In our article we will look at how to make a garden oven yourself. Why you need it is up to you. Someone dreams of a multifunctional device that will replace him with barbecue, barbecue, and even grill. And someone is forced to build such stoves, since there is no gas in the village, but somehow you need to cook. This is especially true for holiday villages located away from cities.
Why is it worth choosing such an oven?
A summer stove in the garden is an ideal option for a summer residence. All preparations for the winter can be done on the street, and not soared indoors. You can, of course, use a gas stove, but there are two nuances. The first is that even if there is gas in the house, tapping into pipes is prohibited and punishable by a large fine. Second - you can put a gas bottle, but it needs to be refilled somewhere, and this is often a problem.
As for the stove, which will be considered in our article, it runs on cheap fuel: wood, coal, dry felling or construction chips. In addition, having built such a street garden oven, you will have the opportunity at any time of the year to use it as a smokehouse, barbecue or grill. It all depends on what dish you want to cook. Needless to say, self-made smoked meats are much tastier and safer than the ones we see in stores.
What to build - an oven or a smokehouse?
It should be noted that the smokehouse and oven are various devices. It is necessary to squeeze out the maximum of heat from the furnace, not to allow it to dissipate into the surrounding space. For this reason, the furnace should be designed so that the fuel is burned to ash. But the smokehouse gives a small efficiency, produces a lot of smoke. But this smoke is not simple - it should not contain the remains of unburned fuel. You should get smoked products, not covered with a thick layer of soot.
And most importantly - smoke should not contain harmful substances. That is, if in the oven used for heating, you can load (figuratively, of course) even rubber or pieces of plastic that burn out without residues, then this is prohibited in the smokehouse. But let's talk a little about the features of smoking.
Smoking at home
Please note that it is undesirable to smoke products at a temperature of 35..50 degrees. In this case, the likelihood of condensation containing acid increases. There are three types of smoking:
- Cold - temperature is less than 35 degrees. Products are prepared in advance in brine (saturated sodium chloride solution). Immediately before loading into the smokehouse, the product is soaked. The product should be cooked for approximately 5-6 days, breaks are not allowed. A product prepared in this way can even be stored for several years.
- Half-hot - while the temperature is about 60..70 degrees. First they prepare the product - soak it for a short time in brine, then smoke it for no more than 48 hours. In rare cases, the product is stored for a month, usually no more than a week.
- Hot smoking - temperature 85..120 degrees. It is not necessary to prepare products; the maximum cooking time is 5 hours. But it all depends on the type of product. Fish and lard, for example, are smoked for no more than 25-30 minutes. But the shelf life of the product is small - a maximum of 36 hours.
Now you know all the features of smoking. We can conclude - the smokehouse and the furnace should not be combined in one building. After all, the paramount task in the construction of the furnace is to squeeze the maximum heat, not smoke. Therefore, for a smokehouse it is better to use stoves with low efficiency.
Furnace construction: foundation
Now that you’ve decided a little on what exactly you want to build, you can start the construction. And the very first thing that needs to be done is the base for the stove. To do this, dig a small pit, its depth should be about 30 cm. It is advisable to carefully compact the bottom, pre-level it. Then pour a 15 cm layer of sand to the bottom, gravel over it to level with the ground. All backfill should be carefully leveled. It is recommended that the pit size be larger than the furnace by 40 cm (20 cm on each side).
You can use the finished concrete slab - lay it on the gravel. But you can make a foundation on your own. To do this, put the formwork from the boards, inside, assemble the grid from the reinforcement. The formwork height is not more than 15 cm. It is recommended to use mortar of grade M250 and higher for the construction of garden stoves made of bricks. But keep in mind that the higher the index in the name of the cement brand, the faster the mortar hardens. Therefore, when using cement grade M500, for example, it is recommended to immediately fill the pit. Otherwise, the solution will be taken with a stone and it will not work for its intended purpose.
Base under the stove in the gazebo
When building a stove in a gazebo or on a veranda with a wooden floor (provided that its bearing capacity is quite high), the removal of the base must be done based on fire safety rules:
- From the side of the firebox door - 60 cm.
- On the other sides - at least 30 cm.
Asbestos board with a thickness of at least 4 mm should be laid on the floor. Mineral board can also be used, but the thickness should be 6 mm or more. After a flooring of metal is laid, it is wetted from above with a clay-based liquid solution. A layer of felt or basalt cardboard is laid on top. The oven can begin to be laid after the impregnation has dried.
Material for the construction of the furnace
It should immediately be noted that it is possible to build furnaces only of brick or metal. A cast iron garden stove, as well as a brick oven, can be used as a barbecue or grill. For bricklaying, it is recommended to use only brick that can withstand high temperatures.
Silicate is not recommended, as it does not withstand high temperatures and quickly becomes cracked. As for fireclay, it is also impossible to use it during construction under the open sky - it has a very high absorption of moisture, so it can be destroyed during frosts. The use of fireclay bricks is justified only in the construction of furnaces indoors (in bathhouses, residential buildings, etc.). It cannot be used on the street.
As for gas and foam blocks, they are also not recommended for use. When exposed to temperature, crystallized water inside the material evaporates. As a result, in a few years, or even months, this material will turn into dust. And such a stove for a garden house will quickly become unusable, and all the forces and means will be wasted.
Masonry mortar
And now we begin the construction of the main part of the furnace. Let's look at what solutions are best used for laying garden stoves with your own hands. Simple clay is not suitable, since it quickly becomes sour with a simple in the fall and spring. Ovens in which the mode is not very intense can be put on a solution of cement M250 and sand. It is advisable to reinforce the seams with a steel mesh (at least 3 mm thick). But it is worth noting that the service life of such furnaces is no more than 7 years.
If you want the oven to be durable, then buy a special mixture for laying stoves on the street. The mixture must be prepared strictly according to the instructions, otherwise the quality will be impaired. In fact, it is a mixture of cement, sand and clay. But the last component is of very high quality, making such a mixture at home is problematic.
A method of manufacturing a mortar for masonry
If you decide to save, but put down a quality stove, you can use a simple recipe for the manufacture of masonry mortar:
- Gray or white oily clay dissolves in a large amount of water and acidifies for about 3 days.
- The first two days you need to occasionally stir the clay, the third day it settles.
- Then the whole suspension needs to be drained, and the clay sediment should be pressed through a sieve with a mesh of not more than one and a half millimeters. Then the whole solution is dried in the shade.
- Dry clay is crushed to a fraction of less than 1.5 mm.
- Cement is added, it is advisable to use brand M400 or higher. Cement should be approximately 10-15% of the amount of clay.
- Make a fat test.
- Add sand (fraction not more than 1.5 mm). You can not use rounded river quartz or ravine sand, it is best to use mountain sand.
Now the mixture is ready for use, it is recommended to use it immediately. When laying a garden brazier, the same solutions are used as in the construction of a barbecue.
Ways to protect the seams
To completely protect the seams will not work either with tiles, or with plaster, or even with natural stone. Soaking will still be observed. It is best used to protect the grout with porcelain tile adhesive. It is recommended to grout only after the final drying of the masonry (at a temperature of 15 degrees. It will take at least 20 days). It is advisable to put a canopy over the stove for the period until the solution dries. This will avoid uneven heating under the sun.
It is much easier to protect internal seams - during downtime it is enough to close all openings and openings with bags of dry grass or rags. If the temperature inside the building is at least a degree higher than outside, the possibility of condensation is completely excluded. It is advisable to heat the furnace with chips, paper, straw or hay before first use. Warming up should be carried out until the smoke from the pipe becomes practically transparent. Only then can the barbecue garden stove be put into operation.