Cooking Floor inside dome or dome ontop?

[johnaero]

ok going start bit work once rain stops in next few days.

bar ability to lif damaged bricks is there any real advantage to cutting the bricks to fit inside the walls of the dome?

just i thik i will have better finish as my cutting skills are nto best with the 4 or 9inch grinder. plus will minimise lot work and dust

[bookemdanno]

I liked floor inside as it gave a decent form for my first course.

[turkey]

I laid on top, partly because I could not easily cut the bricks but also for speed, and I decided out of all the bricks that might need to be replaced the ones right under the oven wall where least likely... this might be totally false tho given they get far more weight and you push the fire onto them during cooking but I am not sure I have seen anyone actually replace any bricks so far.

I think it depends on how you want the first ring, some folks have it outside the floor but do them standing on end to make a little extra height before the dome starts to bend for more working room and I can see some good logic there.

I wonder how everyone went as a %, I am going to guess its probably close to 50:50.

[petec]

I went inside..
...only bugbear was lots of cuts to get it neat around inside the first course perimeter.

Don't think it really makes much difference - go for what you like intuitively I say.

Cheers and good luck with he build
Pete

[johnaero]

Like inside but more thinking time frame and what i sm able do nearly

[cannyfradock]

I also think it's 50/50. Myself I find it easiest to build my first ring then lay the hearth inside of that. For those awkward cuts around the edge I soak the bricks and cut them with a 9" angle grinder with a diamond blade. I cut what I can with a hammer and bolster........they don't have to be perfect as when you peer in afterwards.....they always look perfect, regardless if they're not.

Terry

[johnaero]

Well mite do dat seen 1st ring temp laid 4 ref. found it real easy cut with hammer. Mite get brick hammer just do few finer chipping jobs

[faz]

I cut my floor bricks to shape, laide them and then butted the wall bricks as a soldier course up against the edge of this circle.

[spinal]

I cut my floor bricks, then put a 1cm spacer around them before putting up the soldier course. This was done with newspaper, which burnt off during the first burn. The gap then fills with ash, which is compressible.

The idea being that as the floor expands from the heat, it shouldn't "push out" the soldier course, which would cause cracks.

Keep in mind that many ovens in Italy have a terracotta/clay tile floor over the fire-bricks. So if your bricks crack particularly badly, and you aren't able to replace them, you can always lay a second floor of suitable tiles over them (assuming you can convince someone to crawl into the oven and lay them for you )

M.

[johnaero]

Well tink this is 1 time job maybe cut to shape and take time do it right 1st time