Fire Brick Or Concrete?

[MatarazzoDesign]

Hi All,

I want to build a pizza oven in my back yard this summer. I've looked through some of the posts here and had a few questions.

I know fire brick is the preferred material, but is there some type of cast-able material (i.e. concrete) that would work well? This would allow me to build a concrete form, or order a custom half circle form and make the cooking chamber in one piece.

Do fire bricks come in other shapes? I've only seen brick, and wedge shapes online. Do arch shapes exist?

Are there precast dome sections that I could buy? I created a quick mock-up of this idea using 4 keystoned arch shapes.

Also has anyone had any success with kiln bricks? I found these online and they seem like a good option.

Please see the attached images for examples of what I'm describing. Also If you could please link me to a post/discussion on oven sizes, that would be great. I'm curious to see how big I should make my oven.

Thank you

[Coloradoredusa]

Re: Fire Brick Or Concrete?

I M O unless you use refractory concrete to cast ur oven ..it wont hold up to the intense heat.. there are some here who have cast their ovens.. good luck!

[david s]

Re: Fire Brick Or Concrete?

If you want to cast a dome the stuff to use is dense castable refractory. Do not use insulating castable refractory. Also you should use at least 2% stainless steel needles, call ed melt extract fibres.Both of these products can be obtained from a refractory supplier. The stuff is expensive and designed for temperatures about three times greater than you will subject them to. If the price puts you off too much you can use the homebrew mortar, which is really cheap and works pretty well, but don't know how it will hold up after about 5 years of heavy use.

Regarding the bricks you should make sure they are dense firebricks and not insulating ones. It is easy to tell the difference, the insulators are ridiculously light.

If you are looking for a precast dome there are plenty available, try FB first.