Oven Floor / deck without seams

[johngalt]

I'm in the planning stages to build a trailer-mounted unit and in a conversation with a health department inspector, she said a wood oven should be fine as long as there are no seams in the deck...which all but rules out firebrick.

what are my other choices for a deck, either DIY or purchase?

My oven size is going to be 36-40".

Has anyone else worked around the need for a seamless deck for commercial cooking?

[SCChris]

Re: Oven Floor / deck without seams

How about a pour in place product? I also have to wonder is, how do deck ovens and the typical conveyor style pizza ovens get around this requirement?

Chris

[johngalt]

Re: Oven Floor / deck without seams

A cast deck is what I'm leaning toward, just using the same refractory concrete mix that I will use for the dome, and then buffing it down smooth after it cures.

Any of the big restaurant ovens like woodstone have seamless hearths...here's how woodstone describes their monster:

[A] 750-pound, monolithic, cast-ceramic floor sits on 4 inches of rigid insulation and is poured to a thickness of 4 inches.

Same with a traditional deck oven, they have some kind of ceramic stone hearth that costs thousands (I've talked to restaurant equipment suppliers)

[BrickStoneOven]

Re: Oven Floor / deck without seams

You should ask the HD again because even deck ovens where I work have seams. It would be impossible to have one big piece of stone in there, because how are you going to get it out when you have to change it. I would ask them again about this because you could get a diameter made that you want then cut into 1/4 pieces. That is how the FB oven floors are and so are the Stefano Ferrara ovens. Its a set diameter cut into 1/4 pieces. As you can see here in the Premio oven description House and Garden Pizza Oven.

Woodstone ovens are not good for high temp use.

[phippsj]

Re: Oven Floor / deck without seams

I'm in the planning stages to build a trailer-mounted unit and in a conversation with a health department inspector, she said a wood oven should be fine as long as there are no seams in the deck...which all but rules out firebrick.

what are my other choices for a deck, either DIY or purchase?

My oven size is going to be 36-40".

Has anyone else worked around the need for a seamless deck for commercial cooking?

I am going to build a similiar trailer option in January. Heard the same thing. I am planning on using soapstone.

[Nic The Landscaper]

Re: Oven Floor / deck without seams

Go for 3cm soap Stone set over fire brick splits. It's about the only option you have that wont break the bank completely.

[Tscarborough]

Re: Oven Floor / deck without seams

You can have seams on the floor, he/she/it does not know what they are talking about.

[Tscarborough]

Re: Oven Floor / deck without seams

I just re-read it, and the title is different than what you say in the body of the post. They are probably correct about no seams in food prep areas (I don't know, but it seems logical), of which the deck would be considered, but wrong about inside the oven.

[lwood]

Re: Oven Floor / deck without seams

I agree Tscar, why would seams in the hearth be a problem? At 700F, any food particles are going to incinerate as soon as they touch the hearth, if not before. Ash also fills in the gaps and nothing will get down there anyway. I would ask the inspector why it's a problem.

[phippsj]

Re: Oven Floor / deck without seams

I agree Tscar, why would seams in the hearth be a problem? At 700F, any food particles are going to incinerate as soon as they touch the hearth, if not before. Ash also fills in the gaps and nothing will get down there anyway. I would ask the inspector why it's a problem.

Your asking for common sense, which does not always apply. If you do not want to have to show a certificate that the inside of the oven was cleaned after every engagement, you cannot have seems on any part of it which is exposed to food. At least that is what I was told in South Texas. Soapstone is an easy fix.

[lwood]

Re: Oven Floor / deck without seams

Yeah phippsj, I guess common sense doesn't prevail with those inspectors. Soapstone is a good option.

[GotRocks]

Re: Oven Floor / deck without seams

I would ask for a determination from your inspectors superiors.
The inspectors statement makes absolutely no sense. Every brick-floored oven I have ever used had individual bricks making up the floor.

There are states and counties that have made some obnoxious requirements for commercial food establishments, Minnesota is about the worst I have seen so far. One of their requirements is that "All appliances need to be NSF approved to be used commercially, no exceptions!
I have a friend who has a BBQ restaurant there, and his inspector got all bent out of shape because he thought insects were going to fly down the chimney and contaminate the food while it is cooking. Like a mosquito is going to brave several hundred degrees.

If the supervisor is as ignorant, request a hearing for a variance.

good luck, some of those regulatory people are real pieces of work and really like to wield their infinite powers to cause trouble instead of using common sense.

I had an inspector tell me that no part of my BBQ pit could be outside (Built through he wall so I would not need a class-2 exhaust hood) I requested he show me the statute that prohibits what I wanted to do, and I got no more resistance from him. Now I see him as a customer between my inspections

[mn8tr]

Re: Oven Floor / deck without seams

"One size fits all" government regulation at it's finest. Good luck on your enterprise !

[jcsforager]

Re: Oven Floor / deck without seams

Been reading over your fears regarding seams and health department. Don't worry about it. Don't even ask them about it. I cook on a brick hearth at markets. Saying there are seams is like saying a grill has seams. Per their regulations you have to "cook" your food, meaning bringing it up to about 180 degrees to be safe. When I pull my pizzas out they are at 210. They are coming out of a completely sterile environment. People have been cooking on brick for thousands of years. Seams are not a problem.

Good luck