Brick Oven Built For Less Than $1,000

Brick Oven Built For Less Than $1,000 BUILDINGS Houses 32-3-40 Dale Neese of Cottage Hills, Ill., spent less than $1,000 to build a backyard brick oven. The 70-year-old widower has several physical problems, not the least of which is a bad back, but he still did all the work himself. The attractive oven is 4 1/2 ft. wide by 5 1/2 ft. long, by just over 6 ft. high (not including the flue) and has two levels that each have openings in the front. The lower level has a brick floor and is empty, except for a pail to catch ashes. The main purpose of the lower level is to elevate the upper levels. "Because of my back, I didn't want to have to bend over," Neese explains. "It's a black oven û the kind where you build the fire right inside the oven. When you get it to the temperature you want, you rake the fire out and put in the bread. For pizza, you just push the fire to the back and put in the pizza." An 11 by 17-ft. aluminum awning protects Neese from rain and the sun's heat. He installed it in front of the unit so that it's right against the flue and extends out from each side of the oven a few feet. After completing the bottom half, Neese placed reinforcing rods in both directions across the top, with plywood for a platform beneath. He then poured about 2 in. of moderately heavy cement and partially set in multiple hooks he had made from nails. Once this dried, the hooks added strength to the bond with Neese's second floor, which consists of 1 1/2 in. of refractory concrete and Perlite insulation. "On top of the second floor, I used 4 in. of fire brick, on top of which I built the oven. To do that, I used more fire brick and fire clay (at least 4 in.), aluminum foil, lightweight concrete (that contains as its aggregate, Haydite - also called expanded shale), diatomaceous earth to take care of any cracks, and then moderate weight concrete, Perlite insulation, and the red brick skin." Neese also installed 3 ft. of 9 by 9-in. flue liner in the flue. Between the oven's two front openings, Neese included a ledge made with 12-in. bull nose brick (brick with a rounded front edge). He had also left an opening in the floor to serve as an "ash dump." It's just outside the door, but behind the bull nose brick, and when Neese scrapes out his oven, the ash collects into a metal waste can just inside the bottom arch. This feature works very well, he says. The oven door has three layers with metal on the inside and oak on the outside, plus two handles. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dale Neese, 102 Virginia, Cottage Hills, Ill. 62018 (ph 618 259-2953).

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