Construction

Assembly, location and building my wood-fired oven.

Guides

Assembling your new Liberté oven

The Liberté range of ovens are kit models, designed to be integrated into a masonry structure. They can be assembled with ease.

Are you a “do it yourself” builder? If yes, you’ll find any of the Liberté ovens easy to build.

The instructions are good, and the construction is relatively straightforward.

Le Panyol has simplified the traditional design, while taking care to keep the same balance of mass, volume and shape.

The arch is assembled by putting together a number of “voussoirs” (shaped like orange segments), held together by a keystone.
The hearth is composed of several tiles which are laid close together.
There is one simple opening, formed by an entrance unit, through which everything passes – fuel, smoke, and later the food.
The dry assembly system – no mortar required between parts – makes assembly fast and sure.

Before building your oven

Pallet Storage

In order to ensure that your products are kept in the best possible condition, please follow these instructions as soon as you receive your products:

Protect your oven from the rain
Don’t stack your pallets
Check the expiry date on the bag of mortar

Choice of location

Before assembling your wood-fired oven, you’ll need to choose your location and accurately assess the usable space (or volume) needed for installation.

In particular, you’ll need to check that the floor can support the total weight of the finished oven (support + oven + insulation + cladding + roof). The floor must be flat and it must not subside under the weight of the construction.

Your oven can be installed either indoors or outdoors, as an independent unit or integrated into an existing building, near a pool, under a veranda or in the kitchen.

Outdoor wood-fired ovens

Le Panyol ovens must always be protected from bad weather. Ensure the roof is large enough so that neither the oven nor the hearth slabs will get wet.

Ensure that it remains completely dry in winter. If it takes on moisture and freezes, this will render the oven unusable.

If the oven in installed as an independent unit, then the flue must be at least a metre long. However, if the oven is built against a wall or built into a house, the flue must extend at least 40cm above the roof ridge.

Indoor wood-fired ovens

La Panyol ovens must be connected to an existing or future chimney according to current building regulations. You must not connect more than one device to the same smoke extraction flue.

Your chimney must be:

180mm in diameter (the stainless steel throat which comes with the oven has a 180mm diameter)
Composed of no more than 2 x 45° elbow joints
It must be possible to dismantle it
It must have a double skin if installed indoors

In order to ensure that no humidity or water can enter the flue, you must install a rain cover on the top of the outlet pipe.

Building steps for the Liberté oven

Step 1: Building a support and bottom Insulation

Once you have chosen your location, erect a support (at a convenient height) on which to place your oven. The height will normally be between 100 and 120cm, depending on the height of the user and the level of comfort desired.

The support slab

The support slab should be 10cm thick and must be made from reinforced concrete. As this slab will house the oven and its cladding, ensure that it is large enough to do so. See the dimensions for PLINTH and FLOOR by viewing the DIMENSIONS tab for your particular oven.

Insulating the slab

In order to make the most of your oven, you will want to insulate the base. To do this, we recommend that you insulate the support with 2 materials before laying the hearth tiles.

Thermal insulation panels (calcium silicate or vermiculite boards) at least 5cm thick. These do not come with the oven.
A 2-3cm layer of grog (comes with the oven, called “chamotte” in French) onto which you will lay the hearth tiles.

Step 2: Assembling the hearth

This is a dry assembly method. You don’t have to join the slabs to each other.

Take care to ensure that the hearth is perfectly flat – this is a vitally important part of your oven, especially when using your peel

Step 3: Assembling the dome

This is a dry assembly method. You don’t have to join the parts to each other.

Place the voussoirs next to one another and lock them in place with the keystone.

Step 4: Installing the smoke throat

Attach the stainless steel throat using the screws which come with the oven.

Drill delicately using a concrete tip and ensure that you switch the hammer drill mode off.

Step 5: Applying the refractory mortar

Once you have assembled the hearth and affixed the throat, you will then need to pour refractory mortar (this comes with the oven) over the entire dome to make it rigid and provide a seal. This mortar is hydraulic-setting, so make sure that the dome is properly wetted before you apply it. Follow the instructions in the assembly manual.

Leave to dry for a few days, then light a few small fires to drive out any residual humidity before covering the dome with the insulation.

Step 6: Building the oven walls

If you chose one of the cubic finishes to clad your oven, you will need to erect walls all around it (as shown in the diagram).

You can also choose a rounded dome-like finish. In this case, you don’t need to build any walls. You can see the instructions for the dome finish in the downloadable manuals below.

Step 7: Insulating the dome

Once your oven is dry, and in order to get the best results from its thermal mass, you will need to insulate the top. There are several solutions available, according to how and how often you want to use your wood-fired oven, its location and the chosen finish (cubic or rounded igloo finish):

Grog (Chamotte) insulation

Grog is refractory sand, made by crushing refractory masonry. It performs better than washed sand, which can be used and is more readily available. From France, the recommended chamotte is made solely from white Larnage clay, and this will perform 30% better than sand.

Grog insulation is the ideal insulation for frequent use and for regular bread bakers who cook the heat accumulated in the masonry.

Ceramic Fibre insulation

This is high-temperature insulating wool capable of withstanding temperatures in excess of 500°C. It comes in a roll. Its use is recommended if you favour the dome-shaped finish of your oven. This type of insulation is more suitable if you use your oven infrequently.

Need more advice? Contact Paul.

Step 8: Cladding and finishing

You can fix whatever materials you want to finish your oven.

Let your imagination run wild. Browse our gallery above and be inspired by the various finishes on display.

Step 9: Installing the smoke extraction flue

You’ll need to call on a specialist to install your flue.

Features to be aware of:

180mm in diameter (the stainless steel throat which comes with the oven has a 180 mm diameter)
Composed of no more than 2 x 45° elbow joints
It must be possible to dismantle it
It must have a double skin if installed indoors

In order to ensure that no humidity or water can enter the flue, you must install a rain cover on the top of the outlet pipe.