Hi all,
I’ve previously done some light masonry work, small retainer wall, repairs, etc. This time though I’d like to make our front door a bit more interesting by making an arc instead of the square opening today.
I’ve made simulation of what it should look like, if you open the attached picture the present state is to the left, and the proposed one to the right.
I have a few worries, one of them the structural aspect of this. Everything above the door hangs on a metal support, which I obviously need to remove and either place higher up or depend on the strength of the arc itself. I would assume that the 2 wythe building in itself now works as a solid unit, and that the brick above won’t fall down/crack if I remove the beam? Especially with the window above removing some/most of the load?
I was planning to remove 6-7 rows of brick, construct an outer arch in plywood that I need to support from below in some way, and then build myself up. I can image this being tricky though with the 2 wythe construction. All advice appreciated.
By the way, I saw an ad for a new tool, the Arbortech masonry saw, that sure seems to make the work easier. Anyone heard of a rental place in Northern Virginia?
Best,
Nicoman
Replies
Well, I think it might be a tad ambitious given your experience, but the worst that can happen is you create some work for your local mason contractor.
Cutting out and removing some brick above the existing door shouldn't disturb the brick above too much provided you are gentle and do as much work with a saw as possible and the arch work is completed within a couple of days.
Thanks, Brickie.Would you move up the support beam or should the arch be enough?Instead of removing 5-6 rows and build it up, I've considered to chalk the arc on the wall and cut out exactly what's needed with a diamond grinder. That will probably not look so good inside, but I should be able to get a pretty nice line on the exterior based on previous experiences.What do you think? Difficult, but doable?
The arch is enough, done properly.
As for cutting the shape in place, give it a whirl, but I think you might be wasting your time.
Whether you can handle it or not, I've no idea.
I don't think you should though.
Not as shown in the picture anyhow.
It looks like someone stuck an oversized, standard entrance door into an arched opening.
Go higher with the arch.....keep the door pains in the door square (rectangular), but add an arched light above.
Nothing looks worse than something that wasn't thought through thoroughly ahead of time.
Once you get the design right....I say go for it. I've learned more from my own mistakes, than from all of my successes.
Best of luck!
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
JDRHI,I have no idea either, but I share your philosophy of learning from mistakes. If someone isn't strongly advising against it, I usually give it a try.I see your point on the design, but the house is pretty small so an arched light above would most likely look out of scale. Besides, the ceiling inside isn't high enough anyway. This particular arch comes straight from one of the neighbor houses, I just superimposed it in Photoshop on top of our entrance. (Our door used to have hideous trim.)Are you concerned about the windows in the door or the arch?
Frankly, if it twere me, I'd be doing some practicing on the neighbor's house first.
That's not a diy type project I'd be interested in screwing up. How's are you gonna get matching bricks?
I have some bricks lying in the garage, but I need some more and was hoping to find a decent match at a brick specialist. Size is another matter though.
If you have trouble finding bricks that match you take them from another place on the house that doesn't show much. Then replace those with the best you can find.
Instead of useing bricks that will not match how about useing rock or granite, I think its a good idea
I'll vote for that!
Looking at your PS'd image, IMO, that's a lot of work for not that wonderful an end "look".
Seems to me the effort might be better spent building an applied archway molding/trim work on the surface of the brick - not sure what the official name is for them, but looking at your before picture, I can imagine how nice it would look compared to the arch of bricks. The surface mounted trim I envision would only be proud of the face of the brick perhaps 4-5 inches maybe - it really depends how elaborate you choose to go.
It's a bit tight to the right of the door, but there's enough room to bring the new trim work down both side with some fluting or other trim detail and I think it would really dress up the entry in a good way.
Not sure if that's a good enough description, but I can see it in my head...
Regards,
Julian
This house is part of a 7 unit row house section, and none of the others have wood trim (ours did actually, but it was retro fitted and didn't look good) so I think staying with a brick design would be best.Two of the houses have an arch like the one I was contemplating, and the rest have standing bricks on a square opening. Of these, the look of the arches are superior in my opinion.I will google around and see if I can find alternative styles, as it seems to be the general opinion here that the arch doesn't look that hot?
Also, anyone has any experience of the Arbortech? Any other alternative to my old grinder?
The arch itself would'nt be that hard to do , design wise I can't match my own socks, arbotech thingee looks cool but at over a thou. no way . on a double wythe wall you are just gonna cut though one wythe at a time anyway they make some recip. saw blades that just came out laast year though, that are suposed to be the bees knees,I have heard . They were advertised in Masonry magazine in the new products for masons section a few months ago.I allways deal with R.S.C. for my rentals, most people there are regular peeps and their service top notch.
they make some recip. saw blades that just came out laast year though, that are suposed to be the bees knees
A restoration mason I know gathers up everybody's dull sawzall blades and cuts deep notches in them with a grinder. He uses them in his sawzall to "swipe" bricks out. He's normally working with lime mortar, though.
I've done it a time or two and it works great.
View Imagehttp://grantlogan.net/
"he ot the placed closed down whyyy thhhattt nnooo gooodddd" - sancho
OK,so how bout an applied foam archway with a pround key detail and than finish it to have a cement feel.Like whatever the process is that they use on just about every commercial retail building these days.No structural work and it'll tie intn the house yet dress it up and be a cool project to learn and do.Might just be me, and obviously your PS sample is just the idea not the exact look, but it just doesn't seem worth the effort for the look that will result. Plus - it seems like the type of masonry project where it's be real easy to get it less than perfect and could end up looking like it was someone's first try.Whatever you end up doing - good luck and post pics when finished.Julian