How to make a brick arch for a gate. DIY brick arch

From the very beginning of construction in 2012, I was constantly told that a flat roof is not for our climate (what kind?), that it will definitely leak (why?), and in general, with such a roof, the house looks like a transformer booth (poor Europeans, they have to live in transformer booths).

But most often they tried to prove to me that snow needs to be constantly removed from a flat roof (I wonder why?). Of course, if anyone wants, you can clean it up, no one is stopping you. But on houses with a flat roof there is no need to remove snow. For example, now I have a snow cover more than 80 centimeters thick on my roof! And somewhere there she hid under the snow.

2. Snow on the roof is an additional and completely free insulation.

By the way, as it turns out, many people do not know that a flat roof is not a plane in the direct sense, but a surface with a slope of approximately 2-4 degrees (in fact, a roof is considered flat if its slope angle is from 2 to 20 degrees). And any flat roof must have a drain. It is more correct to make an internal drain for a flat roof, but you can get by with a classic external one. At the time of construction, I did not have sufficient knowledge to design and implement an internal drain, so I made an external one. The advantage of internal drainage is the absence of pipes on the facade.

3. Summer 2013, just made. A flat roof is significantly cheaper than any pitched roof (at least because its area is on average 1.5 times smaller than that of a pitched roof). With it there is no loss of space and such useless space in the house as the attic. It is simpler and easier to insulate - everything is in the same plane.

Let me remind you of the design of my roof pie (from bottom to top):
1. Prefabricated monolithic floor filled with aerated concrete blocks - 250 mm;
2. Insulation using extruded polystyrene foam - 150 mm;
3. Insulation and creation of a slope using wedge-shaped slabs of extruded polystyrene foam - 0-150 mm;
4. Cement screed - 50 mm;
5. Two-layer built-up waterproofing (top layer with sprinkling).

4. Another huge plus of a flat roof is that it is not afraid of hurricanes. Look at the chronicles of hurricanes and how easy it is to tear off the covering and break the rafter system on classic pitched roofs.

5. In the summer of 2016, I finished all the other work on landscaping the surrounding area and decided to do it.

6. By the way, if anyone doesn’t know, then any concrete floor by default has a load-bearing capacity of at least 400 kg per square meter (usually 600-800 kg/m2). While the snow load for the Moscow region is only 180 kg per square meter. This is the maximum calculated snow load, which in reality is rarely achieved, but it is obvious that any ceiling has a huge margin of load-bearing capacity.

7. Another important advantage of a flat roof is that it has completely sealed seams. While the seams on a pitched roof are not airtight, and if the pitched roof is filled with snow and it begins to melt from below (due to insufficient insulation), the pitched roof will leak (especially at the junction of two slopes - the valleys). Look at the neighboring houses with pitched roofs - amazingly, there is snow on them too!

Why doesn’t a flat roof made using technology leak? Everything is very simple. Because it is insulated!

It is the insulation that determines the durability of the roof. It is known that the roof accounts for an average of 40% of the heat loss of the entire building. If the roof is not insulated, or is not insulated well enough, then the heat will rise, and the snow lying on the upper roofing carpet will melt. When frost sets in, the melted snow will freeze again, and when it freezes, as is known, water expands in volume. These multiple thaw-freeze cycles will eventually break the waterproofing (after 2-3 years) and the flat roof will begin to leak.

8. In the last century, when building houses, they did not think about energy efficiency and saving energy resources, so they usually did not insulate the roof. This led to the fact that the roof waterproofing was constantly being destroyed and the roof was leaking.

If the roof is well insulated, then it has only one “enemy” left - the sun and its ultraviolet radiation. But to protect against this, waterproofing is used with a package, or with special additives (in the case of using). And the most effective way to protect waterproofing from damaging ultraviolet radiation is to make a lawn on the roof, fill it with pebbles or lay tiles. By the way, a more promising waterproofing solution today is a polymer membrane.

