Concrete cladding for wood burning ovens.

Same as with wood fired ovens without the cladding, ovens with the cladding layer included will reach the pizza making temperature in 1-1/2 hour. To add cladding is very important in many aspects, it will not effect heating time of the oven to reach the pizza making temperature in the dome unless you were mad about 10 minutes. To have cladding have many advantages one sees after oven types were compared. To apply ordinary concrete cladding is very simple. This page focuses more on cladding properties, but for more on efficiency and using ovens from practical points of view read "Which dome is better" page - link is at the bottom, if you haven't red it before.

Basics

In oven with cladding, same as with thin wood fired ovens, the hot face of dome walls inside turns white in under 1 hour, the floor is ready. Spread your red-hot embers to 1 or 2 sides, one side is just perfect too to create place for pizza and start making it (you may have to give it about 10 minutes for the floor to cool down a slightly.) If you plan to make pizza for a longer time maintain continuous gentle fire going on somewhere at the back.

What happens next?

Here is the time where breaking point in cladding or not cladding differences show up. Oven with cladding has better/bigger volume in heat absorbing mass because as well as firebricks the concrete cladding is dense and has great thermal conductivity too. Firebricks with cladding create thicker chamber walls and so the bigger mass absorbs and stores more needed heat for much longer and efficient cooking. In case you maintained that continuous fire while making pizzas at start and now you want to cook or bake, that's good as well because while continuous fore was on firebricks with cladding absorbed even more heat. This is very important!

Why?

When you make pizzas the immediate heat from fire or still glowing cinder is assisting you to make fabulous pizzas. Don't forget that continuous small fire is again extra energy to be stored in bigger mass again. But when you stop fire or making pizzas, and want to cook meals in less hot environment for long time cooking in 205°C - 400°F atmosphere, or roasting big pieces or long baking in 190.5°C - 375°F, and after to dry fruits or halved tomatoes (all these in heat stored in from previous single fire), temperature starts to drop and right here the cladding is useful.
That's only a bit of concrete but vital for other things than pizzas. Go to butcher and ask what are the requirements to roast 11 lb. - 5 Kg big turkeys and other such roasts, I documented making few. Oven that doesn't hold temperature right will not be able to do these many things.

What else is interesting about cladding?

Nothing, it's only a bloody concrete ... joking laterrrrrrrrr. Or did you mean these?
Larger oven should have 10cm - 4" and thicker concrete cladding applied. I like old or now-days built ovens that have instead of concrete another brick layer instead of concrete cladding added on top to firebricks (domes of 230cm - 9" firebrick dome plus 230cm - 9" building solid clay) e.g. in custom built 1.8m - 6F and larger restaurant ovens or wood fired bakeries. It's all about physical laws, using energies efficiently to feel good, and to save (time, money, planet because you fire ones and do heaps of things with one firing and having fun.)

After concrete cladding was poured ...

Concrete cladding recipe.

Mix dry ingredients then add water. Cladding can be mixed by hand using shovel and wheelbarrow:
4:1:1 - Concrete blend : Portland cement : Lime
You can buy concrete blend or mix your own at home with 4 parts stones (10-20mm or 1/2-3/4 inch) and 2 parts sand. I like to use blend that comes from river it's strong and needs less water, it has round stones and when mixing by hand you spend less energy. Crushed rock is fine too.

Aluminum foil between firebricks and the cladding layer.

This is ordinary aluminum foil from supermarket, sold in 2 or 3 widths and thickness, get the stronger one while considering the price as well. This foil has one main role to play. It is not there to reflect heat back; there is no light, why would you want to reflect heat away from cladding? We need heat in the cladding. The foil prevents concrete bonding with firebricks, which is the main reason. Other then that this foil also stops firebricks to absorb water from soft concrete when it is applied. Instead of aluminum foil candle wax or plastic wrap could be used, but it would burn and be felt in the air for the 2 first firings.

Read more about:
Which dome is better
Refractory mortar
Heat insulation and recipes