Closing off front opening?

I’d like to close off my front opening and am curious about how to support the fire brick over the opening? Do I just lay a piece of angle iron over the lower support bricks and brick right over it? And if so does the iron need to be anchored into the arch on both sides or does it just set there and float? Any help would be great.
Adam

I built a wood arch and used it as a support for the firebricks. I used thin pieces of cardboard to create a separation from the firebricks and the wood arch to allow for easy removal of the form once the mortar was dried on the arch.


I absolutely love that arch! I’m assuming still meats minimum surface area that’s references in directions? Are all those fire brick cut in half for the arch?

Thanks Steve! Yeah, they’re full bricks cut in half. The I trimmed the top two down to fill the top of the arch as well. I ditched the arch though after a month or so because I didn’t like how it reduced the opening of the oven. It made it nearly impossible to cook two pizzas at once. Instead I decided to build a door for the oven that would allow me to seal the front of the oven as well as maintaining the aesthetic of the arch. In order to do so, I build an aluminum shell for the oven and then constructed a stainless steel and aluminum door for it. It’s not quite done yet, but these are some pictures of the process so far.