A flat roof is even easier to use than a pitched roof. From a flat roof, snow will never fall on your head or tear off your gutters. There is no need to clear the snow, and if you have a lawn, there is no need to keep the gutters clean (all water is filtered through geotextiles and they will not become clogged with fallen leaves).

Therefore, a flat roof is the most reasonable roofing option, especially for a house made of. The main thing is not to violate technology and not to skimp on insulation.

And cleaning snow from a flat roof is not only useless, but also harmful - you can accidentally tear the waterproofing with the sharp edge of a shovel and the roof will begin to leak.

All reports on the construction of a country house with your own hands can be found in chronological order.

Arches have been popular at all times. They are architectural curved structures that connect two supports. Arches always carry a large decorative load, therefore they are widely used for decorating facades and interior design, both residential premises and public buildings. A brick arch can be built by every home craftsman who has certain skills in performing construction work.
Brick arches can be divided into the following types according to the method of their construction:

Full arches. They feature a traditional semicircular design. Their height is equal to the radius. Wedge-shaped. Wedge-shaped structure fixed with a “lock” of bricks. Beam or incomplete. The design is an arc, the height of which is significantly less than the radius.

Sequence of work when forming arches

The masonry of any type of arch is carried out evenly towards the “castle” brick, which is installed last. In this case, the castle should be formed exactly in the middle of the arch. The process of arranging a brick arch consists of the following stages:

Development of a vault template and its production; Installing a template; Direct laying out of the structure; Compression and fixation of the arch; Removing the template; Final finishing work.

A trowel that will be used to work with the solution; Shovel-bucket for supplying solution; Building level, plumb lines, rule and triangle for quality control of brick laying; Small hammer-pick; Tape measure for taking measurements; Shovel for preparing the solution; Twisted cord.

When arranging an arch in a wide opening, the insufficient height of the arched structure leads to uneven distribution of loads, which leads to the appearance of cracks. Cracking of the surface of the arched structure can be caused by uneven shrinkage, the appearance of which is due to the use of metal corners when creating the template. Untimely removal of the template leads to the fact that the wood used absorbs excess moisture and swells, causing excess stress in the brickwork. A poorly constructed foundation can cause cracks due to displacement of the arched structure.

The arched lintel in the stove is far from decorative. In addition to its attractive appearance, it allows you to effectively distribute the load from the upper brick rows, which significantly increases the mechanical strength of the oven.

Structure

This architectural solution is used not only when laying the stove, but also during construction. The ability of the arch to distribute the vertical load to the sides, thereby, as it were, “locking” the wall, is widely used in the construction of not only openings, but also blank walls that experience heavy loads.

An arched lintel is a series of bricks laid out in an arc. Their number must be odd. The central element is called the lock, and the outer ones are called the heels. The space covered by an arch is called a vault or span.

In an arched lintel, even if the ceiling itself is straight, the seams between the stones are directed towards the center of the conditional or obvious rounding. The stones in the arch are necessarily wedge-shaped - this is the fundamental difference between an arched ceiling and any other.

Types of arches

Depending on the shape of the arc, there are several types of jumpers.

• Semi-circular or full is the most reliable option. The arch is laid out in half a circle, the radius of the circle is half the width of the firebox.
• Luchkovaya – a variant in which the arc of rounding forms a sector of a circle. It is flatter and the radius must be calculated in each specific case.
• Direct - the appearance does not differ from the usual direct overlap. The principle of distributing the load to the sides remains due to the use of wedge-shaped stones. The photo shows a sample of a straight jumper.

Materials

• The brick is solid ceramic, grades no lower than M - 150. Construction stores offer wedge-shaped products. If desired or necessary, you can give the stone a wedge shape with your own hands.
• The solution is clay with the addition of fireclay sand. It is not recommended to lay the arch on cement mortar, as it cannot withstand high temperatures.
• Chipboard sheet for making templates.

