Chch NZ build

[John French]

I have been reading a lot and posting qustions and so i am now belatedly going to start a thread. I hope the photos are of interst and please don't be too tough on the lack of craftmanship.

The initial plan was to build a 36 inch Naples but i gradually changed to follow thers recommendations. So a 1 metre diameter dome, aiming for 49 cm height ended up being the goal.
I have used an I tool, slightly offset from the centre by a hinge. I have not used the clamp with this as intended and maybe that is why I have gone out of round.
Generally the brick work has been tolerable although compared to others the grout gaps and brick placements have been a bit ugly.
I struggled with transition and i have ended up using a lot of homebrew around the inner arch to dome connection. Hopefully this will not prove to be anything other than an aestetic problem.
I least i know the structure is reasonably strong as during the build it has experienced 100 s of aftershocks from our 7.1 earthquake!
Reach chain 8 and i am looking forward to the sky shot looking through the closing roof

[John French]

Took all day working on chain 8, way harder than the previous. The out of round proved a real problem. I have a gentle spiral going on and I did not think i could get the whole chain to marry up. However, i have just the keystone to fit and although it will be extreme i think it will work. Inspite of my doubts it looks like i live to fight another day but it is getting more difficult to keep the bricks in sympathy. I the end i was pretty pleased with the overall progress albeit very slow.
Please tell me it gets easier now as i approach the last few chains,

[C5dad]

John,

Excellent progress. I know the feeling about dealing with the out of round. I think that most folks do as well as the transition is the headache we all deal with. I personnnaly put in 2 partial chains above my transition to feel better, especially since I had to cut keystones for each arch. To paraphrase a comment from Dino to me - after the dome is covered, it will work the same.

Keep the chin up Mate - pizza for Christmas is still on tap!

Chris

[John French]

Thanks Chris
Raining today so progress could be halted. Might use the time to research the flue and smoke chamber. I will post a photo shortly and welcome feedback.

[John French]

The rain stopped so i manged to fit the keystone for chain 8. ticky cut but it went quite well. Cleaned up inside and touched up a few grout lines. Tried to clean up some of the cement haze with some acid wash. As you can see i am far from perfectly round and the sky shots not great. The i tool may be unusable for the next course as i am too far off the target shape, although it did prove useful as a guide if not the exact brick placement device.

[John French]

Finished the next chain 9 ( including soldier course ) - biy of a nightmare. I could only get round by a bit of stepping and cutting. Not happy with appearance inside the dome although at least it wont show - i don't think i will be taking any flash photos either! Looks like one more chain then close the dome off. I am wondering if i should go for a couple of arches then infill rather than the conventional approach. I have seen some use this concept. Having spent 30 mins inside the dome cleaning up i can relate to the comments of others. A visit to the chiropractic is about the only comparable experience i have had.

[John French]

Finished the last full chain and created the keystone. I cut and dry staked the brick for the forst time since the soldier course. This really helped in terms of progress. just a shame that my mistakes in the previous couple of courses made the appearance of the inside of the dome a bit shabby. The hole of the keystone was a bit eccentric in all respects but i was happy with the sculpting of the brick. Tomorrow i will fit and seal the dome up.

[John French]

Heres a view of the keystone. Took a while on the tile saw but i am happy with the outcome.

[brickie in oz]

A keystone relates to an arch as its the "key" to it all staying up.

Yours would be a plug, as the dome is already supported.

[C5dad]

John,

You are making great progress. The last chain looks great and the plug does too. Can't wait to see your outer arch and smoke box. I found that I am getting better with the cuts as I go along too. Kind of wished I did an oven for someone else first and then my own to take the lessons learned.