Get Fired Up for a Wood-fired Oven Self-build Project

Looking for an early springtime DIY project to enhance your outdoor living and year-round entertaining?  Your answer lies in building a wood-fired oven that will provide you with an authentic Tuscan wood-fired pizza oven of which any Italian family would be proud.

Various DIY pizza oven kits are available but there is only one Valoriani oven kit.  This is provided by the family firm known as a pizza oven maestro in Italy.  Valoriani ovens are renowned for the quality of their build, materials and design.  They are also distinguished by their longevity and durability.  The same focus on quality goes into the family’s DIY pizza oven kits, supplied in the UK by Orchard Ovens.

You could easily devote time and effort to something lasting one summer only, if you buy the wrong pizza oven kit. Many will give you an oven unable to cope with the heat generated by a wood-fired oven, because the materials used in their construction are inadequate.  Choose a Valoriani kit, on the other hand, and you could build something that will be with you for many years.  Your DIY skills can produce something that will help create precious family time or memorable social events with your circle of friends.

A Valoriani cooking floor alone is a work of art, with lots of science behind its manufacture.  The same scientific thought has gone into aspects such as the airflow, how the manifold works with the mouth of the oven and the proportions of each element.  When you buy this kit, you tap into generations of Valoriani family experience. You also get an oven with DEFRA approval, meaning it is legal to use in any garden.

A Valoriani DIY pizza oven kit also comes with lots of advice, delivered by the Manciocchi family, who have been providing Valoriani ovens to the UK market for over 20 years.  Once you have bought the oven, you can tap into this expertise and guidance.  If you need additional help, you can even arrange to have them build the oven and surround.  This is often a great option, as local builders in the UK typically lack pizza oven experience.

The DIY kit is, however, very simply assembled  and you could just tackle it alone, if you have a good level of competence.  You may, however, need to elicit the help of a friend to lift the pieces into place, as components can be heavy. 

Before even thinking about this, the DIY-er needs to prepare for the oven’s arrival, by building a suitable base.  That might require brickwork or block work.  A substantial base, capable of carrying around 600-700 kilos is required. With the oven lasting 15-20 years, there is little point in thinking about a wooden base that might rot in three.

The base also needs to be correctly sized, to not just accommodate the cooking floor, but the oven dome and insulation and some work area around the oven, to make life simpler when handling food and utensils.  The one-metre (100cm) Valoriani pizza oven is the most popular DIY kit sold and requires a base of 1.5 metres by 1.5 metres, as a minimum.  Other available sizes of oven in kit form have internal diameters of 80cm and 120cm.

The DIY kit from Orchard Ovens comprises a Valoriani cooking floor and cooking dome and a manifold for the chimney, plus a front decorative arch with serial number, steel door.  Fire mortar is also provided, along with the insulation that has to be fitted around the oven.

The dome can then be covered.  Render is a popular choice but not wholly advisable in a British climate, as dampness can get into dome-shaped render and cause issues.  Brick is much more suitable.  Once this in place around the dome, the task is pretty much complete.  From start to finish, the oven build should take two or three weekends to complete.

Different Valoriani DIY kits from Orchard Ovens provide different options.  One kit provides the DIY-er with a metal flue manifold, for instance, whilst another offers a clay flue manifold.  With a further option, the owner can have a hinged ceramic door with thermometer, which provides a better seal and is preferable for those wanting to bake bread or slow roast.

The price of a Valoriani DIY oven kit starts at £1500 - £100 per year of use, if its lifetime is even just 15 years.  When you look at it like that, and think of all the satisfaction you will get from building this home and garden asset, it becomes a very attractive proposition.  Add in all the fantastic family and friends time the oven will provide and it’s almost a no-brainer as a springtime DIY project.

Contact the Orchard Ovens team on 07743 847647, to discuss the best kit for your needs and start planning for the construction of your very own authentic Italian pizza oven.

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Editors notes

Orchard Ovens is the domestic and commercial pizza oven supplier in the UK of Valoriani, based in Reggello, Tuscany - the manufacturer of Italy's hugely respected Valoriani pizza ovens, known as the Maserati of pizza ovens and the kings of clay. These ovens are made from superb refractory clay - cotto clay - found in the family's quarry and unique, thanks to having just the right alumina. This allows Valoriani ovens to heat up quickly and retain heat superbly, bring huge advantages to homeowners, as well as restaurant owners, hotels, pubs, mobile caterers, pizzerias, takeaways and more.

Orchard Ovens supplies some of Britain's best-known restaurants and chefs, whilst it is also a specialist creator of outdoor kitchens and wood-fired oven builds for the rich and famous, as well as everyday homeowners wishing to add value to their home and enjoy an outdoor lifestyle to the full.