Introduction

I love pizza. No, wait, let me repeat that: I...love...pizza. So much so that I sacrificed several months of my life — as well as a good portion of my sanity — to designing and building a wood-fired brick oven in my backyard.

Much to my surprise and relief, I discovered a large and relatively organized online community of people who build wood-fired brick ovens, trade techniques, and offer tons of help to newcomers. The primary source of information and community assistance which I relied upon is Forno Bravo, a website the impetus for which was to specifically design an easy-to-build oven and then give the directions away for free (called the Pompeii oven design) and provide an interactive forum for trading experiences and techniques. I think the guy who runs it might like pizza more than I. If you have even the slightest inclination to build your own brick oven, download Forno Bravo's free Pompeii brick oven plans, join the forum that is organized through Forno Bravo's website, and start asking questions, lots and lots of questions.

• Construction Timeline
• Construction Description with Model Renderings and Photos
• Expenses Spread Sheet

NOTE: As of June 2010, this project is classified as "mostly done". There remains long term aesthetic work, but the oven is fully operational and starting approximately summer 2010 I I took a break.

The first photo shows the oven after I finished the brick dome. The second photo shows the oven as of May 2010 with the stucco enclosure completed and the planters freshly planted. Be sure to check out the extensive photo diary on the construction description webpage. I started construction in September 2009, cooked the inaugural pizzas in February 2010, and completed the surrounding enclosure in May 2010. Work that remains to be done includes:

Second Pizza Oven

Sadly, after all the work I put into building the pizza oven shown above, I lost it when we sold the house a few years later. Upon buying my next house, I wondered about the possibility of building another oven, and in 2023 I got serious about the idea, designed a new oven, and started a new build. The new design isn't brick. It will (or would, if I ever build it) be made from cast refractory concrete, a single solid dome of high-temperature concrete. Other than that difference, it will (or would) still be wood-fired, although I have serious notions of configuring it for gas pre-heating, only shifting over to a wood fire after the oven is hot and ready for cooking. One problem I found with the first oven was that feeding a fire for one to two hours to heat it up to pizza temperatures was laborious and time-consuming. I came to the conclusion that it would be preferable to heat the oven up in an easier fashion, say with gas, and merely build a wood fire right before cooking time.

Initial progress on the second oven went well. As you can see below, with the help of a friend, I got the concrete stand built pretty easily. I then put the project indefinitely on hold, relying on a propane pizza oven (the Gozny Roccbox) instead of building a permanent oven (technically, the Roccbox can burn wood, but it's a nuisance to switch between gas and wood so I haven't even purchased the wood-burning unit yet). In 2025, two years after building the stand shown below, I added doors to the storage area so I can stash the Roccbox and the propane tank underneath the stand with reduced weather exposure, but I still haven't picked up the project of building a second oven on the stand. I have a shed full of materials and tools that I obtained in 2023 when I started. All those materials are just sitting there at the moment, waiting for me to make a final decision one way or the other.

The second pizza oven stand was designed to be somewhat modular and relatively easy to decommission in the future. Toward that goal, it was designed with the following features:

• Plastic separates the walls from the patio so they don't bond do the patio when the cores are filled.
• The two long walls do not interleave their bricks at the rear corner. They are two separate walls and can be removed individually.
• When pouring the hearth, plastic separates the hearth from the tops of the walls so the hearth doesn't bond to the walls. In theory, the hearth can be lifted straight off the walls for removal (using a crane or backhoe).
• The rebar protruding from the walls into the hearth prevents the hearth from sliding around on top of the walls in the event of strong disturbances or seismic activity. However, the rebar is wrapped in foam and tape to prevent it from bonding to the hearth. As such, it forms a slot-and-plug arrangement, which should faciliate lifting the hearth straight off the walls in the future.

Admittedly, the features described above represent a structurally weaker design, most notably the lack of interleaving between the two long walls at the rear corner. However, I think it should still be sufficiently strong under normal circumstances. If you open the photo series below, explanatory captions are provided.

Dry stack of the walls, with rebar inserted into the cores that will be filled. Note that the walls sit on a sheet of plastic to prevent them from bonding to the patio, and that the two long walls do not interleave their bricks. They are two separate walls. While the lack of floor bond and the lack of wall interleaving is structurally and seismically weaker, this design will facilitate future removal. Alternating cores filled. The walls are done. The rebar inserted into the cores, protrudes above the top of the walls into the poured hearth. However, to assist future decommission, the rebar is wrapped in foam and tape so that it forms more of a slot-and-plug than a bond with the poured hearth. In this way, the entire hearth can lifted straight up off the walls at some future time (with a crane or backhoe of course). The rebar inserted into the cores, protrudes above the top of the walls into the poured hearth. However, to assist future decommission, the rebar is wrapped in foam and tape so that it forms more of a slot-and-plug than a bond with the poured hearth. In this way, the entire hearth can lifted straight up off the walls at some future time (with a crane or backhoe of course). Weep holes are part of the oven design (and serve no purpose if I don't eventually build an oven). They permit moisture trapped in the insulation beneath the oven floor to escape when heating the oven. They are constructed with wooden dowels and plastic tubing during the hearth pour. After the concrete hearth is poured, the dowels can be removed. The plastic is scored on the outside so as to grip the concrete and should remain in place when the dowels are removed. The hearth form, ready for concrete. Note that the entire floor is layered with plastic, including ove the tops of the walls. This will prevent the hearth from bonding to the walls so that it can be lifted straight off the walls at some future time for deconstruction. The hearth form, with the weep hole plugs added, ready for concrete. Note that the entire floor is layered with plastic, including ove the tops of the walls. This will prevent the hearth from bonding to the walls so that it can be lifted straight off the walls at some future time for deconstruction. Pouring the hearth. Pouring the hearth. Pouring the hearth. Packing the hearth to remove air bubbles. This is always a partial success in my experience, but it's better than nothing. The hearth is done. This represents completion of the stand and hearth, although two years after doing this, I also added doors to the storage area underneath. The hearth is done. This represents completion of the stand and hearth, although two years after doing this, I also added doors to the storage area underneath.