42” Pompeii in San Felipe, MX

[modified9v]

Good info on working with mortar. Thank you.

I didn’t bother taking any pictures today... nothing to see but pieces of brick and a lot of dust. I have cut all the bricks going over the arch. Not seeing the droop but I will be super careful when they are placed. I checked it every way I could and if the IT is right, it will look decent. Took a long time to get those suckers that intersect the arch. I think it’s going to be real good.

Working with these 3rd bricks takes a long time. I’m going up and down a lot to cut. Can’t seem to find a happy angle for the “V”... There really isn’t much consistency in the ring below so jigging only gets me close... I did consider just trimming the edge but the saw just does a better job. If anyone has experienced this if you could chime in. A solution would be better.

Thanks, maybe tomorrow
Mike V.

[Chach]

I used a 1 quart bucket and used that to make my 3-1-1-1 mix in a 5 gallon bucket with a lid so I had 3 quarts sand 1 quart each of lime fire clay and portland i sealed the bucket and shook it. this took a few minutes to make then I scooped out what I wanted of the dry mix for mortar and mixed up small batches until it was all gone. I kept doing this. My sand was bagged but kept indoors in the store so was pretty dry. I used quickcrete masons san but I still mixed all the ingredients in small batches in the 5 gallon bucket with lid. i would do this twice or three times everytime i worked on the build

Ricky

[UtahBeehiver]

David is right if you get bulk sand which is most of the time washed. I used bagged quartz sand.

[modified9v]

Oh, one other thing... I had asked earlier about taking the grinder to some ugly mortar in my inner arch to clean things up. After knocking those bricks off (intentionally) yesterday I found that it was more the vibration that knocked them loose rather than the hammer blows. Therefore, I believe that the vibrations from the grinder wheel could do potentially the same thing to mortar joints that are critical to the strength of the mass. I will leave the mess at least for now.

[modified9v]

Thanks for the tips on pre-mixing dry ingredients guys!!! Now that I think about it, I have 4 sacks of pre-mix concrete in the garage for my horseshoe pit stakes and they are getting hard just from the little humidity that we have here. I’ve seen bags like that turn to solid concrete before.

I really don’t know how wet the sand is... it is in bags and it feels dry, but like David S stated even a little moisture and the brew could start to go off. It’s not killin’ me to mix it one batch at a time and it seems to work... was just hoping to expedite things and gain a little space in the garage.

Again, thanks JR & David...
Mikie V.

Oh, wanted to mention that I’m taking today off after all. My hands need to heel up some. Those bricks are unforgiving knuckle busters. I’ve been wearing latex mechanic’s gloves (It’s what I know) at least when mixing and working with mortar, but now I wear them even when handling and cutting bricks. I put lubriderm on my hands before I slip on the gloves.

Remember that this stuff is really not good for your skin, or your lungs for that matter... use proper protection.

[david s]

I’d caution against this idea unless you can guarantee that there is absolutely no moisture in the sand, otherwise the brew is going to start going off. Cement should be added fresh to any mix for this reason. When I buy a load of sand it’s always moist and it’s difficult to get it dry if used for a bagged up mix to be used at a later date.

[JRPizza]

You were asking about pre-mixing your dry mortar with the sand. That is what I did, and I used my cement mixer to tumble all the ingredients together. I filled up a 5 gallon bucket that I had a tight fitting lid with rubber gasket. Never felt like I had any separation of ingredients. If I remember right I wet mixed in another 5 gallon bucket and usually ended up with about 4" in the bottom. My inner faces fit tight but those big gaps in the back sure did eat a lot of mortar.

[modified9v]

It sounds like you may need to put a bee bath a little ways from your oven

That is a great idea. These are the good bugs after all. I think the neighbor an 1/8 mile away needs a bee bath.

[Gulf]

It sounds like you may need to put a bee bath a little ways from your oven

[modified9v]

Thank you for the rapid response sir and I always love seeing that keystone plug with the sun on it. It’s a thing of beauty. If I’m seeing this right it appears as though you went to 3rds at about the 7th chain, which is where I’m at now not counting the chain at floor level. I believe it’s a great solution to my problem. What I have going is a mess. I’m gonna knock that other one off of there now, and skinny up my IT (it’s too big now anyway even with 1/2 bricks). Those 1/3 bricks should be easier to work with too?

The winds are suppose to die down tomorrow to 15 mph. Big weekend here with the Day of the Dead coming up. Man, they love Halloween here. I will take another stab at it tomorrow morning early before the festivities begin.

