Material Alternatives for Perth Australia

[Wayne Paletski]

Hi I have been a long time lurker of this forum as I have been doing my research on building a brick pizza oven.

I have now started the build and have been following the forno bravo plans for a 36" oven. I have built the stand and suspended slab for the oven and want to start on the dome.

My question is, does anyone know of an alternative to firebricks in the Perth area. I know firebricks are available from a few retailers but they are $3.70 which means the 180 bricks will cost me $666 which is a bit over my budget. I have heard of some people using a solid cream paver but wanted to know if anyone on here had any success with it and where exactly they got their pavers.

The other alternative is this ad on gumtree.
PIZZA OVEN BRICKS | Building Materials | Gumtree Australia Swan Area - Midland | 1070856803
The seller claims they are new although the pictures don't look like they are but he can't tell me whether they are light, medium or heavy duty. Are these worth the risk?

AlosI plan on doing the home brew mortar mix but read afew pages back in this forum that yellow brickies sand in Perth has a high clay content so there is no need to add fireclay and can mix a normal mortar mix.Can anyone confirm this.

Sorry for the ridiculously long first post but Iam at the business end of this build and want to get it right.Look forward to hearing peoples advice.

[cobblerdave]

Re: Material Alternatives for Perth Australia

G'day
Yes brickies sand can be used. It's clay content means that you'll get a mortar that will stick and be more plastic. Our ovens get to 500 C a lot less than the 1200C that the refractory fireclay is used for.
As for the brick commons it's hard to recommend any particular one. But I can say that there are a lot of ovens built of them that you see from time to time particularly by the UK builders and no reports of major failures.
Myself I would use firebrick for the hearth floor as they are definitely tougher and resist things being dragged over them logs dropped on them etc. It will also enable you to use the herringbone pattern which is not recommended with house commons as they are not quite as long as twice there width and you get gapes.
You'll need 30 to 40 firebrick.
Regards Dave.

[cobblerdave]

Re: Material Alternatives for Perth Australia

G'day
I've finally been able to access the gumtree ad. I couldn't from the link. If it's the right one it has 3 pics of the brick one shows a row of bricks with various building materials in front. They are firebricks I'm fairly certain as it shows bricks with various tapers not that common with housebrick.
Could be useful as you have roughly twice as many as you need. You could on sell them to help with costs but you would have to move them and possibly store some
Regards dave

[Wayne Paletski]

Re: Material Alternatives for Perth Australia

Hi Dave.

Thanks so much for all your help.
Storing and moving the bricks isnt really a problem my main concerns were if they were firebricks, the orange stain that they have in the picture and also if they were medium density as I have read that heavy or high density firebricks aren't suitable for a pizza oven floor as the can burn the pizza.

Thanks again.

[cobblerdave]

Re: Material Alternatives for Perth Australia

G'day
I wouldn't be worried about that orange stain. I've seen it in a few pics over time. The same thing happens to the 12 or so firebrick that are still stowed under my stand. They get used in the oven from time to time as a heat shield and they all come back to white in the heat. Firebrick isn't water resistant like a house brick so I recon that's got something to do with it. As for the chips on the edges again there not a house brick and have sharp difined corners and edges that can easily be chipped. Being firebrick they are just that, not indistructable but used for what they were made to do, survive heat and in our WFO have a mass to store heat.
Tomorrow before work I'll try to get a pic of a stained fire brick and one that's been cooked white. And a measurement and weight of a firebrick ( mine are lite duty) 29 per cent alinimium silicate, for comparison.
Regards dave

[cobblerdave]

Re: Material Alternatives for Perth Australia

G'day

Measurements
Weight 3810 gms
Size 115 mm x 230 mm x 75 mm deep
Regards dave