Arch calculation and template making

Depending on the type of arched lintel, the calculation methods and do-it-yourself masonry technology will differ.

Semicircular jumper

The radius of the full arched lintel is half the width of the combustion chamber. That is, in this case, calculations come down to accurate measurement of the parameter. The drawing shows a diagram of a semicircular furnace jumper with dimensions.

1. Two templates or circles are made from a sheet of chipboard: half a circle with the required radius is drawn and cut out. Two templates are fastened together with bars. The circle should be a couple of centimeters smaller than the width of the firebox, so that it can be easily dismantled in the future.
2. The length of the arc determines the approximate number of stones to be laid with allowance for seams. It is recommended to lay, achieving a minimum seam width of 3 mm. In practice, this recommendation is difficult to implement, since the unevenness of the stone itself can reach 7 mm. So the width of the seam should also include irregularities - at least 5 mm.
3. The dimensions of the wedge can be determined using a practical, visual method. To do this, the central brick is placed on the top of the circle, and a thread is pulled from the center of the circle to the edge of the stone. Then the cut line is marked with a pencil, and the operation is repeated on the other side. In this way, the exact wedge shape of each element can be established.
4. The required number of stones is cut out.

Bow lintel.

1. The radius of curvature is calculated using the formula: radius = (square of the height of the lintel + square of the width of the combustion chamber)/ two heights of the lintel. As a rule, it is 1–2 rows.
2. Making a template and calculating the wedge shape is carried out in a similar way.

Straight jumper

This is the most difficult option to manufacture. Templates are not made; wedge calculations are made using a straight board, the length of which is equal to the width of the lintel.

1. The central stone is placed in the middle of the board, the thread is pulled from the center of the arch - in this case, just the middle of the opening, to the corners of the brick and the resulting lines are marked. The stone is immediately given the desired shape.
2. The second brick is placed next to the central one so that its corners coincide with the corners of the castle. As a result, the outer bottom corner of the next brick should be below the board line. The cut lines are then marked and the stone is shaped. The same applies to each subsequent element. As can be seen from the drawing, the next stone in the lintel will be smaller in size than the previous one, and thus the arch disappears towards the edges.
3. Further laying is carried out on the straight board used for calculations.

Laying an arched lintel

When installing a jumper with your own hands, a constant level check is required. The allowed displacements and distortions, instead of strengthening the furnace, will provoke a weakening of the arch.

1. The template is installed in the opening and firmly secured using spacers.
2. Fines are installed on the sides of the opening. This will allow you to quickly clamp the arched lintel.
3. Laying bricks begins from the edge to the center on both sides simultaneously. It is necessary, if possible, to achieve the thinnest possible seams between the stones, since the strength of the structure largely depends on this.
4. The central stone, a lock, is driven into the masonry, “closing” the lintel. The photo shows a stove arch with a circle.
5. The template is removed. The seams are leveled and excess mortar is removed.

In the video, the process of laying the arched ceiling is covered in more detail.

An arch made of brick or other material is an architectural element, a curvilinear lintel. It can be erected above window and door openings, in a heating stove and fireplace. It can be built simply between standing supports. Brick arches are used to decorate the interiors and facades of buildings. For any craftsman with little experience, a do-it-yourself brick arch is not a big problem.

What kind of arches can there be?

An arch is a vaulted structure. She may be:

• wedge;
• onion;
• complete.

In a wedge construction, the bricks are laid out in a wedge. They are fixed with a kind of lock. The beam arch is built in the form of a truncated arc. Full is a semicircle whose height is equal to half the width of the window or doorway. There are other types of structures, but they are used extremely rarely. Each design has its pros and cons. They are all built approximately the same, the differences are not very big. Fans should remember that the permissible distance between supports for a full arch can be up to 2.5 meters, for a beam arch it can be up to 1.5, for a wedge arch - up to 1 meter.

