42" build in McPherson KS

[slschoming]

Awesome, sounds good. Thanks Chach!

[slschoming]

Made some more progress this weekend. In the last few photos the arch bricks are not cut or mortared, I just placed them there to visualize and make sure my spacing was still correct.

Is there any issue with having the bricks touch at the bottom on my arch like they do in the photo, or should I be leaving a little more room between the bottoms for mortar?

I am almost through my first batch of bricks. I might need to take a day off work this week and go on another material run to get another 150 bricks and some blanket.

[slschoming]

She's wishing I was dropping pizza scraps instead of brick scraps...

[slschoming]

UtahBeehiver Hey Russell, I have a couple questions about the photo attached. I saw that you stuffed some ceramic/fire rope between your inner arch and your vent arch. My question is: Is this regular homebrew mortar circled in blue or is it a vermiculite mix? Also, where I circled in red, did you do anything special with that joint since part of your chimney is resting on the inner arch and part is not? I am wanting to do a very similar thing with my vent / chimney. I have seen others where they will put a quarter or third of a brick width on the backside of the outer arch to rest the back of the chimney on, but I was hoping I could save a little bit of space and rest the back of my chimney on the inner arch like this.

[UtahBeehiver]

blue is a high temp caulk - see pic.but hard to find and expensive. Kawool makes a version called moldable caulk. There are others out there. Red is just home brew.

[slschoming]

blue is a high temp caulk - see pic.but hard to find and expensive. Kawool makes a version called moldable caulk. There are others out there. Red is just home brew.

Thanks, Russell. Would something like this work?

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rutland-...-202218155-_-N

[UtahBeehiver]

I went and looked at the specs, a couple issues, Rutland says "indoor use only" which makes one of the HD comments valid about washing away in the rain. The other is it requires a heat set.

[slschoming]

Thanks UtahBeehiver

[slschoming]

2yod (2-year-old daughter): Daddy, I help pizza oven?
Me: okay (lift her up into pizza oven and reach for the next brick)
2yod: Daddy take picture?
Me: sure (snap 2 pictures)
2yod: I go 'side (inside) now.
Me: thanks for all the help....

[slschoming]

It started raining on me yesterday so I had to bust out the pop up. I am getting close to the point where I will need some kind of support under my bricks so they don't fall into the oven as the mortar solidifies. I get a lot of mortar on the inside of the oven when I am laying bricks so I don't really trust myself to use a support that prevents access from below. I like to be able to wipe my brick faces clean after each batch of mortar. Any ideas?

[UtahBeehiver]

I just used some notched sticks. There is a build that made something used by old time "eastern Indian" masons the resemble a claw, string and brick just recent on the forum. I tried the jack and plywood platform but did not like it due to not being able to see or clean up the inside of the dome.

[JRPizza]

I had good luck with a combination of dry bricks and sloppy mortar (homebrew). I'd just wipe the edges of the dry bricks with a damp sponge to remove anything loose and get some color on the edge, then butter the bricks with the wet mortar. It starts to suck into the brick really fast. I'd press and hold in place for about 20 seconds and the bricks would adhere enough to proceed to the next one. Get a row in and let the cure overnight. I'd hit the inside with the wet sponge to knock off any excess. Nothing wrong with using some kind of support but once I got the mortar consistency and brick dryness dialed in I was really able to speed up the build.

[slschoming]

UtahBeehiver and JRPizza Thank you for the responses. I will try some of these and see which work well for me. Russell, your advice (from a few weeks back) about leaving an "anchor" brick on the next course has been very helpful. I am always thankful to have a solid brick to join to when I start a new course.

[slschoming]

I have been google searching Kawool moldable caulk and uni-extreme for the past week and found inswool pumpable to be comparable, but more reasonably priced. UtahBeehiver How much of this did you go through? I am wondering if I can get by on one 10 oz tube.

https://www.theceramicshop.com/produ...e-10-oz-caulk/

Thanks in advance

[UtahBeehiver]

Not even a tube, but depends on how wide, deep, and long the joints are. Also used under my adapter plate for the chimney.