Concrete to Wood Mortar Bed

[bmouthboyo]

Can anyone advise on how best to adhere concrete to wood?

Basically I am building a pizza oven on Oak sleepers with the goal of something like this:

Mine:

The instructions for the pizza oven kit say to lay a bed of mortar for the base, but reading about online it seems people say normal mortar wont adhere to wood.

Any suggestions? Thanks

 

[JohnD]

why do you think the mortar needs to adhere to the wood?

 

[bmouthboyo]

why do you think the mortar needs to adhere to the wood?

I just assumed it needed to to keep everything in place when it heats up. Are you saying it is most likely just so it is levelled off and doesn't need to adhere to the wood?

Thanks

 

[JohnD]

I have never built a pizza oven, but they seem to be a monolithic structure with a domed top, that holds it shape. A house holds together even if it is not "stuck" to the earth below.

Some of them have a brick base, in your pic I think I see a stone slab. I imagine the mortar bed is just for the bottom layer of bricks. People used to set WC pans on a bed of mortar so they did not rock.

I have seen pizza ovens with an open brick compartment below where wood can be stored, and a "hearth" where embers can be raked out.

You will need some kind of thick or insulating fireproof base to prevent the heat from the fire charring the wood beneath. Paving slabs, perhaps?

If the wood gets wet and rots I presume the heavy brick oven will fall through.