Building Support for Hearth Landing Ledge - Pizza Oven Construction - October 2025

The last time that I checked in on the backyard pizza oven build, I showed off the full enclosure and roof and talked about how I had some success with a lower-temperature bake.  This was in late September and the oven - at that time - looked like this below.   From the front, you can see the block base and how I had made a temporary hearth landing out of a 2x6 that is supported by some firebrick cut-offs.   That was (obviously) temporary, but it has taken me a while to figure out what I wanted to do there.

We seem to have landed on installing a hearth/landing ledge of Soapstone that will stick out from the front of the oven about 10-12 inches.  That will give me a little ledge/counter to work on before/after sliding the pies in/out of the oven.  

But, in order to install that ledge, some permanent support needed to be installed.  Based on how I poured the hearth and placed the oven, I left myself four-or-five inches of space to build on top of, but for a 12" counter, I needed more support.  

After thinking about it for weeks (months?), I got busy building out the front 'legs' of the oven.  I used treated lumber and attached the first course to the concrete block base using a hammer drill and tapcons.  And, construction adhesive, of course.  From there, I layered on additional 2x6's out the front.  And, from the top-of-the-existing-ledge to raise the level of the hearth support.  

And, we've ended up with this, below:

What's left is to run some Denshield or tile-backer board across the top that the Soapstone can be thinset-in/on.  Then, I'll wrap the bottom in waterproofing, some lath and then brick veneer the whole thing.  

I've started a pilot with the brick veneer on the back of the oven that I'll continue to do - weather-dependent - this Fall.