First and foremost, we recommend you purchase your Vermiculite or Perlite at your local Masonry and/or Landscape Supply. The price is usually around $15 for a 2 cubic foot bag.
If you are unable to find either product at your local supply, be sure to check with your local plant nurseries as they use both products for plants and potting soil. Simply jump on Google Maps and type PLANT NURSERY and your ZIP CODE in the search bar.
If Plan A and Plan B are a no-go… Plan C always works! Simply click the link below and you can buy Vermiculite directly from Uline.
Before you ask… Both Vermiculite and Perlite are outstanding at insulation and are almost identical in performance so it really doesn’t matter which mineral you use.
I can vouch for the Vigoro at Home Depot—same stuff I used. I used a full 2 cubic foot bag and just a couple of scoops from a second bag. The rest went into our garden along with new soil, peat moss, and other good stuff all mixed in the concrete mixer.
You might not need the second bag, but it’s relatively inexpensive and the bag itself is very lightweight, so I opted for two.
(Also, we now recommend Perlite over Vermiculite because it naturally repels moisture rather than absorbing it as the Vermiculite does…so it will cut down drying time for an insulated slab from 6 days to under 2.)
Great and prompt reply. I am going through the instructions an I go back and forth after I see a comment. I thought I needed 2 bags of 4cf. I was adding 4 of 2cf to my list.
And I keep forgetting you’re doing a BrickWood Box, so follow that materials list for the amount you need. The Mattone Barile and Barile Grande slabs only need about 2 cu. ft.
Ah, ok. And I will do that later. I will do the lower oven for the BrickWood Box only because of the smoking, but there is no way I will be using it to make bread or pizza, bending each time. I prefer the Barile Grande for that, but I am just starting, so it will be a while.