How an Outdoor Oven can Complement the Rest of Your Backyard Space

By Matt Lee

An outdoor oven can truly complement the rest of the backyard space, as it brings another social element to the backyard and creates a memorable experience. Outdoor kitchens and ovens drastically add to a home’s value, as it makes the space great for entertaining. Below, we’ll chat about how an outdoor oven will exactly enhance the rest of your yard. 

Add Aesthetic Value 

When you integrate an outdoor oven to an entire outdoor kitchen space, your home’s value increases dramatically. You can match the texture and finish to your existing home to ensure that it provides a continuous experience as you’re entertaining. This may mean choosing quartz countertop colors that complement the oven and painting cabinets to match the roof and house color combinations. When it comes to the countertops, they truly must serve a dual purpose in functionality and aesthetic value, as they’ll be exposed to the changing seasons and elements. 

Set Your Home Apart

Now, while more and more homeowners are impressed by an outdoor kitchen space, that doesn’t mean that many homes already have them. Having an outdoor oven will set your home apart and give it a unique touch that your neighbors

are unlikely to have. Furthermore, who doesn’t love pizza?! Wood-fired outdoor pizza ovens are quickly becoming more and more popular, as they’re easy to install and can fit into the design of any existing outdoor backyard. You can take the oven a number of ways, whether you prefer a stainless steel, stucco, or brick look (which pairs well with vinyl cedar shake siding). Homeowners love cooking in wood-fired ovens, as they invite a number of cuisine possibilities and can also help you get outdoors during wintertime. 

Increase Practicality

Aesthetics outside, having an oven and/or kitchen space outdoors makes mealtimes more efficient and facilitates seamless entertaining. While many designers are opting for sliding glass panels between the kitchen and outdoor living spaces, constructing an outdoor kitchen instead brings your home to the next level.

An outdoor oven can add tremendous value to your home. With more and more focus on cohesive living spaces, the outdoor oven will invite your guests outside and add a value room to your home. 

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Matt Lee is the owner of the Innovative Building Materials blog and a content writer for the building materials industry. He is focused on helping fellow homeowners, contractors, and architects discover materials and methods of construction that save money, improve energy efficiency, and increase property value.

Spring and Summer Bring Pesky Animals into Chimneys

Birds nest inside chimneys where they can cause problems Birds look for dark and safe places to nest and lay eggs in the spring and an open chimney can be an irresistible location for expecting bird parents.

Unfortunately for homeowners, nesting birds inside chimneys can mean big problems. Besides the obvious fire hazard from flammable nests, there may be the constant annoying chirping of baby birds.  And perhaps not so obvious, the health hazard from bird droppings which can contain the disease histoplasmosis.

Squirrels and raccoons also like to keep house inside chimneys and these creatures can cause even more havoc for homeowners. Squirrels are noisy and build large nests that block flues, and raccoons carry roundworm and rabies. If either escapes into the house through a damper, , they may damage the interior of the house.

Therefore, it is best to stop birds, squirrels, and raccoons from entering masonry or prefabricated chimneys in the first place. This can be accomplished by having a heavy duty stainless steel chimney cover with bird screen installed on top of the flue liner of a masonry chimney, or a proper cover installed on a prefabricated chimney pipe. Some older prefabricated chimney pipe covers were not adequately designed to keep birds out of the inner and outer chimney walls, making this type of pipe an even more serious fire hazard.  The addition of a screen in this area will stop the birds from entering but any nesting materials should be removed if found between the chimney walls.

According to the National Chimney Sweep Guild and Midwest Chimney Safety Council, all chimneys should be inspected annually and swept as necessary by a CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep. During the inspection, the sweep will look for nesting materials, dead birds, flammable creosote, and other issues and remove them. Chimney sweeps can install chimney covers that will keep birds and other animals out of flues. Covers come in different sizes and shapes such as individual covers to fit on a single flue or multi-flue covers that cover two or more flues.

It is important to get a chimney cover installed in early spring before birds and squirrels start to nest.  According to the Migratory Bird Act, no nesting birds may be removed from chimneys, and to do so can result in a hefty fine for the homeowner and chimney sweep. If birds do get in a chimney flue before a cap is installed homeowners need to wait until the birds leave in order to have the flue cleaned out and a chimney cover installed. The MCSC advises against using inexpensive black steel chimney covers found at box stores because they rust and stain the chimney. Stainless steel chimney covers are long-lasting, are a deterrent to animals such as squirrels and raccoons, and will never rust. For these reasons it is worth the extra expense to purchase stainless steel chimney covers rather than black steel covers. 
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Marge Padgitt is the CEO of HearthMasters, Inc. in Kansas City Missouri. The company designs and builds and maintains masonry heater, brick ovens, chimneys, and fireplaces. Marge is the author of the Chimney and Hearth Pro's Resource Book and others.