Mongo's 42" CT Build

[mongota]

Nothing earth shattering, haven't been able to work on it for the past few days. But Thursday I got a couple more courses of dome brick set, finished the arch, and pulled the arch form.

Also have a pic of an anchor brick. When starting a new course, I'd set about 5 brick on that course, then set an anchor brick on top of those five brick to act as an anchor brick for the next course.

The idea being that by the time you get to the next course, the anchor brick is fairly set, so it gives you something sturdy to set the new bricks against. I'd set my anchor bricks with a proper mortar joint offset opposite of the dome opening. I'd then work to the left and right of the anchor, moving towards the arch.

Once I got two bricks on either side of the anchor, I'd set the anchor for the NEXT course, then go back and finish the course I was working on.

Onward and upward.

[mongota]

Got the dome arch covered today. A couple of starts and stops due to intermittent rainshowers. Rain normally wouldn't be a worry, but I didn't want the board insulation to get wet.

[staestc]

Wow! Looking good, and a ton of progress over the last few days.

[mongota]

Got rained out yesterday, but got the ninth course and part of the tenth done today. I'm hoping to plug the dome Thursday. Slightly slower going with the steeper angles.

[mongota]

Either three courses and a plug to go, or four and a plug.

Probably four, but my lower back is hoping for just three and a plug.

And my little ladies aid crutches to keep the already set brick from shifting when I tap the next brick in place.

[mongota]

Got two more courses done late today. Tomorrow will be the final course and the plug.

[thevance53@gmail.com]

Slow down man, you are passing me up! Looking good. Those steeper angles are easier in some regards (don't have to level them as much), but they are much harder to keep everything fitting well and getting the joints filled all the way. Good luck. I hope to show you my plug this weekend.

[mongota]

Got the dome plugged yesterday.

Made a template of the hole and then divided it onto eight sections to shape the eight brick for the last course. Sized the last course so the octagonal plug would not be more than 4" across. Then dry fit the last course.

[mongota]

Cut the plug. Wanted the inside face of the plug to be not more than 4" so when I beveled the sides outward, the other face would still fit the 4-1/2" width of a half-brick

[mongota]

The completed dome. Pretty messy with mortar shmears all over. I can only fit about 30lbs out of my 260lbs through the opening to clean it up, so I'll have to wait a bit on that.

[mongota]

That'll be it for now. It'll be about a week before I get any more time to work on it.

[JRPizza]

Dome came out looking beautiful! Now for the next adventure, the vent and chimney

[jonv]

Nice. Will be pleased if my own build looks as tidy! Great job on the plug.

[UtahBeehiver]

Nice job and brick work on the dome. LOL, like the comment about only 30 lbs worth fitting. Climbing in the dome is faint of heart.

[mongota]

Dome came out looking beautiful! Now for the next adventure, the vent and chimney

Thanks.

With the dome done, I sort of stood back for two minutes and admired it, then started laying out the vent.

It'll be a week before I can cut brick again, but I'll try to knock the vent and the insulation out in the last few days of September. I'd like to do curing fires in late October.

The thing I'm not looking forward to is the labor involved in mortaring up the stone igloo that's going to cover the insulation. I've built a lot of stone wall on my property. Some days you "see it" with stone, some days you don't. I don't have much of a warm fuzzy going in to this stone igloo. But if it comes out looking like I see it in my head, I'll be pretty darn happy.

Going to order my anchor plate, chimney pipe and cap tonight. It should be delivered by the time I'm ready to work again.