Fireside • Materials Guide
Can You Use Regular Brick for a Pizza Oven or Fire Pit?
Yes, in the right places. Here's exactly where everyday red brick works on a pizza oven or fire pit, where it cracks and flakes, and what goes in its place.
You can use regular brick for a pizza oven or fire pit, but only where the fire doesn't touch it. Ordinary red brick is a great choice for the base, the hearth border, the outer arch and the decorative outside. The firebrick cooking surface and the inside of the oven need real fire brick, and a fire pit that lasts is lined with it.
"Can I just use regular brick?" is one of the questions our builders ask most, and the honest answer isn't a flat no. Most of the brick on a finished BrickWood oven is ordinary brick, block or stone. Only the parts that face the flames have to be refractory. This guide walks through every part of a pizza oven and a fire pit, zone by zone, and tells you which brick belongs in each one.
Regular Brick on a Pizza Oven: Quick Answers
- The rule: where fire touches, use fire brick. Where heat touches, regular clay brick is fine. Everywhere else, use whatever is strong or looks good.
- Fine for regular brick: the stand or base, the hearth border, the outer arch past the door and the veneer over the insulated oven.
- Fire brick only: the firebrick cooking surface and the barrel or dome. It's also the best liner for a fire pit or fireplace.
- Never inside an oven: concrete brick, cinder block, concrete pavers or river rock. They hold water that turns to steam.
- Why regular brick fails: not one hot fire, but hundreds of heat-up and cool-down cycles that crack and flake it.
- Mortar matters too: high-heat mortar where it's hot, ordinary Type S mortar on the base and veneer.
The One Rule to Remember: Fire, Heat or Neither
Every part of a pizza oven falls into one of three zones. If fire touches it, it has to be fire brick. If only heat touches it, solid clay brick will hold up. If neither touches it, pick whatever is strong or looks good. Matt, the longtime moderator of our BrickWood Builders Forum, puts it in one line: fire touches, firebrick; heat touches, brick; everything else, strength and decoration.
| # | Part of the oven | What touches it | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barrel or dome walls | Flames and hot smoke | Fire brick only, set in high-heat mortar |
| 2 | Firebrick cooking surface | Fire, coals and food (650°F to 800°F, hotter under the flames) | Fire brick only, dry-laid on sand with no mortar |
| 3 | Insulation | Heat it holds in | Ceramic fiber blanket. Brick of any kind stores heat; it doesn't insulate |
| 4 | Veneer over the insulated oven | Very little heat | Regular brick, stone, stucco or tile, in ordinary Type S mortar |
| 5 | Hearth border | Heat at the edge of the oven | Solid clay brick, new or reclaimed |
| 6 | Hearth slab | Weight | Reinforced concrete |
| 7 | Stand or base | Weight | Concrete block or regular brick |
| – | Outer arch past the door, and the vent | Heat, plus flame at the vent | Fire brick at the vent and chimney core. Solid clay brick is OK for the decorative outer arch |
Notice how little of the oven needs fire brick: the inside shell and the surface you cook on. That's the whole reason it pays to know the zones. You don't have to build everything out of refractory brick, and you shouldn't build the hot parts out of anything else.
Why Regular Brick Fails in a Fire (It's Not the Temperature)
Most people assume regular brick melts or burns in a hot oven. It doesn't. Ordinary clay brick is fired in a kiln at roughly 1,800°F to 2,100°F, according to the Brick Industry Association. A pizza oven's firebrick cooking surface runs about 650°F to 800°F. Brick can't catch fire, and one hot fire won't hurt it.
What wears regular brick out is everything that happens after that first fire:
- Hundreds of heat-up and cool-down cycles. Every firing heats the inside face fast while the rest of the brick stays cool. That's thermal shock. The Brick Industry Association notes that refractory brick is made to handle high heat and thermal shock better than building brick. Fire brick is made from fire clay with more alumina and fewer of the minerals that give red brick its color and lower its heat tolerance.
- Spalling. Over months and years, the hot face of regular brick cracks and flakes off. In a pizza oven, those flakes land on your food.
- Water. Every brick soaks up rain and humidity. When a wet brick heats quickly, that water turns to steam inside it. Concrete brick and block are worse, because they're cured with water rather than kiln-fired.
That's why a regular-brick fire pit or oven can look fine for a season and then start falling apart. One of our forum moderators told a builder who used ordinary red brick on a grill slab exactly that: it will work, and it will slowly deteriorate over a period of years. Fire brick is built to take that punishment for decades.