Also, wanted to mention a couple of things that I thought were interesting or that I just wanted to mention. First, when ever I climbed up on the oven stand and touched the dome it never really “felt solid”... kinda like tapping on a drum or like a tuning fork.That is until the arch was completed with the keystone. The oven took on a new “feel”... like it is solid now. Not sure why I mention it, just that now it really feels like it’s gonna be A-OK. Second, water here is always an issues. We. Have a 2,200 gallon cistern that we fill every 5 days (palm and thornless mesquite trees newly planted). Cost is $35 US every time. The water is not potable and it is loaded with heavy metals and pesticides. Probably some cool bugs too. Always kinda wonder how that works with the Homebrew. We go to town and get our purified (alkaline) water every two weeks.

I mention the water because I have to be careful to conserve it when possible. I try to keep my wheel barrel half full, but with the bee thing I’m gonna have to find a new method to clean and soak... I will have to discard the water each evening. Any water that has the Homebrew in it will not be used to water my trees... I just don’t know how that bit of Portland and Lime will go with the trees. Not worried about the fire clay.



Anyway, thanks again! The attached picture is of the brick I was talking about that I just now dislodged from the oven... pretty good look at that adhesion or lack there of... you can see some moisture in the grey mortar. Right after I knocked it loose the bees were all over it trying to suck out a little water.

Mikie V.

[UtahBeehiver]

You may have to start using 1/3s to eliminate the horizontal joint gap and eventually 1/4s or a combination of both. This is up to you. You could feather each side of the bottom to reduce the gap but that is a lot of work. Attached is a pi c of my dome and you can see how I had to use smaller width bricks as I moved up into the upper courses.

[modified9v]

Pretty frustrating day. I had big plans. Day started with a honey bee infestation. I had water in a wheel barrel, a bucket and the wet saw... they were all full of dead bees and plenty of live ones that were more irritated with me than I was with them. Hundreds dead. I managed to remove the standing water and they finally left the work area. I did not get stung this time. By then the winds had picked up to over 30 mph and that is just no fun but I really wanted to get this chain cut, numbered and clean.

I couldn’t get the brick next to the one I set yesterday to fit right. By the time I got it nibbled off on the corners to get a proper fit, the next one in line was going to have the same problem. I was going to have to shave/nibble over a 1/4” on the corners... the problem was compounding. I also didn’t like the big mortar gap between the two I set yesterday so I got the hammer out and knocked it off.

It came loose pretty easy. It took about 5 soft taps with a 2 pound hammer to do it. It was pretty easy to scrape the dried mortar off.I this was the last brick I set yesterday afternoon. At the very center of the brick the mortar was still damp. I imagine any brick would have come off that easy. The brick next to it is nice and solid and I think I can work off of it.

In the first pic below the brick to the left is the one I knocked off the oven. You can see some mortar is still stuck to it really well. Also, note how much I had to nibble off the corners to minimize the horizontal gap compared the the brick in the middle which is just a standard 1/2 brick... you can see why the brick sitting to the right just would not fit... it sat above it by a good 1/4”. This was setting up to be a potential never ending issue.

In the second pic you can see where I have an un-nibbled brick in the IT... this is where I took the other brick off. You can see how big the horizontal gap is. I will say that it takes more than just a little to get rid of that gap.

My question is at this point do you think I can just forget about trying to eliminate that horizontal gap and just massage each brick or just worry about the vertical “V” and move on? the later would make my life a whole lot easier. I would just measure each one to split the mortar gap below it and jig it and cut it.

Thanks for the help,
Mikie V.

[modified9v]

Okay, here we are at what could be the place where the arch could get cleared. If the IT doesn’t lie then it will happen on this course.

The dreaded droop. I don’t see it yet, but this has got to be where it happens. In the first picture the black and blue arrows reference where the natural locataion of this brick would be placed anywhere on the course below it. Maybe the droop comes from where the brick contacts the block below... in this case where the blue arrow is happens to be a low spot on that course. The high spots are closest to the mortar joints... not sure if it makes a difference... just thought I’d share.

In the second photo, a close up of the first photo, the black arrows indicate areas that excessive mortar is super glued and really ugly. The question is do ya think it would be okay to take the diamond blade angle grinder to it... you know, kiss it.

Anyway, the other photos are more of the same... just wanting to get it right,
Mikie V.

[UtahBeehiver]

It did include quartz sand bought in bags. If it did separate, I did not notice.

[modified9v]

I’m curious Russell, did your dry mix include the sand? I was worried that the sand might separate and end up at the bottom of the bucket. I do like the 2 gallon bucket idea. Easier to handle up on the dome.

I’ve just had to get up onto the base to work on the dome... had been using a step ladder but it’s just not getting it anymore. Man, it’s spooky up there. It’s a heck of a fall if I miss step.