After getting a pizza oven for the New Year, I realized the front opening—cover or not—could easily become a nesting spot for rats.
I designed and built a custom wooden door that slides into place, sealing the opening and protecting the oven when it’s not in use.
Pizza making learning curve 
Nice job! Love the quote and the pizza progress. 
Mahalo I hope to one day be as good as the legendary @jamesdhatch (and hope one day he comes over to teach the art of pizza making)
Very nice practical cut! I wouldn’t have thought about rats nesting in it. Birds maybe. Or wasps. Regardless, what a great idea for covering the opening! And your second pizza looks fabulously delicious!
If you promised to be home when we got there I think I could convince my wife a trip to Hawaii would be nice 
Especially with the weather we’re expecting this weekend.
BTW, Gozney makes a good metal door (at least they do for my version, not sure if the new model has it). It’s great for accelerating the heat soak when it’s cold outside. I usually keep the sliding vents open or cant the door open on one end so it doesn’t super-heat and crack the stones. Don’t have a rat problem so my door needs are different 
but the metal one would prevent critters from chewing a wooden door.
Practical cuts are the best cuts. Looks good.
Mahalo @ellencadwell! It looked good but was a fail.
@jamesdhatch we are around! We predictably visit family in Michigan towards the end of July, and after Christmas, but otherwise don’t go anywhere. I think I woke up early this morning to one running through the attic… I need to put the traps back up there that I removed for the solar install last year.
I thought about a metal door, hmm, which version do you have? The wood / propane one?
@tjones mahalo!
Nice practical cut!
One question – how do you keep the critters from moving the door? The squirrels and trash pandas in my area are dexterious little buggers.
The handle presses into the stone / metal edge, wedging it in tightly in place. It is possible they would just move along, nothing to see here…
That’s my hope, since the family might think it is gross cooking pizza on that ammonia rat urine smell… Just trying to mitigate any disasters, perhaps I should look into the metal one if they have it, (and add it to my birthday wish list)
fun and yummy!
You are definitely making noticeable progress on the pizza 
Nice job
Yep. It was released just a couple of years ago. Nice to have the option for wood. It also has the steam injector which is really good for bread.
I do like the ribbon burner of the latest version but not enough to scrap the one I have
That looks amazing!!
Great idea, nicely executed! What do you do with the pizza failures? Maybe they could be used as skeet targets.
Great job! You’ll get there with the pizza and I bet it’s just a matter of adjusting the dough recipe and temps for what works best for you. (Maybe certain dough recipes will work better for you than others.)
I was also going to comment about the concern about the wood being chewed through. Maybe if you can do something with layered heavy duty metal mesh and steel wool, you might be able to make something that still looks nice that they can’t get through. Of course for all of that work, it may be easier to just buy a metal one.
I have a bunch of copper flashing in the garage, maybe I can line the back of it.
The metal one that I researched is not made for this oven because they don’t recommend using it with the propane only version which is what I have, the nicer one was double the cost. 
maybe if I become a pizza master then I can justify it.
Mahalo @rvogt @MakerMatthew @rappee25407 @wenning08
@cynd11 they could be! Pull!
I think rats can chew through copper.
I would try steel mesh, like 19-gauge or lower galvanized or stainless steel mesh with small openings. (At least that is the specific size recommended by chatty, you should double check on that.)
It’s extra house flashing that I have, it’s pretty thick stuff. I think other things would probably rust and leave markings on the stone.
Well done. Pun intended!