How to make an arch out of brick? All work consists of several stages:

• a vault template is developed and made from suitable materials;
• the finished template is installed at the site of construction of the structure;
• brick vaults are laid out;
• the arched structure is fixed;
• the template is disassembled;
• finishing of masonry is carried out.

The template is made from wooden blocks, 20 mm thick boards and sheet material: plywood, chipboard, plasterboard, hardboard. Chipboard and plasterboard should be chosen with a thickness of 10 mm. You need to make a working template correctly, since the laying of arches and vaults depends entirely on its quality. And for this you need to perform some calculations.

The finished product should be smaller in size than the width of the arched opening. This is necessary for easier parsing of the template after the construction of the brick structure. On a sheet of material you need to mark the center of the arch, the lower and upper points. All points are connected to each other by an arc. Using the resulting markings, all that remains is to cut out the circles and connect them to each other with slats. The finished template should repeat the arch completely. It is installed using spacers in the opening.

Making an arch

Construction requires the use of tools such as:

• hacksaw;
• trowel;
• hammer;
• jointing;
• building level;
• bracing cord.

The masonry must be completed in one step. Otherwise, varying drying of the solution will cause destruction of the finished product. The laying of the arch begins with the insertion of fines into the arched opening. They easily clamp the structure. The set of structures goes from bottom to top. Bricks are laid simultaneously on both sides. At the very top, a castle is made of tightly packed bricks. The laid arched masonry is fixed quite firmly. After the solution has dried, the template is disassembled and removed. Drying time is about 2 weeks. To give the structure a neat appearance, the entire surface must be cleaned. It is recommended to do this carefully, removing all pieces of remaining mortar and cleaning all seams.

It is better to lay vaulted ceilings using wedge bricks. Its trapezoid shape helps to better fix the entire structure. You can buy the material in construction stores. You can do it another way: cut a regular building brick of a grade no lower than M-150 to a trapezoidal shape.

Brickwork is usually done using a special mortar. Stove arches require a clay-based solution, to which fireclay sand and gravel up to 0.8 cm in size are added. This solution makes it possible to make seams of minimal thickness.

The remaining structures are laid on a mortar of cement and sand. If the technology is followed, they last a long time and become a decoration of the building.

The causes of destruction can be the following factors:

• a wide opening with insufficient height of the arched vault provokes the formation of cracks;
• using a template made of metal parts leads to cracking of the masonry;
• a template made of wood and chipboard that is removed in an untimely manner absorbs a lot of moisture from the solution, causing excess stress in the masonry;
• a weak foundation of a building can sag and destroy the vaults.

Summing up

To build an arch for a house, you need to make the correct calculation, build a template and install it. Only after this does the bricklaying begin. Arched ceilings of window and door blocks in the house give the brick wall a unique appearance. Plaster can be applied to the structure, or you can do without it.

Such ceilings were used not only in the construction of houses, but also in the construction of churches.

You cannot do without such structures when building a stove in a house or when building a fireplace. Plaster on them can be used both ordinary and decorative.

In order to decorate the facade of a house, decorative architectural components are often used, which can give it special color and originality.

Today it is considered fashionable to build brick arches. Gates and interior doors can be made in the form of arches.

Among such elements are arches, which are often used in modern construction of both industrial buildings and country houses.

An arch is a shaped lintel that can be mounted both above window and door openings.

Classification of brick arches

A bow arch is a shape of arch that is only part of a circle.

Types of brick arches:

1. Onion arch (another name is truncated or incomplete; it is an arc whose height is less than the radius).
2. Full arch (regular, half a circle, that is, its height is equal to the radius).
3. Wedge type arches (bricks above a rectangular window are placed in a wedge, while they fix themselves, leaning against each other).

Each of the above types of arches has advantages and disadvantages.

Laying a brick opening

This technology may include several stages:

1. Creating a template.
2. Template installation.
3. Kit .
4. Arch compression.
5. Disassembling the template.
6. Clean finish.

