BBQ and pizza oven build

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Ive been making my ow pizzas and cooking on a pizza stone in the oven for a while now. They’re pretty good - very pizza express style, so I thought a wood fired jobby would be nice. Very Mediterranean style. Cost as always most important (max £500 budget) - reuse, beg, borrow, buy being the hierarchy. Luckily for me I’d saved all the bricks from when I knocked down the outhouse before doing my extension, so a big cost saving there.

I watched tons of how to vids on YouTube on making pizza ovens. I’d decided to go the perlite concrete route over an exercise ball, insulated then rendered and priced materials up at approx £350. Then when looking for my materials I found a ready made one for £400. Not my shoddy diy effort, refractory bricks inside, then insulated and rendered. So I cheated and went for that. Easy peasy I thought. All delivered in a couple of days to my drive whilst I was building the brick base for it to sit on. Just pick it up and put it on the base.

How much does the pizza oven weigh? 680kg - 1500lbs in old money. That’s stupid heavy. Didn’t really think that through. After racking my limited brain and realising that manpower alone wasn’t going to shift this thing I borrowed a pallet truck and used boards to shift it down the end of the garden. Then I made a tripod out of 14’ scaffold poles to hoist it up onto a wooden platform in front of the base. Repositioned the tripod and then relift into position. Sounds straightforward but was a right ball ache.

Just need to paint the oven a terracotta or dark blue and fashion something to cover the crappy fence. First pizza cook up went well - just need to get the oven hotter next time.
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Nice brickwork , puts my effort to shame ..... luckily I am rendering to match the house !!!!
Pizza oven arrived .... very heavy!!
 

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Looks like yours is the same as mine.... almost. Mine is the 100cm corner version. Insanely heavy aren’t they?! Your lift into position looks a darn sight more controlled than mine. I was half expecting a smashed oven or death.... or both.

If I didn’t have the bricks I’d have gone for rendered block too. Keep your pics coming. When you’re done we can have a pizza cook off. See who makes the best pizzas!
 
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I’m a pretty big deal in the building world now Ian if you hadn’t noticed. Next I’m going to build a plane..... out of bricks. Or maybe block, then render for a smoother finish.

Done one pizza cook up. Went pretty well, but need to get it hotter. Just a bit nervous first off as you have to do several breaking in fires when brand new to drive off any moisture to avoid major cracking. Next time gonna fire it up cremation hot. BBQ leaving for a week in this decent weather for the same reason.
 
I am not a plasterer !!!!
That’s your scratch coat. Always gonna be worse that the top coat. Plus you want a rustic look don’t you?!

You probably already know, but the rough feel of the pizza oven is created by rendering, letting it go off, then damp sponging in a circular motion..... if you wanted it to match.
 
Do you have your "pizza express style" recipe handy? Mine always come out like crackers :)
 
Still got to tart it up and put final coat of paint , but had to have a test run !!!!
 

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Ive been making my ow pizzas and cooking on a pizza stone in the oven for a while now. They’re pretty good - very pizza express style, so I thought a wood fired jobby would be nice. Very Mediterranean style. Cost as always most important (max £500 budget) - reuse, beg, borrow, buy being the hierarchy. Luckily for me I’d saved all the bricks from when I knocked down the outhouse before doing my extension, so a big cost saving there.

I watched tons of how to vids on YouTube on making pizza ovens. I’d decided to go the perlite concrete route over an exercise ball, insulated then rendered and priced materials up at approx £350. Then when looking for my materials I found a ready made one for £400. Not my shoddy diy effort, refractory bricks inside, then insulated and rendered. So I cheated and went for that. Easy peasy I thought. All delivered in a couple of days to my drive whilst I was building the brick base for it to sit on. Just pick it up and put it on the base.

How much does the pizza oven weigh? 680kg - 1500lbs in old money. That’s stupid heavy. Didn’t really think that through. After racking my limited brain and realising that manpower alone wasn’t going to shift this thing I borrowed a pallet truck and used boards to shift it down the end of the garden. Then I made a tripod out of 14’ scaffold poles to hoist it up onto a wooden platform in front of the base. Repositioned the tripod and then relift into position. Sounds straightforward but was a right ball ache.

Just need to paint the oven a terracotta or dark blue and fashion something to cover the crappy fence. First pizza cook up went well - just need to get the oven hotter next time.
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Excellent job there!.

Lad at work bought a pre-made oven and had it delivered to work. Couldn't believe how heavy it was!, luckily had 4 lifting eyes cast into the base.
 
Do you have your "pizza express style" recipe handy? Mine always come out like crackers :)
Jamie Oliver.... the dinghy lipped barrow boy.... came out top on a google search. I’ve used it loads. Even freezes a treat to so you can knock up a big batch cos it’s messy and a bit time consuming to do every time. Before the pizza oven I bought one of those pizza stones for the oven inside. Heat to 250^C and cook for 4mins 30 secs. Don’t go too hard on the cheese or toppings. The pizza oven is a bit more unpredictable. A darn site hotter too. 2 minutes max before the b4stard is on fire!
 

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