It all started last summer. I saw a link to things you could do to raise your property values. One of these was to add an outdoor cob pizza oven to your yard. This really spoke to me not because I was eager to raise my property values but I believe there are two perfect foods in the world: Pizza and Hamburgers. These are two very simple culinary items that if done correctly are amazing but if done incorrectly (refer to McDonalds and Pizza Hut) destroy any resemblance to good eats. Anything I could personally do to improve my pizza making abilities would be considered a gift to all mankind and make me the coolest dad ever on pizza night.
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| Pizza oven after I added the first layer of plaster. The final product will have a blue or gray plaster per the Wife's request. |
The creation of the oven started well before we started to dig a foundation hole. I read a single blog post and thought I new enough to start building. I went back to find that same blog and could not so I read others. The more I read the more I learned how little I knew. I watched youtube videos that seemed to contradict each other. My wonderful and supportive wife gave me the instructions that she did not want some "ghetto duct tape creation" in our backyard. In order to help me accomplish this she bought me a book that is considered the go to source for this kind of project.
This book answered all my questions and gave me step by step instructions. After reading it I realized that most of the videos and online instructions were watered down versions of this book. If you have a desire to build a cob or mud oven the first step should be to buy and read this book.
I wanted to create step by step blog record for anyone who was interested in taking on this type of project. I thought that multiple posts would be more effective than a single huge post with dozens of photos.
Here are the additional links:
Foundation
Stone Pedestal Construction
Lower Insulation Layers
Cooking Surface and clay dome
Removing the molding soil
Upper Insulation layer
Outer plaster layer
Materials and Specifications
