My temp oven and grill setup has been inspiring. It made my perhaps slightly ambitious project illustrated below feel more doable, less intimidating. And as seems to happen in December and January, I’ve become obsessed with a project which, like last year, is this masonry project. It essentially is an outdoor kitchen, built entirely of reclaimed masonry. Yes, mostly free. The key elements are a wood fired oven, chimneyed fireplace, and posts for a pergola that will attach to the house, spanned by concrete counter tops.
Last year’s plans went so far as to have city Planning and Development folks approve the build, the gas company approve the location of the build relative to the gas line, detailed drawings from front, top, and internal structure, and dry stacking various brick laying details such as the base crown seen top-left.
Yes, I had planned on postponing this adventure for another year due to the new arrival to our family due this spring. But I’ve changed my mind. As I’m prone to do. So my life currently is obsessed with cookery construction, pouring over all the details, hundreds of photos, myriad of scale drawings, and other materials necessary to get the job done. If all goes well, ground-break will occur in April, and I’ll post periodic updates here as things progress. I’ll be in good shape by the end of the build, I bet…
9 Comments on “Masonry Kitchen a Go This Year?”
looks awesome. if you ever need a hand, i am somewhat skilled in the world of construction and would love to see this thing come together. keep me in mind when the project commences. then we could trade some saskatoon and apple wines.
cheers
How wonderful. I was wondering about permits and approvals. Here in Swift Current they are very strict about firepits and grills. Nice to see it can be done.
Jeff – you’re hired. I’ll be in touch when the time comes. I’m serious. Your’ in.
Sarah – firepits and grills, yes, but you may be surprised when it comes to fireplaces and ovens. There are some regulations pertaining to fireplaces, but zero to ovens. Generally speaking you can’t be within 3′ of a gas line with a firepit. Given my design, Atco approved me going right over it, as the fire is 3′ above ground, and hyper insulated. It took a HECK of a lot of phone calling and going above heads to get to that answer though, ultimately ending in them visiting my yard to confirm ‘no problem’. City-wise, they tried to come up with some categorization for it so they could bill me a few hundred bucks, but in the end the building inspector guy, looked at me, nodded, and said I need nothing in the way of building permits, I was good to go. He’d built one similar before. You’ll notice too in the city bylaws here that there’s a big loophole exempting devices specifically designed for cooking food from usual fire pit regulations. I also found that the usual 10′ from property lines and combustibles was reduced to 3′ clearance once the things had chimneys. Bottom line though is DO YOUR OWN DUE DILIGENCE. Since it involves fire and every project is different, homework and safety compliance is important.
I was just going to say the building will be an old fashioned work bee. You will not have ANY trouble getting a crew over to help you do this. I want to help, too – but think I would be quite useless. Except for taking picture. I will be finished my DSL bootcamp by then. We shall see.
Fantastic. I am not surprised. You know, you can NEVER move out of this house, now.
I cannot wait to see the cement counter tops come together. I wanted a cement counter top in the house – but – way back then (8 years ago – 9 in the planning phase) no one in the city was doing them.
This will be a very fun project for you, no doubt about it.
:)
Valerie
And I love that it is mainly of reclaimed bricks. My dad used to do that with everything, and I have learned well from him, too!
“…the new arrival to our family due this spring.” WOO HOO! congrats on the news.
Also, glad to read you are a go ahead on your backyard dream :) looks fantastic.
Yes, congratulations on your family addition this spring.
The red tape and over regulating of simple things (extra tax?) may keep most folks from expanding their outdoor cooking horizon past a propane BBQ.
Can’t wat to see some products coming out of this Forno Rustico/
Valerie – I certainly will accept help when folks are able to lend a hand. And yep, never moving.
Maki – thanks!
CH – thanks! I know. I actually feel lucky the requirements are so lax. I think it’s because so few people are doing it, they simply haven’t figured out a way to bill you for the idea yet. Eating stuff from the oven seems eons away, so much work to get to that point…
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If you are reading this from the Calgary area and would like to build your own oven – I have a LOT of red patio bricks (6×12 or so) that you can have for free. brenan4@yahoo.com