Ground Clay???? Tools, Tips and Techniques Discuss Ground Clay???? in the Pizza Oven Design and Installation forums; hello, i just did my oven cooking floor today and realized that i used GROUND CLAY and sand mix, instead ...

[interguglielmi]

hello, i just did my oven cooking floor today and realized that i used GROUND CLAY and sand mix, instead of fire clay and sand mix.i got 2 bags of fire clay the other day, so i thought...... well one was fire and one was ground..... 50 / 50 shot and i grab the wrong one!!!! i have a 5 inch insulated hearth mixed 6:1. then about a quarter of an inch mixure of the ground clay and sand to level the firebricks out......... it dried good i just wasn't sure if i will hurt anyone when we finally start to use the oven???? also i see now that the bag says - not certified for refractory mortar- i hope everything wil be ok... i can't seem to find anything on ground clay in google?? i hope someone can help....

[dusty]

Is it too late for a do-over?

dusty

[asudavew]

If you only used the dried clay under the floor to level everything... You are just fine.

No biggie.

My 2 cents.

Dave

[gjbingham]

I agree with Dave - (yes, it does happen occasionally!)
If you only used the clay for setting the floor, I think you'll be fine.

I wouldn't recommend using it for making mortar for building the dome. While it might work, fireclay would be a better bet for dealing with temperature extremes and thermocycling.

[interguglielmi]

Well thank u for all ya'lls help. I was worried. I think I will have to do the landing over though. I will motar it with something more solid. Since I left a 3inch lip hangin out the front of the landing, I will have to do something more adhesive and durable I assume. Thank u so much again!

[rroughtrade]

If you haven't torn up the oven yet, you might want to do a bit of research into Cob or Quebec Style ovens. Kiko Denzer did a nice book of cob ovens that use clay mixed in with sand and/or straw to build the entire oven including the dome. At the very least, I'd test fire it a couple of times and see what happens.