Landing height question

[Eastside3]

Hi all, I was about to move forward with getting a granite tread from a local rockery. Just as you can have them cut for the specific stair tread rise height, I was going to have one that matched the height of the oven floor. Since there is 3" of insulation and a 2" floor, I planned on having a 5" thick granite tread all but butt up to the entrance. I was going to leave a 1/4 gap as a heat break. I then was going to build my outer arch right ontop of this granite piece and mortar it against the front of the inner some edge. The outer arch would obviously be larger. With the picture I've painted here I'm now noticing how the majority of oven pics do not have their landing level with the entrance. Instead it appear that the he other of the insulation and oven floor is simply faced off with decorative material, commonly using the same material as the outer arch. I'm curious the reasons for how you choose your landing height and If for anyone whose landing is level with their oven entrance do you wish you would have built your landing differently?

[NCMan]

Re: Landing height question

I've seen 42" mentioned before, as well as just above elbow height, etc. I think in the end, it's all about what's comfortable for the main person who will be using the oven. I would guess that a taller than average person might like it a bit higher. I designed mine to be 42" and level w/the oven floor.

[Eastside3]

Re: Landing height question

I'd love to see a picture of your oven. I'm at 45" from floor to the top of my concrete slab. If I bring the landing up to a level plane with the oven floor, that will be at 50". I'm 6'3"..... And yeah, I'll be the primary one using it. And by "primary" I mean 99% of the time. The other 1% might be if I hand someone the peel for kicks. My wife is 5' so our compromise (her suggestion) was for me to build her a step stool. Funny but true.
I looked at many commercial pizza ovens (not just wood fired) and in a restaurant setting the oven is much higher. I wanted to enjoy seeing the fire without stooping over to look in. So yeah, it's tall.
One question.... Since you made your landing flush with oven floor...... Do you have issues with rain water getting inside? I'm not sure if you are under cover or if the FB oven doors do a good job of keeping any water that's on your landing from running in. I'll plan to make my landing with a slight angle but water, when accompanied by wind, has a mind of its own.

[NCMan]

Re: Landing height question

My oven is still in the building stages, but you can check out my build pics, if that will help. As for rain water, I built a large overhang over the entrance to hopefully help guard against that and will probably also build an exterior door later. If rain gets in, in my opinion, you'll have it seep into your vent floor and then into your insulation before it actually runs into your oven. Some builders have installed a drainage pan under their vent floors to guard against that. That's yet another good idea, I think. My best advice is to consider as large of an overhang as you can live with to at least help in that regard. Or an exterior door.....or both. As for your floor height, if it works for you, I'd say that's all that matters. Just my 2?.

[Eastside3]

Re: Landing height question

I like the idea of perhaps a second outer door at the decorative arch. This could be more of an artistic piece that doesn't need to withstand heat. It's purely to be the first line of defense against water during times it's not in use.

[NCMan]

Re: Landing height question

I like the idea of perhaps a second outer door at the decorative arch. This could be more of an artistic piece that doesn't need to withstand heat. It's purely to be the first line of defense against water during times it's not in use.

Exactly. A few builders on here have done just that. I think it's a great idea to do whatever can be done to keep water out.