High-quality brick arch masonry involves the use of the following construction tools:

• trowel (leveling the mortar, trimming excess mortar on the seams and high-quality filling of vertical seams);
• shovel bucket (used for feeding, shoveling the solution and spreading it);
• instrumentation to determine the current quality of the structure (m, plumb line, level, rule, triangle);
• hammer-pick;
• roulette;
• mortar shovel;
• mooring twisted cord.

Risk of breakage

There are several reasons why a brick arch can burst:

1. Small radius (height) of the structure with a fairly large width. Such a structure absorbs heavy loads, but does not distribute them. As a result, cracks may form, but the massif will not collapse. To create a template, you can use corners or metal bases. They are used to additionally attach the structure, but sometimes this can lead to very unfavorable consequences. After all, when using a wooden template and after its dismantling, the brickwork shrinks and becomes compacted. However, if a metal base is used, the masonry does not sag. Thus, the structure will be very strong, but also with some cracks.
2. The template was preserved in the arch for quite a long time after its creation. For example, they might not have picked him up right away, but left him overnight. During this time, the tree absorbed moisture, swelled, and the masonry of the arch could not withstand the stress. Despite the fact that such cases are rare, it is still recommended to be careful at this stage. It is better to cover the arch with polyethylene.
3. Subsidence of the base. The formation of cracks near window openings is one of the signs of an improperly constructed foundation. At the same time, cracks in the arch structure are no exception. In this situation, it is necessary to strengthen the foundation.

Arched opening calculations

The first step is to create a template using a sheet of chipboard. Wooden blocks and fiberboard are used here. At the same time, the quality of the template, the correspondence of its sizes and shapes to specific parameters largely determine the future quality of the arch.

The first step is to determine the size of the template. To do this, it is necessary to calculate the width of the opening (as an example, a window with a width of 1500 mm). The width of the template is taken 5 mm less, that is, 1495 mm. Subsequently, it is possible to dismantle the template at the final stages without much difficulty, even if it swells from moisture. The height of the template must match the selected arch height (for example, 168 mm). It is advisable to place a whole face brick in the upper area of ​​the arch. Thus, to determine the height, you need to calculate the number of bricks. The height of one row should be around 72 mm (the height of the seam and brick), and the total number of rows should be 4. That is, the arched height: 72*4-120=168 mm. Hence 120 mm is the height of the shaped brick laid on edge.

Calculation of arch parameters: Ha - Arch height, lpr - Span width

The height can be smaller or larger, but it must be borne in mind that if the arch is too low and the width is too large, then there is a risk of the brickwork sagging under the influence of load.

The thickness of the template is selected based on the thickness of the wall. It should be specific so that you don't have to create an auxiliary template. After all, there are only two arches: the back arch and the front arch. The acceptable thickness here is 200 mm, which is half the thickness of the cinder block. A larger template will be heavier, which is naturally undesirable.

The template characteristics can be as follows:

• height - 168 mm;
• thickness - 200 mm;
• width - 1495 mm.

Accordingly, after the calculation, you can start creating the template itself. The chipboard sheet is used to mark the center of the arch, the lower and upper points. In order to obtain a truncated semicircle, the lower and upper points are connected to each other using an arc. For this, you can use a thread or a wire with a metal peg tied to it on one side and a pencil on the other (this way you will get a kind of compass, the radius of which will be many times greater than the standard one).

For more efficient and convenient installation of the template, it is necessary to retreat approximately 100 mm from the lowest extreme points of the arc. This is done so that the arch includes supports for fastening the bars. Use the resulting outline to cut out the circle. This operation is performed using a jigsaw.

Next, you need to cut out the arched template, which consists of two circles, which means you will need two copies of them. At the same time, you can make your task easier by first cutting out the first one (circle it, placing a sheet on the chipboard) and cutting out the second one along the resulting contour.