Not All "Regular Brick" Is the Same
"Regular brick" covers a lot of ground, and the right answer depends on which one is sitting in your truck. Here's how the common kinds stack up on a pizza oven or fire pit.
| Kind of brick or block | Where it works | Keep it away from |
|---|---|---|
| Solid red clay brick (new, no holes) | Hearth border, decorative outer arch, veneer, stand, fire pit outer wall | The firebrick cooking surface and the inside of the oven or fire pit |
| Cored face brick (with holes) | Veneer, stand and border, where the holes don't matter | Anywhere fire touches. Brick made for fireboxes has to be solid, with no cores |
| Clay pavers | Hearth border and the landing in front of the oven. They're solid and dense | The firebrick cooking surface |
| Reclaimed or antique brick | Veneer and border, where it looks fantastic. Seal it, since old brick is porous | The fire zones. Salvaged brick is usually weaker than new, and brick pulled from old chimneys can be soaked with tar or oils |
| Big-box "fire clay brick" | Depends on what it really is. Ask for its duty grade and temperature rating | The cooking surface, unless it's a rated medium-duty fire brick |
| Used kiln, furnace or foundry fire brick | Fire pits and other projects that don't touch food | The cooking surface. The grade is unknown, and old industrial brick may carry chemicals |
| Soft insulating fire brick (2 to 3.5 lb) | Insulation only | Any surface fire, food or tools touch. It crushes and wears away |
| Concrete brick, cinder block, pavers, retaining-wall block | The stand and the landscaping around the oven | The inside of the oven and the ring right around the cooking surface. In an unlined fire pit, expect the blocks nearest the fire to crack in time |
| River rock and fieldstone | Veneer, after the oven is insulated | The inside of a fire pit. Rock can trap water and burst |
A reclaimed brick story worth hearing
One of our forum moderators built his hearth frame from beautiful old reclaimed brick, then found out it had been soaked with weed killer. He had to chisel the whole frame off and re-lay it with new brick. If you use salvaged brick anywhere near your oven, know where it came from, scrub it, and keep it out of the fire zones.
A Pizza Oven, Zone by Zone
Here's how the rule plays out on a real oven, from the ground up.
The stand or base: anything strong
The stand only carries weight. Concrete block with rebar and filled cores, as your plans call for, is the standard choice. Plenty of builders face the block with regular brick, stone or stucco so the base matches the house. Regular brick is perfect here.
The hearth border: solid clay brick
The ring of brick around the firebrick cooking surface gets warm, carries the edge of the oven, and frames the whole build. Solid clay brick, new or reclaimed, is a great fit. Brick with holes is fine here too. Skip concrete cap block for this ring. It carries load and sits right next to the heat. It goes in ordinary masonry mortar. Type N and Type S both work here.
The firebrick cooking surface: fire brick only
This is the one place there's no gray area. Pizza bakes directly on it, coals sit on it, and your peel scrapes across it every time you cook. Regular brick is softer and flakier, and it wears down fast. Lay full-size fire brick dry on a sand bed in a herringbone pattern, with no mortar, so the bricks can move with the heat and any cracked brick is easy to swap out.
The barrel or dome: fire brick only
The inside shell takes direct flame on every firing. Older pizza oven guides sometimes allowed solid red brick in a dome, but the trade-off is chips and flakes falling onto your food over time. We don't recommend it. BrickWood's foam forms shape the barrel or dome for you, so building it in fire brick takes no extra skill.
The front arch and vent: it depends which side of the door
The vent and chimney section carries flame and hot smoke out the front, so its core stays fire brick. The decorative arch on the outside of the opening is different. It sees heat, not fire, so solid clay brick works there. Builders on our forum have used solid red brick and clay pavers for the outer arch with good results. Set them in high-heat mortar, and never use concrete brick on the front of the oven.
The veneer: anything you like
Once the oven is wrapped in ceramic fiber blanket, the outside stays cool enough for regular brick, stone, stucco or tile, set in ordinary Type S mortar. This is where red brick really shines. Keep in mind that brick doesn't insulate. It soaks up heat and slowly gives it back. Skip the blanket, and no amount of brick will keep your oven hot.
Regular Mortar vs High-Temp Mortar: Which Goes Where
The same fire, heat or neither rule applies to mortar. Ordinary masonry mortar breaks down in the fire zones, and in an outdoor oven it also has to stand up to rain.
- Fire zones (barrel or dome, vent): use a non-water-soluble high-heat mortar, either BrickWood Refractory Mortar or our homemade 3:1:1:1 high-temperature mortar recipe of sand, lime, fire clay and Portland cement.
- Firebrick cooking surface: no mortar at all. It's dry-laid on sand.
- Outer arch: high-heat mortar, even when the brick is regular clay brick.
- Stand, hearth border and veneer: ordinary Type S or Type N mortar.
For the full breakdown of what's in each type and why ordinary mortar fails near fire, read Type S vs Type N vs refractory mortar.
Regular Brick in Fire Pits and Outdoor Fireplaces
Fire pits and outdoor fireplaces follow the same rule. The wall the fire touches gets fire brick. Everything around it can be regular brick or stone.
- Fire pit: line the inside with one ring of fire brick, then build the outer wall from red brick, stone or block. The fire brick takes the flames, and the outer wall gives the pit its look.
- Outdoor fireplace: line the firebox with fire brick and face the rest with any brick or stone you like.
