When I center the Mattone Barile arch from on top of my herringbone base, and when I lay the first row of the oven firebrick on its side as in Steps 15 and 16, it doesn’t reach the red bricks the way it does in the picture.
Is the firebrick arch supposed to actually get mortared to the red brick, or just to the (“loose”) herringbone base?
I believe my base is the correct size, and I’m using standard red bricks, so I’m not sure where I lost these extra inches, unless the styro form itself is narrower than advertised. Pics to follow…
Yes, the base layer of firebrick are supposed to overlap both the loose herringbone hearth and the red framing bricks. I’m not sure what would be different about your setup either, so let me ask a couple of questions:
Did you install the red framing bricks as shown in the diagram—on their sides, flush with the concrete base and facing toward the center?
Are you seeing this issue on both sides of the form, or just one side?
Are you building a Mattone Barile Grande oven? If so, you can double-check to make sure you have that form, and not the one for the regular Mattone Barile. The inside width dimension of the MB Grande form (inside wall to inside wall) is 40 inches, while the inside dimension of the regular MB form (inside wall to inside wall) is 36 inches.
If you purchased the Grande form, but you received the Regular form, that would account for the difference. Please measure, and then let me know what you find. Don’t try to “make do” as it will cause some serious issues once you light a fire!
