I am finishing up my cortile Barile construction. I’m using the generic base design from Brickwood ovens and am laying my fire brick cooking surface on the sand base. My sand has gotten wet due to rain before I could finish laying the herringbone firebrick cooking surface. It is not standing water, but it is not dry beach sandy like either. Can I finish laying the firebrick on the damp sand or must I pull it all apart, let the sand dry completely, and then start again?
I’m hoping that the curing process will ultimately dry the sand without having to pull all the firebrick out. Thoughts or advise?
This portion is essentially laying standard brick for a patio, just on a small scale. You deffiniately want the sand a bit wet as it helps compact the sand to give you a real solid base. So if anything having it get wet is good. You can use a brick and smack the sand to get it really good and packed.
Thank you - very helpful. I have been using a rubber mallet to tamp down the firebricks on top of the wet sand so it sounds like I am good to go. I was just a bit worried that the firebricks, when heated during the curing process, might have a weird effect on the underlying Portland/Perlite layer and cause it to crack. Thank you for your response.