Expansion joint between inner arch and oven entrance and chimney

[dogshark58]

I am currently busy cutting bricks and up to the 7th course of by 42” build. Having exhausted my initial purchase of fire brick, I’m calculating what I need to complete including the external arch, entrance and chimney.

I have seen some discussion on leaving an expansion gap between the entrance / external arch and the main oven.

1. should this simply be a gap with the external insulation fibre and vcrete hiding it?
2. Are there other methods to install insulation between the dome and entrance to leave an expansion gap

As always any wisdom is appreciated.

[JRPizza]

Some folks have cut L shaped bricks for the rear vent arch so that there is both an horizontal and vertical air gap between the dome arch and the vent. The horizontal gap makes a handy place to place a bit of insulation/rope without having to fight gravity to keep it in place. You can check out my build to see an example.
https://community.fornobravo.com/for...326#post421326
https://community.fornobravo.com/for...372#post386372

[mongota]

My "L" cut method was the same as JR described.

The rope I used was 1/2" ceramic fiber rope, I used two pieces of rope, one stuck to the face and the other stuck to the side of the arch bricks. A thin bead of high temp silicon was my "glue".

Because the rope was a bit thick (1/2") I also notched out a groove in the "L" of the bricks so the bricks could nest a bit closer together. I notched one brick, made a template, and used that to make my cut lines on the other bricks. Very easy to do with a diamond blade on the angle grinder.

https://community.fornobravo.com/for...567#post393567

Enjoy your build!
Best, Mongo