39 inch Corner Build

[UtahBeehiver]

JR,

The dreaded droop in common and can be fixed, at least in your case, fairly easily. However, make adjustment transitionally over several bricks right and left of TDC as well as the following courses above. Getting back to round will help you in the cutting of bricks farther up the dome, otherwise there could be a lot of shaving and cutting for fitting the out of round area. Not that it matters now for your build but for future builders reading this thread, I mentioned that one should check the level front to back as well as side to side to keep the dreaded droop in check. Spread the corrections over several bricks and courses and you will never see the oops.

[JRPizza]

I'm still having trouble understanding out of round vs out of level. All of my bricks have faces that are perpendicular to the IT and at proper distance to the centerline, it just seems like I allowed the bricks closest to the arch to angle down slightly, or more correctly not angle up enough, over multiple courses (like I marked up in pic 3). I'm correcting an out of level condition, not an out of round condition, unless it is just semantics. I have a plan to fix locally with some creative cutting - can't see any other possibility. If I try to stay on plane I will have to fill a series of gaps like my second pic. This was my original question - I don't have much exposed mortar in my oven, would that little bit around the arch really matter? Would it be attacked by the heat and gasses escaping the oven?

If I try to follow the droopy line, I will have converging downward slopes and will end up with a large vee (about 6 inches across by 1" deep) that would still require a shaved brick and possibly some half thickness bricks on top of it
To see what I need to do, I clamped a block to my IT to fix the angle to be "level" with the "non-droopy" bricks around the top course (Gulf's suggestion from post #14). I then clamped a brick on location and took a picture of the gap. The last picture is one of my shaved bricks that I am going to mortar in. I'll have a couple of tough cuts on each side, but then will be back to something I can correct/maintain with little effort (that is the plan....)

[Gulf]

Yes, it probably is just semantics. For the droop, it would probably better to say "getting back to level". It looks like you have a plan to fix it in one course. That has been done plenty of times. Correcting it over a couple or three courses has also. Droop or no droop, excluding some ovens built with only a brick set (bolster), I have yet to see a dome/inner arch built without some tricky cuts .

[gastagg]

Gastagg, you hit the nail (brick) in the head. On my sixth course most of my bricks are a different size. I plan on trying to find a size that will put most of my seams in the middle third of the brick below and pick up a little speed. I was looking at your build and it is very similar to what I hope to end up with - I'm going for an igloo with short brick vent and metal chimney. What product did you end up using for your chimney? Duravent or one of the alternatives?

I used 6" Metalbestos, but that's only because I found some real cheap on craigslist. Regarding your "droop," I would second gulf's advice...use a few courses to level that out. I had the same thing and corrected it by the 2nd course above the arch.

[JRPizza]

So instead of a couple of big wedges of mortar under bricks on the row I'm in, I would create several thinner wedges over the next few courses? Same amount of total exposed mortar, just minimizing the size of any individual gap?

[UtahBeehiver]

JR,

It looks like you figured out you would need to turn brick on side to give you material to work with to fill the gap. Once you clear the arch life gets easier. I attached a pic showing I had a similar situation, red lines show the droop, blue lines show beginning of adjustments that took place into the next course. If you can make it work in one shot, great. You may need to look at your long level first and IT second. Sometimes the two do no cooperate in the real world.

[JRPizza]

Thanks to all for helping me think through this. I saw some "fixes" with mortar and brick wedges that weren't too pretty - hoping to avoid that. I'll try to post what I come up with even if it is ugly

[JRPizza]

Russell, did you also use some bricks on top of the arch that weren't full height? Looks that way from the picture and was one of the ways I was thinking of dealing with it.

[gastagg]

Well, that's what I did. That seems to be what gulf is recommending too.

[gastagg]

If you take a look at my photo #31 of my picassa album (link is on my signature), you can see that I've corrected a droop that was there 4 courses below in about the same spot as you. I think that I was off 3/4" max.

[JRPizza]

Don't see a link gastagg

[UtahBeehiver]

JR, I did use bricks right over the center of the arch which were not full thickness (my thickness), my bricks were thicker and wider than normal (3" x 6 " 9). By your pics, it looks like you have plenty to work with. Remember, no one sees this area of the build once it is done.

[Gulf]

I agree with Russell. Only you, and those of us that you show the pics to, will know. And, we will forget it soon enough. In a few months, all that we will be interested in is what you cooked last night .

[gastagg]

The build album link in my signature. Russell's pic is great, and along the lines of gulf, now that basically everything inside my dome is black, the only thing I'm worrying about is the quality of the food coming out!

[JRPizza]

Well, I think I have it "straightened out" - I'll know more when I do the next ring of bricks, but at least I have something that I can work with. Had to cut a couple of odd shapes, each one only has one 90 degree angle on the inner face, but I was able to eliminate the horizontal gapping. I placed them with the fixed height IT and my level says they are in the right position with respect to the opposite bricks. I think it will be more durable than just filling the face gaps with mortar- time will tell. Need to do the same on the opposite side, but at least I am past my paralysis by analysis and can start laying bricks again. Thanks to all who offered help and encouragement!