Outdoor pizza oven plans

Building a pizza oven

An outdoor pizza oven is a great addition to any backyard if you like to spend most of your afternoons outside. Although this project might look simple, we can assure you there are many things that can go wrong, therefore follow our tips and learn from our experience.

Irrespective of your tastes and needs, you have to work in a professional manner if you want to impress your friends and relatives. Building a wood fired pizza oven is easy if you know what you're doing, but even if you don't, you can learn how to build a pizza oven basics from this step by step article.

Planing a pizza oven

Outdoor Pizza Oven

There are many things you should take into account before starting your project, especially if you don't have experience in the field. Therefore, if you want to undertake this project by yourself, you have to learn the basic bricklaying techniques, as you need to work with concrete blocks and bricks. In addition, you need to use specialized tools, such as a brick saw, a margin trowel or a concrete mixer. In order to save some money, you could rent these tools for a few days, as they are quite expensive.

Firs of all, you should obtain a building permit for your outdoor pizza oven (some areas require a building permit, while others don't, or ask for large constructions). From our own experience, we recommend you to  consult the local building codes before beginning the actual construction, in order to comply with the legal specifications.

Choosing the right plans

Building a pizza oven is not difficult if you use the right tools and materials. Work with great care and use proper plans. If you want a professional result you should check how to make a wood fired pizza oven for more information on the topic.

There are many pizza oven plans available on the internet, some of them are free, while others cost somewhere between 5-20 dollars. If you have found the brick oven design and plans that suit your tastes and budget, you should make this small payments. Nevertheless, before buying the pizza oven plans, you should make sure they come with a thorough list of material and a cost estimation. In this manner, it would be a lot easier to manage this project, otherwise you might not know what to buy and what price to pay for the raw materials. If you want to design the brick oven by yourself, you should draw a rough sketch, after consulting with the rest of your family. The best way to generate creative ideas is to encourage them to share their ideas and to see things from a different perspective.

After selecting the right plans for your needs, you should decide where to build the brick oven. The first priority is to choose the location, as to enhance the look of the oven, but in the same time to fit with the rest of the landscape. Moreover, the location of the construction should comply with the building permit, otherwise you risk a significant fine.

Afterwards, buy the needed materials from your local diy store, using the lists that comes with the free pizza oven plans. Make sure you select the bricks properly, otherwise they might not resist to the high temperatures inside the pizza oven dome. As a general rule, the bricks should have an uniform color on all faces (dark red) and shouldn't have any visible cracks, like cracks or chips. Buy everything you need, otherwise you will waste valuable time by making several trips to the diy store.

Building an Outdoor Pizza Oven

One of the most important aspects of this project  is to build a sturdy concrete foundation and a durable base for the outdoor pizza oven plans. Therefore, you need to dig about 10'' in the ground, install a dense net of reinforcement bars and fill the wooden form with concrete. In order to obtain a horizontal surface, we recommend you to use a straight edge. Place the straight edge over the wooden form and pull it trough, using zig-zag moves. The elevation of the concrete foundation has to be be between 5-10'', in order to protect it against rain and snow.

Next, build the base of the pizza oven, by using concrete blocks. Use a spirit level to plumb the blocks, otherwise you might not be satisfied with your results. Mix a small quantity of cement based mortar and spread it on the blocks, before installing the rest of the wall. Use a margin trowel to spread a uniform layer of mortar and tap the blocks with a rubber mallet to set the blocks into place. Afterwards, you have to build the  concrete counter-top. Don't forget to reinforce the top with many reinforcement bars. If you choose the right outdoor oven plans free, the end result would satisfactory.

Building the dome of the pizza oven is not difficult is you use the right techniques. If you don't have any kind of expertise in the field, the easiest way is to use a form. After you have set the form into place, lay the bricks, one by one, until you obtain the desired shape. We strongly recommend you to lay the bricks together with a mix of clay and mortar, as a cement based mortar won'r resist against the high temperature developed inside the pizza oven.

Last but not least, install the chimney of the pizza oven, either you buy a steel one or choose to build it, using regular bricks. The procedure is straight forward, but you should make sure the chimney is high enough to direct the smoke an the sparks far away from flammable substances and wooden constructions. In order to make your wood fired oven more efficient, you could even add an insulation over the brick dome, using a mix of concrete and vermiculite.

Outdoor Pizza Oven Design