Question

[morrishuckeba]

Question
I am on my seventh chain and gravity is about to get the best of me. I have blocked up under each brick with a wood strip. (The photo below) I am using the home brew and when it dries there are two hairline cracks in the mortar. Is this normal?
Huck

[fxpose]

I got worse cracks than that with my homebrew, mostly from applying the mortar too thick on the surface and letting it dry out too quickly. What you can do are to keep the area moist and covered with plastic sheeting.

George

[Dino_Pizza]

I'm with George, it looks like it's just drying a bit quickly. Have a spray bottle of water handy and keep spraying every few minutes if it's in the sun while you're working and cover with plastic when you step away. I was working in the summer sun so I soaked a beach towel in water, squeezed it out and laid it on the dome and covered with plastic a couple of times.
In the 1st pic, if that's the outside of the dome where you smeared the mortar on it thinly? Then ya, you'll get those veiny, hairline cracks because it's such a thin coat unless you spray with water occasionally for an hour or two.

If you're fighting gravity, you must be getting close to the top. That's exciting.
-Dino

[morrishuckeba]

Thank you for all your replies. I think it will start using 1/3 bricks instead 1/2on the rest of the chains. I probably only have about two change to go before a put in the cornerstone. I am getting pretty excited about finishing the dome. I bought a beach ball today thinking it will fight gravity. I will know In the next day are two. Thanks again for all your help.
Huck