Laying the floor Questions :)

[chirobuggy]

Ok so Im fooling around with ideas before I start to lay the floor and cut floor bricks tomorow. below is a picture. I have a few questions.

Some people have been able to set the floor bricks directly on the calsil board without sand/fire clay mix under it. I cant find any pictures of the these floors from a top of floor horizon view. In my picture you can see some of the bricks on the left are sticking up a little and will likely catch on a peel (or at least I think it will). do I just lift the brick at that brick junction and place some sand/fireclay dry beneath the ones that is needed to make the tops "even" (despite the uneven bricks, the floor is "level". Or do I go ahead and put a whole layer of wet sand/fireclay/water down over the whole of the insulation then set them all? Is that an easier way or not recommended?

2. Some of the bricks are not PERFECTLY square and create a slightly thicker joint line (despite a little tapping with a hammer). The brick is not perfectly square so I tried other bricks in its place but all the bricks are not perfect so I still seem to have non-perfect joints. I know that they will fill in with ash but how much joint gap is "acceptable"?

Any help would be appreciated. And thanks to all on the forum who have posted their builds and that have been following my thread and giving suggestions...they are appreciated.

Joe

[Tscarborough]

Re: Laying the floor Questions

They should be accurate to within 1/16" if they are dry pressed firebrick, and if you are looking for more accuracy than that then masonry is not what you want. Short answer, 1/8" +/- is acceptable, juke them around to even out the gaps and move on.

[Les]

Re: Laying the floor Questions

To add:

Bricks are far from perfect. I tried really hard to get them to sit flush using the clay - I ended up using my belt sander (40-50 grit) to get a surface I was satisfied with. Good luck! In hindsight it was well worth the effort - have never caught an edge with the peel.

[kbartman]

Re: Laying the floor Questions

Joe,
I'm sure You have read these post of mine that I posted on your build. I attached a before and after of my floor. I don?t know you can see any improvement, but I really like the results. I'm wondering what others think of my solution to the uneven floor issue. Also if they see any problems or issues with what I have done. Hopefully gives us both a warm fuzzy.

I made so progress since my big scare on Friday. After the floor was set and first course lay I found some rocking in floor, which I did not like. Thinking about a tear down at this point, I remembered briefly reading a thread on some putting sand inside the dome for support and someone else sanding the floor. Without any further reading on the subject, I thought to myself, why in the world would some do that? I only envisioned a gritty pizza. ??....... I decide to try a little sand on the floor. Frustrated with the outcome thus far, I thought I had nothing to lose??.. With a hand full of sand and paint brush in hand. I went after the uneven and rocking brick. I brush the sand into the joints and notice a little improvement. Driven by the thought of the tear down I continued ????To make a long story short a few shots with a spray bottle, does wonder to get the sand to flow into the joints???..I know have a rock solid even floor that I?m happy with.

Bruce,
No sander involved, just play sand purchased at the local home improvement store. The fire brick and substrate is not perfect has some imperfections causing misalignments and unevenness. Remembering brick pavers and the sanding between the joints I thought the sand would do the same for the floor. The sand flows, thanks to gravity and the spray bottle or water hose on the pavers ( I would not recommend a water hose on the oven floor do to insulation becoming saturated) to fill all the imperfections. As the sand flows downward to fill all imperfection the bricks become tightly locked together. I believe the brick and sand on substrate will behave as one unit with gravity to keep the floor level. As I worked the sand into the joints and rocked the brick to levelness I paid more attention to the corners off the herring bone pattern that the pizza peel would chip easily. I made sure they were below the 45 degree angle of the herring bone pattern to the oven door of adjacent bricks. I started with a rubber mallet to get the sand into the joints, and then tried the spray bottle. It worked wonders to allow the sand to disappear into the voids. Thinking the hammering of the rubber mallet and too much sand could cause to much outward expansion (too much could cause the bricks to expand to the oven walls causing my expansion joint disappear or fail. I was carful around the edges and figure ash would complete the job. As far as gritty pizza I figure a vacuum cleaner to remove just enough sand and ash would fill the left voids and prevent the gritty pizza.

[kbartman]

Re: Laying the floor Questions

Chirobuggy,
Glad to see you got your floor issues worked out.

[K79]

Re: Laying the floor Questions

I used another firebrick and rubbed it over the bottom of my floor bricks until they were all nice and smooth. I laid them right on the calsil board and the ones that stick up a bit (which aren't much) will wear over time or I too am thinking about taking a belt sander to them. I wouldn't worry too much about that. More of a pain in the butt than anything else messing with fireclay under your oven floor. JMO.

[GIANLUCA]

Re: Laying the floor Questions

I read on someone's post that they 45 edges b4 placement this helped with your issue I may try it as well if my floor does not lay flat