To add volume to the arch template, it is necessary to fix wooden blocks between two circles. After performing this operation, the template structure is secured using nails or self-tapping screws. The upper area of ​​the template arch is equipped with a strip of fiberboard using nails (20 to 25 mm). The template will have a smoother and more regular shape and will also be able to hold the bricks laid in the upper area.

The template is mounted in the window opening, under which supports made of boards 20 mm thick are installed. A spacer is attached between the latter to secure them. The template is mounted on boards at the same level with the shaped brick of the front sample. At the same time, its height must correspond to the frame of the window.

Laying a bow-type arch to a wall involves trimming the window frame and top brick using a grinder. Thus, the arch is mounted lower, and the brick moves towards the inner corner.

Usually the front arch protrudes in relation to the wall. The protrusion should be small (less than 60 mm). Otherwise, there is a risk of the arched bricks getting wet and gradually collapsing. It is recommended to cover even small protrusions with a certain material, for example, tiles or a metal sheet. However, the larger the protrusion, the more colorful the future arch will look, so you will have to make the choice in favor of beauty or practicality personally.

Laying facing bricks to the wall involves some nuances. In the process, it is necessary to pay due attention to the fact that the brick includes two front sides. In the case when the material protrudes strongly in relation to the wall, the front and “back” sides are visible, the plane of which is rough and uneven.

Masonry construction

Before laying the arch, it is necessary to install grooves on both sides, making it possible to simply and quickly clamp it.

The creation of arches must begin with the “heels”, on which it will subsequently rest. After their installation, the height of one row of masonry is calculated, and the number of rows around the arch is also measured. After that, it is necessary to apply marks to the template that will mark the positions of the rows.

It is necessary to make a set of brick arches simultaneously from both sides from bottom to top. The final brick, called the “key” brick, is installed directly in the center of the upper area of ​​the arches. It fixes other bricks, of which there may even be two if their total number is even. The driving of the key brick must be done tightly enough so that it not only holds on its own, but also holds the entire brick structure of the arches.

After building the arch, it is clamped with a brick. It is advised to do this on the same day and not postpone it until a later time, otherwise it may burst.

The template can then be immediately removed and the plane cleaned. If the weather is decent and the air temperature is high, the solution will quickly harden on the same day, which will make it possible to remove it without damaging the masonry. If the solution is left for a day or two, then it will be very difficult to clean the seams from the solution.

During the laying process, the seams are not always perfectly clean and even, so cleaning them is necessary. The mortar can be squeezed out of the seams and onto the face of the masonry, or completely fill them. The first case involves cleaning the seams with a dry cloth, and the second involves auxiliary lining of the seams from the bottom up.

After 24 hours, the wall with the arch must be raised by a certain number of brick rows.

Masonry of backfill analogue

The backing arch is a structure that is located behind the front part of the arch.

After completing all the steps described above, you can proceed to the backfill arch. To create these arches, the same wooden template is used, but with some changes in its design. Due to the fact that arched windows have a quarter of 5 cm on the sides, both the arch and the template must include a similar detail. Thus, the template must be increased by this amount. In order to do this, the fiberboard sheet is equipped with wooden blocks with a section of 45x45 mm and a length of 200 mm. The distance between them can be approximately 70 mm.

The sheet is very flexible and therefore the resulting tape is easy to bend and attach to the upper area of ​​the arched template.

Features of work

The technique for creating backing arches is an analogy for making front arches. First you need to mount the “heels”, from which to the top of the arch you need. Typically, single backing bricks mounted on an edge are used for this purpose.

Before starting the process of creating an arch, it is recommended to prepare all the most necessary building materials and tools, make a template, cut spacers, wooden blocks and supports. In general, creating an arch will take approximately 8.5-9 hours a day, so it makes sense to start work in the morning and finish it by evening.

At this point, the work of creating a brick arch can be completed. The main thing in the masonry process is to prepare all the necessary construction tools and strictly adhere to the established rules. Thus, you will get a very high-quality and effective result.