Soldier course Pompeii Oven Construction Discuss Soldier course in the Pizza Oven Design and Installation forums; Hi Folks, I just wanted to clarify two points: If I'm using an internal hearth (hearth bricks cut to fit ...

[Valan]

Hi Folks,

I just wanted to clarify two points:

If I'm using an internal hearth (hearth bricks cut to fit inside of the soldier course) does the soldier course bricks get mortered to the layer of insulation?

If I'm using a hearth where the soldiers sit on top of the hearth bricks, do the soldiers get mortered to the hearth bricks?

Thanks in advance,
Valen

[mfiore]

Hi, Valen. Welcome.

It seems most lately are not mortaring the soldiers down to either the hearth or the inulation layer. They are mortared together (sides). The shear weight will keep it from shifting. The purpose being differential expansion of the dome and floor, theoretically allowing outward dome expansion independent of the floor. It's still not clear how significant this is, as many earlier builders did indeed mortar to either the floor or the insulation layer.

Having said that, I have yet to get to that point of the build, so I'm sure others will chime in.

[Breven]

Yeah...I didn't mortar mine to the floor, just the back. As soon as you mortar the back of the bricks and they are wedged together- it's really strong. This seems to be the way everyone else has done it. I didn't ask why, I jsut followed suit.

[Ken524]

Ditto... Don't try to mortar them to the insulation. Also, leave a small gap between the soldiers and floor bricks (I used some strips of corrugated cardboard). This leaves a bit of room for expansion.

[jengineer]

Originally Posted by Ken524

Ditto... Don't try to mortar them to the insulation. Also, leave a small gap between the soldiers and floor bricks (I used some strips of corrugated cardboard). This leaves a bit of room for expansion.

it will soon fill in with ash and form a seal of sorts.