should be matched with corresponding foundational strength. Solid foundation is ideal to withstand the weight of the pizza oven for longer time and use.

Step 3: Laying the oven floor

The third and final step to draw up in building your backyard pizza oven is the oven floor. The area which is mostly subjected to fire coals during every baking is the oven floor. With this reality, your pizza oven floor should be made up of strong material. Laying it with the right bricks is a necessary move as constant exposure to heat will turn materials to brittle state and thus in the long run pulverize the entire floor. If your knowledge on floor materials is insufficient, there is no harm in asking sound advices from experienced pizza oven builders near your place. They, likewise, help you how to go through the entire process of building your self- designed pizza oven.

Step 4: Pizza oven cladding

You have to apply concrete layer over the dome, which is known as cladding. Cladding may be 5cm to 2inch in thickness. You can consider concrete cladding for backyard pizza oven. Many times it is a question that what is necessity of cladding? Firebricks with concrete cladding make thick layer, which stores heat during heating or baking of pizza. All heats are not required to bake pizza. After baking pizza, you can use that heat for baking any other products. Even, you can use that heat for further cooking. On the other hand, cladding helps to prevent heat loss through the dome wall. So you have to consider cladding for your backyard pizza oven.

Step 5: Pizza insulation

Another thing you have to give priority that insulation. You have to ensure proper insulation of your backyard pizza oven. Insulation plays an important role in backyard pizza oven because without proper insulation you will not able to maintain desired heat for baking pizza. You can use aluminum foil between cladding layer and fire bricks. This aluminum doesn’t prevent heat loss directly. Aluminum foil prevents water absorption. If pizza oven wall absorbs moisture, heat will be lost at a high rate. To prevent this heat loss, aluminum is applied between brick and clay layer. Vermiculite is widely used as insulating material. Vermiculite is mixed with Portland cement and lime at a ratio of 13:1:1. At first, these dry materials are mixed properly, and then water is added to make a paste. This paste is used to insulate pizza oven.

Step 6: Installation of Chimney

Chimney is last functional piece of pizza oven. Chimney is used to remove smoke produced in pizza oven. If there is no chimney in pizza oven, smoke will come out through the oven door. But who will want to escape out smoke through oven door. Again, if you use door to escape out smoke, there is possibility of being smoky pizza. So you should consider installing chimney on your backyard pizza oven.

You can consider either stainless steel or clay flue for making chimney. Don’t use galvanized pipe as chimney because it will not last for long time. Double walled stainless steel is sometimes used as chimney. But it may be expensive. You can use clay flue also. Clay flue is not expensive like steel or metal pipe. You have to attach this pipe with arch plate. Mortar will be best paste to attach this pipe with arch plate. It settles quickly and gives high strength to the construction.