I am heading down the path of more heat retention in my oven (Duratech damper, door, second roll of insulation). As I think about the insulation and doing 4 layers, I am wondering about the girth of the oven in relation to the base. Right now, I have 6.5 inches of space from the oven firebrick to the outer edge of the frame brick. The cermaic blanket appears to be 1.5 inches thick (uncompressed). Quick math: 4 layers of insulation = 6 inches of thickness. Add 1 inch of stucco to get a total of 7 inches added to the oven and I overflow the frame brick.
Should I compress the insulation before wrapping the oven? Does that alter the insulating performance?
Thanks.