Square Pizza Oven: The Olson Family’s Minnesota Build

Step 1 of 7

Frost Footings for a Minnesota Winter

First they needed a spot. They wanted the oven close enough to the house to check on easily, with room for a patio for entertaining. They built a template out of boards the size of the oven and moved it around the yard until it felt right, and decided to add a counter top on each side for work space.

Because they live in Minnesota, they added frost footings. The plans do not call for them, but they worried cold winters would heave the slab and eventually crack the oven. Their soil is clay, so it took an entire weekend to hand dig into the hill. For the footings they rented a gas auger and drilled 8 holes, 48 inches deep, with 4 pieces of rebar in each one.

They rented an electric mixer too, and were very glad they did. The footings and slab took 51 bags of concrete mix, at 60 pounds each. After troweling it smooth, they let it cure for a few weeks.

Step 2 of 7

A Square Block Base (Built to Last)

Once the slab was dry, they drilled holes for rebar so every opening in the block would have a piece of rebar in it. “We did not want these blocks to go anywhere!” They laid the block along lines drawn on the slab, 5 courses for the oven and 4 for the counters on each side, including an angled counter on the right.

“If they can do it so can we, we will just have to be creative!”

Jennifer Olson

Jennifer’s advice: check every block for level, both horizontally and vertically. A small mistake can be made up on the next course. Looking back, she wishes they had gone up only 4 courses on the oven, because the layers added later make the finished oven quite tall. When the block was done, every core was filled with concrete around the rebar.

“This oven could withstand a tornado for sure!”

Jennifer Olson

Step 3 of 7

The Hearth: Foam Void, Reclaimed Brick and Firebrick

Instead of building the hearth form on the ground and lifting it up, they built it in place on top of the block, with help from Jennifer’s father-in-law. A piece of foam inside the form created a void. Once the surrounding concrete was hard, the foam came out in pieces and the space was filled with a concrete and vermiculite mix that insulates the firebrick cooking surface.

For the hearth border, they used brick left over from building their house 13 years earlier, which had been stored at the grandparents’ house. Sand went down inside the border so the firebrick cooking surface would sit level with it, and the firebrick was laid in a herringbone pattern, fitted tightly with no mortar.

Step 4 of 7

Building the Oven Over the Foam Form

“This was an exciting day,” Jennifer wrote, when they finally opened the box from BrickWood with the foam form. They mixed their own fire mortar following the BrickWood directions: fire clay, Portland cement, silica sand and lime. Each firebrick soaked in water for 20 minutes so the mortar would stick better, and the ridges on the form showed exactly where every joint goes.

The back wall was laid like regular brick, working out from the middle. Around the chimney opening they used 4 bricks for each layer, topped with the BrickWood chimney kit.

Step 5 of 7

Insulation, Lath and Stucco

Next came two layers of the BrickWood insulation blanket. Her tip: wear gloves and a mask. It was hard to cut, but once it was on, they could mold it into place by hand. Metal lath went over the insulation, wired in place to give the stucco something to grab.

The first stucco coat did not need to be pretty. About a week later, with everything dry, the foam form came out. “We are definitely messy masons!”

Step 6 of 7

The Square Front That Makes It a Square Pizza Oven

For the part everyone would see, they asked a neighbor to help. Together they bricked in the front of the oven into a square face and closed off part of the opening to help hold in heat, using regular mortar for the facing brick. A landscaper did the final stucco coat with a color additive to match the brick.

They covered the block base in stone veneer, with guidance from another neighbor, and topped each side counter with a large piece of bluestone, much less expensive than granite or limestone.

Step 7 of 7

First Fire and a Patio for Pizza Parties

For the first firings they followed BrickWood’s instructions to dry the oven out slowly over 6 days, so the bricks would not crack. A local company designed and installed the patio around it. “We are now all ready for our first Pizza party!”

Day 1Finished

Drag across the photo (or just move your mouse) to go from a dug-out clay hillside to a finished square pizza oven.

A Full Square Brick Enclosure

Want to take the square look all the way? Every one of these starts the same way: with the same kit and plans.