Concrete Blocks vs Bricks

[aloha99]

Morning

I am building a pizza oven outside and will be using bricks on the visible parts and wanted to use concrete blocks round the back and sides which wont be seen.

The concrete blocks will still be open to the elements and I have been told that I will need to render them as they cant be used on an exterior "wall" like bricks.

Any advice would be great.

Cheers

Alex

 

[tomfe]

You can use concrete block unrendered, I'd use a paint grade one just as they look nicer.
I do wonder how many times these pizza ovens get used, don't they take about 7 hours to get hot enough to use?

 

[aloha99]

Hi Tom, thanks for the info, the concrete blocks will be round the back and underneath so they wont be seen at all. Someone had said that they werent suitable for outside use due to them taking on water and not doing well in the winter.
The oven will take about an hour and a half to get up to temp just using wood but I am fitting a gas burner as well which will get it up to temp in about 20 minutes if we want to use it just for dinner one night.

 

[tomfe]

Use 7n or higher blocks and they will be fine in the winter.

 

[aloha99]

Great thanks very much

 

[Doggit]

I'm intending to build one too, but from what I've gathered so far, is that because you want to keep the heat in the oven you need insulate you're bricks. Most pizza oven designs use a mould to start off with, then the mould gets covered in concrete, and then a concrete/vermiculite mix covers that. I haven't seen any designs that just use blocks and mortar. What sort of mortar are you using on the blocks.

 

[aloha99]

Hey Doggit
This is purely for the structre not the actual oven itself, the oven will be made using 42gd firebricks and fireproof cement which will take heat up to 1600 degrees. This is the site I will be getting my oven bits from www.kilnlinings.co.uk

 

[Doggit]

Thanks for the info Aloha, and sorry for the misunderstanding

 

[^woody^]

Is it really worth it trying to mess about and bond blocks in for such a small area?