West Yorkshire dry stone build

Hi and greetings!

The tool I used was simply a length of 8mm studding attached to a small hinge and the base, with an L shaped piece at the other end which fits over the brick. The biggest piece of advice I can give is that the centre of the studding must line up with the centre of the brick, so that the radius at the top and bottom of the brick is identical and the courses will marry up nicely. I never adjusted mine and I can't see that it is necessary if you plan to build a hemispherical dome.

I found my "itool" locked up against a brick when it was placed, so the slotted adjustment allowed me to release it slightly to move to the next brick without knocking the one i'd just placed. I could also use the adjustment to "finesse" the dome. i.e. adjust the chains slightly.

I wonder if the reinforced concrete slabs may be a hangover from FB.
Some guys have used 2" paving slabs, either sat across Concrete Lintels or adjusted their base blockwork to suit and this far have had no problems.

Each method can have its pitfalls, if the design isn't right or carried out correctly. Like Turkey said..."would you park your car on it?"

A dry stone base is yet another new one. If you have faith in the workmanship (you've done it before?) and not just roughly perched a few rocks precariously on top of each other and realise the consequences of what may happen if you didn't get it right, then...

Good luck Pistol, looking forward to seeing those pictures!

bricks arrived today, blimey there are a lot of them! Could not get the truck up the lane though so spent 2 hours in the rain carting them up.

Get what you mean about the adjustment now, makes sense. Eyeing up a length of threaded rod i have so I can wind the length in and out. I'll take some picks of that too tomorrow.

Another question. If building on top of the hearth bricks as every one on here seems to suggest do you still do your first course of dome bricks stood up on there end or do we just crack on with the half bricks?

Weather looks good for the weekend so looking forward to a good stint (and a few beers).

Pete

You can do either. Using a soldier first course maximises the usable floor area but will need some/more additional buttressing. Alternatively, and not sure why I haven't seen this and maybe I'm missing something but I don't see why you can'y do two rows of normal stretcher bond which should be mechanically stronger than soldier design and give the additional usable space.

tony do you mean do two normal rows of half brick to get up to full brick height and then start forming the dome shape from there?

Love to logic of more floor space, makes perfect sense but its one of those things your only realise after you've build it!

Great feedback, thank guys.

Base is all built, hoping to start the hearth this morning and get bricking this afternoon

Cheers

Pete

Sorry Terry, I was way past that point by the time I'd seen your post!

Got loads done yesterday, surpassed my target of what I wanted to get done by quite a way too.

Time for some pics so sorry about the long post but they are over due.

Bricks arrive, 165 in all, guessed the amount from what others had put. Rest of the order is in the shed (motar, render, blanket etc)


Half way through making my dry stone base. Tying it in with the wall at the back. I did have just the two stacks either side but due to the weight I've half filled the alcove to provide more support. Plenty of stone in here and more to go on. All the stones are back filled with gravel, rubble and soil as we go to fill any voids.



Mate John helping sort out which bits will fit where, made difficult by us running short of stone good at this point. Lots of splitting and hammering to make good.



One giant jigsaw puzzle later and we end up with this 120cm x 120cm:









Time to start making it level and smooth (well as best we can) to build on top of. Pea single first to fill all the voids and then a good layer of mortar (not shown).



And that was Saturday all done.

On sunday I set too with some huge paving slabs used to bridge the gap and give me a level surface to build off. All bedded on a strong mortar mix (3:1 sand, cement). Used some extra rapid cement which was on offer from Wick;s for all this. Went off in about 20 minutes in this heat but we took it steady and stopped for lunch before any more weight when on it. Dressed up the front with a slab of stone I was saving cut to size with my grinder.



Notice the layer of dressing stone around the edge, this was to retain the dry sand/cement mix I used to bed the insulation (the big blue board stuff) on top of, got carried away on this stage so no pics with me but my Mum was snapping a few so might put them up if I get them.



Insulation then went on, this is that silica board stuff from kiln linings 40mm thick. Sat on smooth bed of sand/cement (5:1). Then on with the bricks!



Entrance is on the corner, you can just see the additional slab I have for it cemented in place. Better pic here:



Oven building essentials, brew, beer, bricks and cake.



Chalked out the dome and doorway, its going to be a tight fit! Gone for a 80cm dome and 35cm door (14 inch). Hardest bit was deciding the enterance for the door. Wanted an inset for a door to fit against but also wanted it to try to follow the line of the dome correctly too. Thanks to studying LeeB's build we choose this method and build from this stack around, its about 4pm now so keen to get some bricks down.







Then we started bricking!



Notice my home grown tool, used the wood the bricks came on, the hinge from my shed padlock, bit of waste steel and a welding clamp!





Used wedges to help keep the bricks at right angle while the mortar set. Using the premixed stuff from kiln linings as short on time. It was really wet at first but by the time we got to the end of the tub (just short of 2 courses in) it was firming up nicely and the wedges where not needed.



More doorway details:









We found removing the tool and cleaning after each course made for a cleaner build area, quick brush out and a sponge down then reset ready for the next course. My dad in mid-clean:



Ugly mortaring, think I over did it a bit, worried about running out now! Bought 3 tubs only got one left.



Some dome shots showed where we got to by 9pm last time:









I started on the dome, sticking "top of door way should be 63% of the top internal height" rule and made it 27cm high at the top of the arch. Made a form for it again out of the sheet of ply the bricks came on but it was getting a bit late to be using the chisel or angle grinder so only got 2 bricks done.

Talking of which I had great success with the brick chisel, works wonders. Grinder has its place though, bought a fancy hard stone disc for it but so far preferring the chisel.

And finally all wrapped up until the next session (hopefully next saturday).



Phew! sorry for the length.

Loving this build so far, so satisfying to see it literally "take shape". Thanks for all your help guys.

Pete