Pizza Bob's 42" Build Pompeii Oven Construction Discuss Pizza Bob's 42" Build in the Pizza Oven Design and Installation forums; I have been searching the forum...Should the soldier course get mortared to the vermicrete layer or not? I plan on ...

[pizza_bob]

I have been searching the forum...Should the soldier course get mortared to the vermicrete layer or not? I plan on using fireclay, fine sand and water slurry to level herrringbone floor. Do I use this same slurry under soldiers? The soldiers will be outside of the cooking floor.

[jcg31]

Soldiers are mortared in place and there should be a gap between face of soldier and floor (mine is 1/4 inch).

Jim

[dmun]

Your leveling medium (fireclay/sand) should extend out past your soldier course, you want that level too. It's not much of a mortar: the weight of your dome will keep your oven in place.

[pizza_bob]

Jim/Dmun,

So fireclay/sand/water mix under the soldier and floor bricks to level everything off. Then mortar (heat stop) on sides of soldiers. Do the soldiers get like a wedge shape of heat stop behind them to hold them to the vermicrete layer? I plan on using cardboard to form the expansion gap between floor and soldier course.
Thanks for all your help!

~Bob

[pizza_bob]

Some progress today... I picked-up my "fine" sand and particle board for the oven footprint form. I'll use this footprint form to attach my "indispensible tool" and to protect the hearth bricks from any bricks or mortar that might fall during dome construction (hopefully just mortar falling and not bricks ). I also used particle board to transfer the footprint to the herringbone pattern of firebricks. To all the nay-sayers out there...You can cut arcs with a tile saw! The Harbor Freight saw kicked butt! It was actually much easier and quicker than I thought it would be. If it wasn't for rain in good ole Connecticut I would have finished cutting the hearth bricks.
My oven opening to dome transition looks different than others I have seen. I laid this out in my CAD program and it seems as if this will work just fine. This lay-out will give me a 20" opening and then flare out to 23".
Check-out the chihuahuas - Nomar, Pedro and Manny (my wife is a Red Sox fan and I am a Yankees fan) - they're ready to jump off the deck and end it all if I don't finish this oven and start paying them some attention!
I hope to have the floor in place and soldiers course cut tomorrow...

[pizza_bob]

I didn't get as much done as I wanted to today but some progress is better than no progress! I finished cutting the bricks for the oven footprint. Again, that Harbor Freight saw is great! Best $184 I spent! I also had a chance to dry stack the soldier course. This cooking hearth will be inside of this course as opposed to on top of it and separated with cardboard for an expansion gap. Is it me or are firebricks really, really fragile?? You look at them the wrong way and they chip!
I'll cut the angle on the soldiers tomorrow and then move everything over from the deck to the oven. Would there be any advantage to keeping the full height of the soldier and mortaring a wedge-shaped brick on top of each soldier to start the dome?

~Bob

[dmun]

Would there be any advantage to keeping the full height of the soldier and mortaring a wedge-shaped brick on top of each soldier to start the dome?

My personal opinion is that the taller the soldier course, the weaker the dome. I'd cut the soldiers, or even consider a half height course.

And good for you using a proper respirator! Way to go.

[bimbo]

I did a full soldier course like yours is sitting and cut the top off at an angle - enought angle so that the next cource sat in direct contact - ie not wedge etc.

This means that if you look from the inside the amount of brick showing is just over 1/2 a brick.

[pizza_bob]

Bimbo,
Thanks for your reply. You are correct...cutting an angle of 20 degrees on the soldier will show just over 5" from the inside view.
What did you use for mortaring the soldier courses together? I picked HeatStop today and plan on using that but had a souple concerns:

1) The soldier course leaves a gap that is approximately 1/2" on the outer side of the dome. The HeatStop instructions say to keep the joints under 3/8". Is this is a waste of HeatStop and would it cause any problems?

2)The HeatStop I purchased was really, really inexpensive! It was only $48 for a 50lb bag. It says HeatStop 50 on the "white" bag and is manufactured by CMS Industries. Other masonry suppliers were selling it for $78! I called Rumford, who has some sorta' connection with CMS Industries (beause I couldn't get anyone to pick-up at CMS) and they explained the difference between the tan bag of HeatStop 50 and the white bag of HeatStop 50. They're manufactured at different facilities. It seems kinda' silly to change your bags depending on where it's made but he assured me there is no difference. I guess I should just stop complaining and go by more HeatStop! The masonry supplier that sold me this HeatStop said they purchase these in huge volumes and they get it for a really good price...

~Bob

[bimbo]

I used the DIY mix of 1.1.1.3 - Portland, Lime, Fireclay and Sand.