O.k. after finishing up my 3rd course yesterday, I saw a small problem- not so much in function, but in asthetics. I now realize that the hip bone is connected to the leg bone, the log bone is connected to the knee bone etc etc. If your hip is crooked, your feet aren't going to work so well.
Take a look at the attached pic, paying special attention to the place where the soldier course meets the arch towers. See the problem? Not the best pic, but you should be able to spot it.
I'll be the first to admit that going into this project I knew I'd never be able to get it absolutly perfect on my first attempt at masonry. Plus I have this incredible pressure to finish it now...so rather than do a whole lot of exact measuring- I've been doing a whole lot of eyeballing. I plan to build a gable house around everything, so only the inside of the dome needs to be presentable.
If you didn't spot the mistake, here it is. When I layed out the soldier course, the first thing I did was put the arch towers exactly where I wanted them, with the right opening width. As I dry fit the soldier course around and came to the point where it joins the tower, rather than cutting the final soldier course brick to fit, I cut the tower bricks. Seemed fine at the time. Now that I'm on my 3rd course, the bricks are starting to meet up with the arch- and they're not even. One side is dipping into the view from the arch opening. Guess I'll fix that with with a grinder. Anyway, shouldn't be a problem with function- but a good lesson for the other novices out there to avoid that and have a cleaner joint when the course meets the arch.
Take a look at the attached pic, paying special attention to the place where the soldier course meets the arch towers. See the problem? Not the best pic, but you should be able to spot it.
I'll be the first to admit that going into this project I knew I'd never be able to get it absolutly perfect on my first attempt at masonry. Plus I have this incredible pressure to finish it now...so rather than do a whole lot of exact measuring- I've been doing a whole lot of eyeballing. I plan to build a gable house around everything, so only the inside of the dome needs to be presentable.
If you didn't spot the mistake, here it is. When I layed out the soldier course, the first thing I did was put the arch towers exactly where I wanted them, with the right opening width. As I dry fit the soldier course around and came to the point where it joins the tower, rather than cutting the final soldier course brick to fit, I cut the tower bricks. Seemed fine at the time. Now that I'm on my 3rd course, the bricks are starting to meet up with the arch- and they're not even. One side is dipping into the view from the arch opening. Guess I'll fix that with with a grinder. Anyway, shouldn't be a problem with function- but a good lesson for the other novices out there to avoid that and have a cleaner joint when the course meets the arch.
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