Closing front of oven

Do you use firebrick or regular brick to partially close front of oven for a custom door? I am thinking about building a custom door with glass insert any thought on type of glass.

I used firebrick and then covered with standard brick. For the firebrick I set them on their thinner side instead of the normal wide side, so they wouldn’t take up too much space on the front.

hey good idea thanks, did you use veneer brick to cover or regular brick

I used regular brick. The of photos of what we did in the photos section of the forum, under Reilly Family Oven.

This is one photo, you can see the regular brick in the front and firebrick behind. We eventually completely enclosed the oven with a roof. With the added brick I did have to plan ahead and make the hearth slab deeper than what the original plans called for to account for the added layers of material and still leave a front ledge for the door to sit on.

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You can use either. Firebrick preferred, but you can also use standard brick because it doesn’t take as much heat. Definitely use refractory mortar, though.

You need ceramic glass for that—the same kind of glass you’d use for a wood stove or a fireplace insert. It’s pricey (I got a 20x30 inch pane for about $100 some years ago), but it will withstand the thermal stress. You can get it from a full-service glass dealer. You will have to provide exact dimensions and have them cut it for you—not a job you want to do yourself and they will charge you for what they sell you, not the waste trim.

That needs a ceramic rope fiber gasket as well—a smaller-diameter version of the gasketing kit that @BrickWood sells. Since this is an original installation and not a replacement, you could get technical advice from the glass dealer, and maybe even have them install it for you.

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I have a piece of Granite that was originally a sink cut out fromacountertop…do you think I would be able to use that as a front wall of the oven…I was planning on bringing it in to get cut … Do you think it can withstand the heat? Thanks

Hi Mike, and welcome to the BrickWood forum! Sorry for the delay in responding.

I’m trying to picture more specifically what you have in mind. Are you saying that you’ll use the granite to close off the front, or that you’ll use it like a veneer over firebrick?

I’d advise strongly against using it on its own. As you probably know from the countertop, granite is naturally porous and will retain moisture. Used as a countertop, water stains it unless you treat it periodically with a sealant. With direct flame on it, you get a Bad Thing: the potential of steam building up inside the granite and cracking it or defacing it in smaller ways.

As a facing or veneer, it doesn’t have those same issues to the same degree. There are examples of builds in our galleries that are finished with polished granite veneer around the face, and even used as the external shelf in front of the oven mouth. In every case the refractory material just behind it is taking the heat, and the granite is mostly shielded from it.

The functional front of your oven needs to be brick, preferably firebrick. I don’t recommend the granite piece for that purpose, though you could have it cut as a facing material.

Do keep posting on your decisions and progress, Mike. I’d love to see how this evolves!

Used sandstone slabs left over from building my patio wall to close off the front. Sandstone can take a lot of heat, and I picked pieces that had even, flat bedding to minimize chance of air pockets inside. Several fires in and so far so good. Helps a lot with maintaining heat and reducing smoke out the front.

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