Insulating Cement Laid

Took little over a bag to lay down the insulation pad that will be beneath the firebrick of the oven's hearth. This is the stuff I used and mixing water into it until it is like an oatmeal mush consistency:

I shaped the pour into a circle with a straight part for the door part. Taped my level to a stick to make things flat.




It took some time to get it all level. A long time. If I had forms around this top pad, the leveling would have gone much faster.

Also, something about this insulating cement is that it takes a long time to firm up enough to place your bricks on top of it. Like three days or so! The thickness of the insulating cement pad is 2 1/2 inches thick and a diameter of 40 inches. This isn't the normal "mix vermiculite with cement" mixture but a professional insulation cement that contains among other things, wool.