[Shop-talk] Outdoor Fireplace

[Mike Rambour]

  I would normally be more than happy to help you, but you offended me 
by drawing the line at the pizza oven add on :)

  I cook everything in my pizza oven, from burgers to holiday Turkey's 
and oh yeah, PIZZA !!!  Come on over, and I will cook you a steak in the 
pizza oven that will make you buy a pizza oven while you drive home.  My 
fire roasted oven potatoes are pretty dammed good too.  And of course 
the bread that will be used for the garlic bread will have been made in 
the oven.  I might even throw a few pizzas in for good measure.   I 
don't think a single week in 16 years has gone by without firing the 
oven at least once unless I was out of town of course.  I have a guy 
that regularly delivers a cord of firewood for my pizza oven.

  In my old house, my first pizza oven was a kit that held up fine, my 
current oven is a brick oven.

In the old house,  I did build a fireplace using a kit, that looks a lot 
like the Firerock kit but I don't think that was the name, it does not 
sound familiar and it 14-15 years ago anyway so things change.  It held 
up fine the 4 years we lived there until we moved, as far as I know its 
still there and working.   You are correct that a steel firebox wont 
hold up outside, we had a steel backplate on the back of the fireplace 
that was severely rusted by the time we moved out.  The pre-cast 
sections held up fine.  It was pretty easy to build, the only thing I 
really remember was that during the planning stages, I kept reading over 
and over, make sure the slab/foundation is solid, there will be a lot of 
weight on top.  I covered the pre-cast sections with half-brick (bricks 
that were split so half the thickness), held up fine.

   Mike


On 8/10/2018 9:09 AM, Matt wrote:
> This group has some accomplished DIY folks so I thought it worth a try -
> Anyone have experience building an outdoor fireplace?
> Doing some work in the backyard to appease the wife since she 
> acquiesced on my MEGASHOP and my suggested fire ring has blossomed 
> into something more!
> I drew the line at the pizza oven add on.
> I have done a little looking and some of the less expensive kits look 
> a little slapdash - lots of looks but not sure how they will hold up.
> For instance I don't think a steel firebox is going to last.
> I have built brick mail boxes, walls and foundations but I realize a 
> nice fireplace is another thing entirely.
> Firerock makes a kit that is just the firebox & chimney and the rest 
> is up to you.
> Any thoughts?

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