It will be a little warmer tonight (over 40 degrees F), so I figured this would be a good day to do the prep work on laying the dome arches. Here is a picture of the arch support that I made out of foam core boards and foam blocks. I was going to use plywood, but a similar support for the smaller arch worked out so well that I decided to try it with the biggest one too. I did beef it up a bit, making it thicker overall (3″ instead of 1.5″).
Easy, lightweight, sturdy foam arch for dome
Previously, after trimming three bricks that will be the keystones to the three dome arches, I did a dry brick layout and the foam form (say that three times, quickly) didn’t collapse, crack or even holler “ouch”! I think it’s good to go.
Before laying the arch brick, I needed to make an angled “platform” out of mortar and broken bits of an old clay pot. This platform will support the first arch bricks where the dome meets the side walls. The clay pot bits act as heat absorbing filler so that the platform isn’t formed entirely of refractory mortar.
Now I wait until these platforms harden. Hopefully the cool weather won’t delay that too much. I want to do DOME ARCH #1 tomorrow while the temperature stays over 40 degrees at night.
foam arch in place, mortar supports on sides
