Oh my crack! Firing Your Oven Discuss Oh my crack! in the Oven Management forums; Well, I hope it isn't as bad as it looks to me, but I wanted to request the help from ...

[ErFornaio]

Well, I hope it isn't as bad as it looks to me, but I wanted to request the help from you guys who have more experience. What steps should I take? As you can tell, it runs upwards about three rows of bricks and there is a bigger hole at the bottom. As a newbie this is definitely what i was trying to avoid...

[Ken524]

What crack?
That's definitely nothing to worry about. Normal expansion of your dome.

Your dome looks great. Press on and make pizza!

[Les]

I agree with Ken. As a side note, when you build your next oven, try to keep the bricks off bond - it helps.

Les...

[RTflorida]

I will third this motion...no worries.
Les makes a good point, a little extra care should be taken to make sure that your vertical joints do not line up from one course to the next - off bond, as a true mason would say.

RT

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

What crack ???? looks like normal joint expansion to me.. Enjoy your oven, there may be more so dont worry about it.. It sure it wont affect the flavor of your pizza..

[ErFornaio]

Les and RT,

Thanks for the advice. I will keep that in mind. In some ways, I want to tear this one down already and rebuild, just to do it completely right, but I will wait for necessity to call. thanks! I'll be deep into making pizzas tomorrow.

RJ

[texassourdough]

Don't let it bother you too much RJ. Most of us would probably like to do it again. And a few of us do. But we also enjoy the heck out of the oven we have - even with their "unique" features (such as cracks, uneven hearths, occasional wetness, etc.).

Bake On!
Jay