Why I Oughta...

Earlier this month, I posted the latest update on the progress of finishing our backyard wood-fired pizza oven where I showed the continued application of brick veneer to the exterior to clad the enclosure in a finished material.  At that time, I had most of the back and some parts of one side/the front complete.   Fast forward a little bit and now the brick veneer is fully-applied.  I ended up using two types of bricks (a cost-cutting choice) that I sort-of have come to regret.  But, that's only after I began to grout the bricks.  I used a more expensive brick on the front that came with L-Shaped 'corners' to help provide the illusion of full-dimensional bricks being used.  I'm glad I did that.  But, I also used a far-cheaper brick veneer product for the back and parts of the sides of the oven.   I thought that they would be hidden (in the case of the back and most of the sides), so it wouldn't matter if the 'cheaper' brick was back th...

While most of my priority to-do items on my annual list involve horticulture, a few of them are different type of projects.  #5 is to "Finish the Pizza Oven".  Finishing it means the finish materials:  exterior cladding with brick veneer, trim around the roof and covering the roof.   Late last year, I began to play around with brick veneer. I started along the backside (just to get the hang of the materials) before Winter arrived .  But, one of the things I've been watching is the temperature tolerances of the veneer mortar.  I wrote about the temperature requirements earlier this Spring .  With the temps (finally) rising, we're in the window to work on the veneer. After getting the hang of the material on the back and one of the sides (Note:  I didn't complete either, just did a couple of rows.), I have moved to the front.  I'm using two types of brick veneer - one is about half the price of the other, but I prefer (surprise, surprise)...

The good folks at Forno Bravo sent out their monthly email newsletter this week and it included a look at customer's oven that they bill as being straight out of 'Fantasy land'.  And, I immediately glom'd-on to the images and video about the oven and have begun to pour over the details.  Here's a link to the newsletter (web link ) and below is a screenshot of one of the images in the newsletter that shows off the oven.  This is one of their off-the-shelf ovens that is wrapped in an enclosure.  That enclosure is faced with stone (veneer, I'm guessing) with a cedar (or cedar-inspired roof). This is not my photo.  Source via Forno Bravo's video .  Here below is  their YouTube video that accompanies the story about this oven that shows off even more details: A few things of note: 1.  The wood storage has a door.  Split in the middle and matching the roof trim.   Love that.   Here, below is a slightly better look at the oven w...

Posting this about a month later than I took the photo, but documenting here in my pizza oven building journal that I did start the final exterior of the oven this year - in 2025.  Below you can see the first few test brick veneer pieces (do we call them 'tiles'?  bricks?) that I attached to the far back corner of the oven.  I figured that it was best to start where NOBODY WILL EVER SEE THEM.  Also, since NOBODY WILL EVER SEE THEM, I opted to NOT use 'corner' pieces of veneer.  They sell these L-shaped pieces that provide the 'look' of brick depth at the corners, but they're more expensive than the normal pieces.  I'm using the L-shaped corners in all visible spots.  But, not back here.  The last time I posted about the oven was when the soapstone landing was installed three weeks ago .  I started at the top and am working down using a veneer-specific mortar.  I set the first seven courses from the top and went two bricks-in on the top a...