Brick Exterior Exploration - Pizza Oven Build - June 2024

My brain is already moving ahead to the exterior of the pizza oven.  I don't know if I'll get to cladding the outside of the oven, but I'd like to try this year.  You can go a lot of directions, but the one that I've focused on/been drawn-to is brick.  I've talked about brick and used a TikTok as potential inspiration for a brick pattern.

That means that I've been poking around Facebook marketplace and Craigslist to figure out what kind of brick is available.  Every listing quotes the number of bricks available, but I had no idea how many bricks I actually need to clad the full oven.  

In terms of oven facade inspiration, I'm very much looking to this oven build on YouTube as inspiration.  That oven is from the YouTube channel named: The log cabin life style by Jerry Tyson.  This screenshot below is from his oven-build video (source) and I'm eye-balling the height of his corners to be five-feet-tall.  

I know my stand is 70 inches deep by 62.5 inches wide.   Using that five-foot-side-wall-height, we can calcluate the bricks.  

60 inches tall x 70 inches deep = 5' x (call it) 6'.  Just shy of 30 square feet per side.

Using this brick calculator, 29 square feet of brick calls for 160 bricks.

So, now we know...each side wall is 160 bricks.  320 bricks for the two sides.

For the front and back, I can estimate the surface area by separating the facade into two spaces.  Using that same oven, we can call the bottom 'square' to be a 5x5 square.  The top appears to be CLOSE(ish) to an equilateral triangle.  So, let's call that 5-5-5 triangle.  

Thanks to Google, I can easily find the area of an equilateral triangle.  For a 5-5-5 triangle, it shows 11 square feet of area. 

That means the front and back are:  25+11 = 36 square feet each.  72 square feet total.

Using that same calculator, it shows 198 bricks for 36 square feet.  Call it 200 bricks for the front, 200 bricks for the back.  400 total.

Sides are 29 square feet (each), 58 square feet total.  160 bricks for each side, 320 total.

Combined:  72 (front and back) + 58 (sides) = 130 Square feet.

Combined:  400 bricks (front and back) + 320 bricks (sides) = 720 bricks total

Now I know....when I look at bricks for sale, I'm looking at 720 as what I need. 

One other approach is to use brick veneer.  We have some in our house (flooring) and it really looks and feels like full bricks.  I was looking over at Menards and was poking around to see what they have.

Remember this brick pattern inspiration from TikTok?  

Menards has a couple of options for brick veneer that come in a brown combo pattern AND....they offer a box of white(ish) bricks that could be used for those little 'plus signs'.  They cost a $1.24 a piece.  See below for a couple of options:

$1.24 per piece for the bricks in the field pattern x 720 bricks = $892.80.  That's my floor.  

One little caveat is...however...if I use veneers, I'd have to buy the 'corners'.  See below for what I'm talking about:

Brick Veneer Corners - Box of 12 from Menards

12 pieces per box - gets you about three-feet in height.  Five feet tall corners x four corners = 20 feet of corners.  7 boxes @ $47 per box = $329 for the corners.  I'd be able to buy LESS of the standard veneers, but I'm not sure how many.  Lets say the corners are 5% of the total.  

95% of 720 = 684 bricks.  684 x 1.24 =  $848.  That's about $44 of difference.

$848 (bricks) + $329 (corners) = $1177.00.  

That's the ceiling on brick veneers.  

A quick look around Facebook Marketplace reveals that there *are* some listings that show a high quantity with a low price.  This listing includes "over 600 bricks" at 70 cents a piece.  600 x $0.70 = $420 for 600.   Could I find the other 120 bricks?  Probably.  Could I get them HOME?  That's a different story.

I also am thinking about extending the roofline over to a prep station.  That would likely call for even more bricks - and lumber.