- Drainage: leave a way for rain to drain out of the pit. Brick that sits in water is brick that cracks the next time you light a fire.
- Indoor fireplaces are a different job with their own code requirements for the firebox lining and mortar. Check with your local building department.
A simple block fire pit with no liner works, and lots of people build one. Just expect the block or pavers closest to the flames to crack over time, especially when they're wet when you light the fire, and plan to swap out a block now and then. A fire brick liner is what keeps a pit looking new year after year.
Cinder Block Pizza Ovens and Other Shortcuts
A cinder block pizza oven sounds like an easy, cheap build, and the block stand under a BrickWood oven is exactly that. The oven itself is another story. Concrete block isn't fired in a kiln. It's cured with water and holds moisture in its pores, and heated concrete can crack or spall as that moisture turns to steam. Inside a closed oven, the heat is far more intense than in an open fire pit and there's no swapping out a cracked block. Block belongs under the oven, never in the oven.
The same goes for the other shortcuts people try: concrete pavers for the cooking surface, cored house brick for the barrel, or river rock around a fire. They may survive a test fire. They won't survive years of pizza nights. If you're pricing out a build and the cost of fire brick has you looking for a substitute, remember that only the oven's inner shell and cooking surface need it. Our pizza oven materials list shows exactly how much goes where.
How to Tell Fire Brick from Regular Brick
Salvage yards, Craigslist ads and even some supply yards mix the two up. Years ago, one of our builders bought a pallet of "fire brick" from a building supply yard, and it turned out to be ordinary red clay brick that a big-box store had once sold under that name. Here's how to check before you buy.
| Check | Fire brick | Regular brick |
|---|---|---|
| Size | Usually 9 x 4½ x 2½ inches | Usually smaller, such as 7⅝ x 3⅝ x 2¼ inches |
| Weight | About 6½ to 8 lb each | About 4½ lb each |
| Holes | Always solid, with no holes or recesses | Often cored with holes, or with a recess on one face |
| Color | Usually tan or buff, though red fire brick exists | Usually red, brown or gray |
| Paperwork | A duty grade (low, medium, high) and a temperature rating | Rated for weather and strength, not heat |
| Price | Several dollars a brick | Well under $1.50 a brick |
Color alone won't settle it, since some fire brick is red and some building brick is tan. Weight and size are the quickest tells. If a "fire brick" weighs about the same as a house brick and costs about the same, it probably is one. When you're not sure, ask the seller for the duty grade. A real fire brick has one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can bricks catch fire?
No. Brick is clay that has already been fired in a kiln at about 1,800°F to 2,100°F, so it won't burn. What fire does to regular brick over time is crack and flake it, especially the face that sees the flames.
Can I use red brick in my pizza oven if I only fire it a few times a year?
Not on the firebrick cooking surface or inside the barrel or dome. Fewer fires slow the damage down, but they don't stop it, and the flakes end up on your food. Use red brick on the outside of the oven, where it's safe and looks great.
Can I use reclaimed brick on my pizza oven?
Yes, for the veneer, the stand and the hearth border. Make sure it's clean and wasn't treated with anything, and seal it, since old brick soaks up water. Keep it out of the fire zones. Salvaged brick is usually weaker than new, and brick pulled from old chimneys can carry tar or oil.
Can I use brick with holes in it?
Yes, on the stand, the veneer and the hearth border. Never inside the oven. Brick made for fire has to be solid.
Can I use concrete pavers around my pizza oven?
Yes, for patios, landings and landscaping away from the heat. Keep concrete out of the ring around the firebrick cooking surface and off the front of the oven, where it gets hot. Solid clay brick or clay pavers are the better choice there.
Weren't old pizza ovens built with regular brick?
Many traditional ovens were built from local clay and brick, and they wore out and were patched and rebuilt over the years. Today's professional oven builders use refractory brick for the inside of the oven. You get the same cooking with far less upkeep.
Is a pizza oven built from cinder blocks safe?
A cinder block stand under the oven is standard and safe. An oven chamber built from cinder block isn't. Concrete block holds moisture, and it can crack or spall when it heats up.
What mortar goes with regular brick on a pizza oven?
Ordinary Type S or Type N mortar works for regular brick on the stand, the hearth border and the veneer. The outer arch and any brick in the fire zones need high-heat mortar. See Type S vs Type N vs refractory mortar for the details.
See Where Every Brick Goes
Our free plans show exactly where fire brick goes and where regular brick, block and stone can take over, with a complete materials list for every BrickWood oven and its base. Price your whole build locally before you buy a thing.
- Plans for every BrickWood oven and its base
- Complete materials and tools lists
- Emailed to you as PDFs, ready to print
Already signed up and don't see them? Check your Spam or Promotions folder.
Not sure which oven fits your backyard? Compare Oven Kits →
Keep Reading
Local building codes, permit rules and clearances vary. Always confirm requirements with your local authorities and follow the plans for your specific BrickWood model.
