Wooden wedges

[Sipper]

Can you leave the wooden wedges in, or do they have to come out.

[michelevit]

Re: Wooden wedges

where are these wooden wedges located?
are they shims to hold up the bricks on the outside of
the dome?

maybe atattch a pic so we get a better idea.

[dbhansen]

Re: Wooden wedges

Normally the shims used in dome construction are taken out and replaced with mortar. Otherwise they'll burn! And the extra mortar makes it stronger.

[kebwi]

Re: Wooden wedges

You could make your shims out of fire brick I suppose...but that's a lot of very precise cutting.

[KINGRIUS]

Re: Wooden wedges

I was going to use the wooden shims but I was able to do without. I gobbed extra mortar on the top back of the brick already set and tapped the new brick down 'till it was in position. The mortar was able to hold it without the shim. Then I would spread the extra mud that gushed out the back into all the voids.

[Roadkyng]

Re: Wooden wedges

I was going to use the wooden shims but I was able to do without. I gobbed extra mortar on the top back of the brick already set and tapped the new brick down 'till it was in position. The mortar was able to hold it without the shim. Then I would spread the extra mud that gushed out the back into all the voids.

I do the same then take a pointing tool to compact the mortar. Haven't had a brick fall out....... yet.

[cynon767]

Re: Wooden wedges

I tried using shims at first, and abandoned them after the first 2 rings. They were actually less accurate than just shaping the mortar with the trowel by eye.

[jmhepworth]

Re: Wooden wedges

I also tried using the shims and decided they didn't help much after the first couple of courses. I just put a bit more mortar in than I needed and tapped the brick with the back of the trowel until it matched the string. That didn't work if I got the mortar too wet, but learning how much water to put into the mortar came pretty quickly -- during the first couple of courses.

Joe

[intelo]

Please help!

I am about halfway through my built and realized that I left all the wooden wedges I have used between layers thus far ( I am on course 6). I have applied mortar generously in addition to the wooden wedges. The mortar has set pretty hard so I dont think I will be able to go back and remove the wedges? Will I have issues later on as a result of leaving the wedges in? Do you have any suggestions to solve or mitigate this problem?

Any suggestions will be much appreciated.

Thank you

[RandyJ]

It could be a problem. How big of a problem is a bit hard to say for sure. For future reference you can remove the shims in just a few hours once the initial setup has happened. I used wirenuts for my spacersand kept reusing the same 20 or so over and over. Good luck.