Levelling the hearth

[colinm]

I am trying to lay the hearth for my Pompeii style oven and I’m having some issues with levelling.

So far I have tried fire clay and sand, but the granule size of the fire lay is quite large so I am not sure if it is allowing much movement, and I have tried using fine paving sand, but this just locks up solid if I put more than one brick down at a time. If I try to lay them brick by brick then adjusting the new one moves the others.

Any sage tips would be very welcome.

Many thanks in advance.

[colinm]

Sorted! I found that the easiest way was to grade the bricks by thickness and lay them in order of thickness,thickest at the the front. There is not much between each group of bricks, so there is a gradual reduction towards the back of the hearth, so the peel will not catch.

[david s]

I am trying to lay the hearth for my Pompeii style oven and I’m having some issues with levelling.

So far I have tried fire clay and sand, but the granule size of the fire lay is quite large so I am not sure if it is allowing much movement, and I have tried using fine paving sand, but this just locks up solid if I put more than one brick down at a time. If I try to lay them brick by brick then adjusting the new one moves the others.

Any sage tips would be very welcome.

Many thanks in advance.

Just sieve the clay to take out the lumps and you should be good to go.

[UtahBeehiver]

Is the fire clay/sand mix you are using dry or a slurry? If you used a slurry then lay down with a 1/2" notched trowel like laying tiles and thinset then you can level by using a rubber mallet . Also soak bricks in water if absorbing or setting to quick on slurry.