Artigiano Floor

[mgraban]

I don't know if my installers screwed up or not, so I need some help.

The instruction manual (page 12) says "Do not use mortar under or between the floor pieces."

It looks like my installers DID use mortar between and around the floor.

Is this going to cause a problem? For one, the floor isn't flat, which seems like it would be a problem.

Can someone (James, etc) share some insight into this? Did the installer just make an expensive mistake or is it no big deal?

I'm doubly irritated because I told them 20 times to FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS.

[mgraban]

I've talked with Peter, the master installer for Forno Bravo. My installers certainly made a number of mistakes that are going to have to be corrected:

1) they mortared between the floor pieces and around the edge
2) they didn't pour the 3" vermiculate insulating layer under the oven
3) they didn't put sand underneath, they put some insulating blanket underneath.

What a mess. They're going to have to re-do a lot of it (at their expense) obviously.

[james]

Now that's frustrating

Mark,
Sorry about that. When we talked about the fact that "there is some mis-information out there", this is exactly what we were thinking about. I am glad you talked with Peter. On Monday, we can pick this up and see what they really did. It is possible some of their choices are not what we recommend, though something that we can work around. For example, you can mortar down the pieces without causing a problem -- it doesn't impact how the floor cooks at all.

How off is the floor? Is is one floor piece a little off that could be grinded smooth?

Where did they put the blanket under the oven?

We will definitely help get this right.
James

[mgraban]

James - can you please call me today? You should have my phone numbers from my order status. They are working today, so I'd like to talk ASAP.

I emailed you this morning with an update about what the plan is and what they're going to fix, etc.

[mgraban]

Mark,
Sorry about that. When we talked about the fact that "there is some mis-information out there", this is exactly what we were thinking about. I am glad you talked with Peter. On Monday, we can pick this up and see what they really did. It is possible some of their choices are not what we recommend, though something that we can work around. For example, you can mortar down the pieces without causing a problem -- it doesn't impact how the floor cooks at all.

How off is the floor? Is is one floor piece a little off that could be grinded smooth?

Where did they put the blanket under the oven?

We will definitely help get this right.
James

Peter told me that the mortar would crack from the oven heat. The contractor is going to re-do it without the mortar, putting sand underneath. The contractor was concerned about heat loss without the mortar which leads us to...

They put the blanket under the oven in lieu of the vermiculite insulating layer.

Having that insulating layer is what traps in the heat, right?

Instead of pouring vermiculite, the contractor wants to put a layer of fire brick underneath, he claims that works better and that's how they do it in Europe.

Thoughts?

They are going to build up my patio floor to keep the height even, that should work fine (the alternative would have been knocking it all down and starting from scratch!)

[james]

Mark,
Good talking with you. The good news is that this is going to work out fine. For folks reading this, the installer put the oven on a layer of Insulfrax, not SuperIsol or vermiculite, which we don't think is sufficient. In order to not raise the cooking floor above the 40"-42" Mark wants, we agreed that adding a layer of SuperIsol, which at 2", will work well and not raise the oven.

I have been installation instructions that call for a layer of blanket insulation under the oven, and that while there really isn't a definite right or wrong method, we don't think the blanket is enough and strongly recommend the thicker vermiculite layer, or SuperIsol.
James

[mgraban]

Again, to folks reading this -- James' commitment to customer service can't be questioned. He called from Italy and has been extremely helpful and has taken full responsibility for making the situation right (although it's my contractor who has caused all of the problems).

[mgraban]

James - since you said your computer crashed... but you're able to get to the board.... did you get in touch with my contractor today?