i believe i staved off what could have been truly catastrophic today...
i mentioned in a previous thread about how my arch header above my oven opening had creeped forward as everything settled into place. today i came out to the oven and noticed that one of the top two pieces of my header (the keystones, essentially) had wiggled loose, and when i touched it, it dropped an inch! it's tapered, so it couldn't fall all of the way out, but somehow, the pressure had obviously shifted off of what should have been a very load-bearing brick.
bear in mind that the entire weight of the front of the dome rests on this header. somehow, i managed to slip my arch form (good thing i still have it!) back in, and remove the brick. i slathered it up really good with mortar and slipped it back into place. after pointing mortar into every remaining gap as well as possible, i removed the form and it is standing strong (i hope) again.
the moral, i believe, is that if anyone else uses an arch design for their doorway in the future, they should make sure to adequately compensate for lateral thrust of the top of the dome against it. i will bolster mine up, and hopefully my dome won't crumble....
...please dome, don't crumble!!!!
i mentioned in a previous thread about how my arch header above my oven opening had creeped forward as everything settled into place. today i came out to the oven and noticed that one of the top two pieces of my header (the keystones, essentially) had wiggled loose, and when i touched it, it dropped an inch! it's tapered, so it couldn't fall all of the way out, but somehow, the pressure had obviously shifted off of what should have been a very load-bearing brick.
bear in mind that the entire weight of the front of the dome rests on this header. somehow, i managed to slip my arch form (good thing i still have it!) back in, and remove the brick. i slathered it up really good with mortar and slipped it back into place. after pointing mortar into every remaining gap as well as possible, i removed the form and it is standing strong (i hope) again.
the moral, i believe, is that if anyone else uses an arch design for their doorway in the future, they should make sure to adequately compensate for lateral thrust of the top of the dome against it. i will bolster mine up, and hopefully my dome won't crumble....
...please dome, don't crumble!!!!
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