How to Build an Outdoor Pizza Oven Step by Step

Who doesn’t love pizza? Since I was a child, pizza has always been one of my favorite dishes. When my wife and I decided to establish our own house, we decided to create a lovely outdoor space that would be perfect for us and our children to enjoy. One of the first things we did was make an outdoor kitchen. As you might know, I love making delicious dishes everyday in order to impress my friends. What better way to impress them than giving them a fresh homemade pizza made with fresh ingredients that have been grown by myself before cooking it on the open coal fire of my outdoor pizza oven? A well-built and properly used outdoor oven can give everyone in your family memories they will cherish forever.

There are many ways of cooking pizza. Your favourite pizza joint uses wood fire, while others use gas ovens or electric ovens. Some even use classic brick ovens and all have their own distinctive taste. If you are like me and prefer to cook your pizzas outdoors then try to build a DIY outdoor pizza oven for making delicious pizzas at home.

How to Build an Outdoor Pizza Oven

We’ve all been there. You’re sitting at a restaurant and you see the pizza come out of the oven. It’s mouthwatering, delicious and you think “I’m going to try that at home.” However, when you get home, it doesn’t quite turn out like the pictures.

The key to building a great outdoor pizza oven is planning. There are many different methods for building your own pizza oven, but this article will focus on how to build an outdoor brick oven from scratch.

Pizza is a food that can be enjoyed many different ways. Once you have a pizza oven, you can enjoy pizza in many different ways. The outdoor pizza oven is easy to make and will produce great results. You can make your own or buy one from a store.

Step	Details
1. Select Location	Considerations: Flat and Level Ground: Ensure the area is flat and stable. Distance from Trees or Bushes: Ensure no trees or bushes are within 20 feet.
2. Clear the Ground	Excavation Instructions: Dig Depth: Excavate about 4 feet deep. Width: Create a space that’s 6 feet wide at its widest point. Purpose: Provides ample room for all necessary bricks. Allows space for a chimney to be installed later.

How To Build An Outdoor Pizza Oven – DIY Brick Oven Kits

One of the easiest ways to make pizza at home is with an outdoor pizza oven. These DIY brick oven kits can be built in less than a day, they’re cheap and they’re easy. Building your own outdoor pizza oven is a great way to entertain friends and family, or simply enjoy a delicious meal on those warm summer evenings.

Building your own backyard brick oven will give you more control over the cooking process, allowing you to create pizzas that are crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. All you need is some basic tools and supplies and a little know-how from this step by step guide!

1. Build a Foundation

The first step to building a brick pizza oven is to build a foundation for the oven. The foundation will support the weight of the brick oven and make sure that it doesn’t move or shift once it’s built. There are several ways to build a foundation for your brick pizza oven, including:

🧱 Materials You’ll Need

1. Foundation & Base

• Concrete blocks or poured concrete
  Creates a stable and level base—insulated and reinforced with gravel and rebar is best.
• Insulation layer
  Use vermiculite/perlite mix or a ceramic fiber blanket (~10 cm thick) to retain heat.
• Plywood and lumber for formwork
  Construct the support mold for dome & base layers.

2. Cooking Surface & Dome

• Firebricks (refractory bricks)
  • ~60–135 firebricks for floor and dome, depending on oven size
  • Firebricks can withstand 1,800 °F — crucial for high heat.
• Clay bricks (for dome & arch)
  • Approximately 100–200 bricks, may include half-bricks
  • Use alongside firebricks to shape dome and doorway.

3. Mortar & Refractory Materials

• High-temperature refractory mortar
  Essential for bonding firebricks together.
• Clay/adobe mix (optional for traditional ovens)
  Clay mixed with sand and straw can be used for insulating dome forms.

4. Insulation & Finishing

• Vermiculite or perlite
  For insulating the dome and floor.
• Insulating blanket (ceramic fiber)
  Wrap dome before outer shell.

5. Chimney & Ventilation

• Bricks for chimney or refractory flue lining
  Create a chimney vent (~8×8″ opening).

6. Outer Shell & Aesthetics

• Cement or mortar for outer layer
  To plaster exterior and seal insulation.
• Finish coating
  Decorative stucco or stone veneer (optional).

