The Tandoor Site

Building: Walls

The walls should be exactly a metre square and nine courses high (if your tandoor liner is the same size as mine). The bricklaying is extremely straightforward with the possible exception of the air hole which requires a brick to be cut using the brick bolster (or trowel if you're man enough – you'd better buy extra bricks if you're going to try!).

Check before building exactly how high the air hole and top of the oven will be in the final construction. I didn't check carefully enough and ended up having to lift the oven on shims (thick old floor tiles) and to hack out a larger air hole with hammer and chisel. The top of the oven should protrude about 30mm above the top course of bricks to allow the very top to be clear of the 18mm ply which will form the top.

Lay the fire bricks, on their sides, directly on top of the concrete slab, taking care that they are tight together. Ram sand around the perimeter to help hold the firebricks in place.