cooking floor design and dimensions

[RTflorida]

Dave, not the best idea. Adding more firebrick instead of the vermiculite will add more thermal mass - resulting in considerable heat loss out of the bottom. You would need longer, larger, hotter fires (considerably more wood) in order to maintain pizza baking temps. The vermiculite concrete layer is your insulation - for retaining the heat within the hearth bricks and dome.

The only other options I would consider would be perlite (another organic insulator like vermiculite) or the light weight insulating boards such as CalSil that FB sells - which has the best insulating qualities.

RT

[dave d pizza lover]

thanks dutch this project is taking a life of its own really enjoy the forum its very informative

[Hendo]

Originally Posted by ihughes

• I was going to use fire brick for the landing, but would it matter if I used clay brick or some other kind of decorative brick as long as it will take the heat?

• I know I'll have to cut brick to shape the circumfrence, is there a better way than I've laid out to minimise cutting (he asks hopefully)? I want to keep the herringbone pattern because of its look

Ian,

I too am contemplating using other than firebrick for my landing - I'm probably going to use the same 30mm granite as the adjacent bench-tops, supported by a small slab of concrete to bring it up to the same level as the firebricks. From reading other members' posts, many have gone to a different medium here without any dire consequences. I've seen some really cool photo's of oven mouths with a 'smoke layer' at start-up which clearly demonstrate the delineation of cold air entry in at the bottom of the vent landing and hot air/combustion product exit out at the top and up the chimney.

The only concern I have is radiant heat - but really, it's getting a long way away from the heat source so I trust this will not be a problem. Despite others' advice, I have incorporated an ash slot, so this should create an effective barrier between my firebricks and the granite landing, at least in terms of conduction of heat by neighbouring firebricks.

On cutting the bricks, I was dreading having to do this, but it was actually quite straight forward. The biggest issue for me was marking out the internal diameter accurately and making sure it was in the right place. Once the circle was marked on the bricks, it took all of about 45 minutes to rip through them with a wet saw. The picture shows what was achieved by someone who had never used such a saw before. I’m amazed at how circular it ends up looking – after all it’s just a series of straight cuts. So if I can do it …. !

Cheers, Paul.

[BrianShaw]

Nice circle, Paul. I also like the ash drop. It looks quite spaciously sized. But... is that a gas pipe going into your slab, or are my eyes deceiving me?

[RTflorida]

Maybe a lever for the ash drop???

[Hendo]

Thanks Brian and good one RT! It is in fact a conduit for my lighting cables - 12V spotties which will end up much like NissanNeill's - one each side of the vent chamber shining into the oven (note two conduits on the left of the vent). Stay tuned! P.

[ihughes]

Hey Paul, thanks for the info on your experience with the wet saw. I must admit I haven't used one before and brickwork is not something I've done either. Your experience gives me hope. It just became a lot less daunting

cheers
ian

[JoeT62]

Originally Posted by DrakeRemoray

Having some shelf on the front of the stand is really helpfuly during oven use. I use the shelf in front of the oven to hold my beer...

Drake

I knew I needed a bigger shelf!