Grout between oven base bricks

[Arysemus]

Hi,

im building my first pizza oven. It has a fire box on the bottom and the heat comes up the back and I. To the oven area.

I just installed the floor of the pizza oven. But when I did it I used refractor as grout between the fire bricks. I’m now reading that this is not suggested. Would anyone be able to tell me why? Should I knock out these bricks and redo the base without the refractor as grout?

thanks,

aaron

[SableSprings]

Welcome Arron! Most cooking floor bricks are laid without mortar for two reasons. One, during use (firing & cooling cycles) the bricks expand and contract. If the joint between these bricks has been mortared, the heat stresses will most likely crack the joints or even possibly the bricks. Two, if you do need to replace a damaged brick...it's obviously much easier without the mortar bonds.

I see no reason to knock out the bricks you've done...but keep a watch out for pieces of mortar that may "pop out" while working the oven. Ash will fill in gaps eventually if you do have some mortar joints break out...so relax and enjoy the process. Also, since these gray ovens are somewhat rare builds, it would be great if you started a thread and documented your build for the benefit of the Forno Bravo forum community.

[Arysemus]

Great! Thanks for the advice! Earlier today I purchased thin fire bricks and decided to place them on top of the bricked I had already laid in order to provide a surface for cooking. I figured for an extra $90 this would prevent trouble in the future.

anything I should consider?

I’ll have to start a thread and show the build. It’s turning out well!

[SableSprings]

Looking forward to seeing your design and build. I'd really like to see a well documented gray oven. Especially interested in the connection between the Firebox and cooking chamber.