⚙️ Tools You’ll Need

• Spirit level, measuring tape, square — for accurate layout and leveling.
• Brick trowel, rubber mallet — to lay bricks and mortar.
• Angle grinder with diamond blade — to cut bricks precisely.
• Mixer (rotary mixer or concrete mixer) — for mixing concrete, mortar, and insulation layers.
• Saw, drill, staples — to build formwork and secure insulation wrapping.
• Safety gear
  Gloves, goggles, dust mask, hearing protection.

📏 Approximate Quantities for a ~36″–42″ Oven

Component	Quantity Estimate
Foundation	30–46 bags concrete, rebar, gravel
Firebricks	60–135 bricks
Clay bricks	100–200 bricks
Insulation layer	Vermiculite/perlite or fiber blanket
Refractory mortar	130–200 lb (60–90 kg)
Chimney bricks/flue	~30 bricks plus liners

🛠️ Build Sequence Overview

1. Lay foundation slab (concrete, blocks, rebar)
2. Install insulation & hearth (vermiculite + firebrick base)
3. Construct dome over formwork (clay bricks + refractory mortar)
4. Add chimney and arch
5. Wrap with insulation blanket
6. Apply external shell (concrete or stucco finish)
7. Cure, remove formwork, and season oven

✅ Why These Materials Matter

• Firebricks + refractory mortar resist extremely high temperatures — essential for proper pizza baking.
• Insulation (vermiculite/fiber) ensures heat stays inside dome, improving efficiency.
• Structural base and outer shell provide long-term durability and outdoor reliability.

Use concrete blocks or pavers to create a sturdy base.

Use cinder blocks filled with sand as a base for your brick pizza oven.

Buy pre-cast concrete bases for your brick pizza oven. These are lightweight and easy to install, but they’re also more expensive than other materials options.

2. Lay Out Your Brickwork Design (Optional)

If you want an extra-special design element in your outdoor brick pizza oven, lay out your bricks in advance before you start building it! This will give you an idea of how much space is available inside the structure before you start installing bricks on top of each other — which makes it easier to plan out exactly how big or small you want your finished product to be!

We’re going to teach you how to build a brick oven in your backyard. This is a great project for anyone who loves pizza and wants an amazing addition for their backyard.

This outdoor pizza oven can be built in just a few hours, but will give you years of enjoyment.

The best part about this outdoor pizza oven is that it can be built using bricks or concrete blocks.

In this article we’ll show you how to build a brick-based outdoor pizza oven step by step.

Building a pizza oven can be a fun project, but it can also be a little intimidating for those who haven’t done it before. The good news is that there are plenty of ways to learn how to build an outdoor pizza oven. You can find step-by-step instructions online, take classes at home improvement stores or even watch videos on YouTube. Here are some tips that will help you get started:

1) Choose the Right Location

Before you buy any materials or start building your outdoor pizza oven, make sure you have chosen a good location for it. Ideally, this will be somewhere in your backyard where you can enjoy cooking and eating outside with friends and family. It should also be near an electrical outlet so that you don’t need to run extension cords across your yard. Ideally, this will also be close enough to your kitchen so that transporting pizzas back and forth isn’t too inconvenient!

2) Plan Your Design Carefully

Once you know where you want to build your outdoor pizza oven, it’s time to start planning out how it will look and function. You’ll want to make sure there is enough space in

The first step in building a pizza oven is to decide where you want it. If you’re building a backyard pizza oven, you’ll need to consider how much space is available, as well as the amount of sunlight that will fall on your new oven. You’ll also need to think about how much money you want to spend on materials.

If you’re building an indoor pizza oven, there are some things that are different than if you were building an outdoor one. First of all, the materials are different. For example, if you want to make sure that your pizza oven looks nice inside as well as outside then you’ll want to use brick or stone instead of concrete blocks for the walls and floor of your oven.

The second thing that’s different with an indoor oven is that it needs more insulation than an outdoor one does because it will be heated by a flame. This can mean using more insulation or having fewer bricks in each course (if they’re not already).

The third big difference between indoor and outdoor ovens is that they require different types of flues (or chimneys) because they have different types of fuel sources: gas versus wood or charcoal.