A few build photos of my oven

[mpmckenzie]

Hi,
Building something similar myself. I agree that you'd want to keep the infill compressible to a degree to avoid the risks of cracking. The difficulty your mason will have is supporting the upper layers of bricks as he lays them. I've gone for a weak vermicrete over 3" of insulating blanket.
Can't seem to attach re-sized photos at the moment.
Good luck,
Mark

[ogopogodude]

My mason is finishing up the 2nd outer (cosmetic) brick dome over the initial firebrick igloo dome (that has already been coated with a vermiculite stucco 2" coating) .. and I asked him what he is going to put in the "void" between the oven dome and the brick dome... his reply was that he was intending to mix up the many bags of vermiculite and pour it in ... once he was about 2/3's finished the brick outer dome.
Won't this be expensive and not at all useful? What about expansion & contraction of the heat of the day (sunshine) as well as contraction (winter) etc... won't this bugger up the outer brick work? Why not simply use R factor insulation (which I already have a huge parcel bag of anyway, as this won't expand/ contract) ? Please ... oh so experienced people here on the forums, ... give me your advice as he is going to be continuing his work tomorrow. FYI, this isn't his first pizza oven as he has built several (of the arch/barrel type) ... but this is his first igloo / dome configuration.