Saw a brick arch in Charleston that made me stop and stare

I was down in Charleston, South Carolina last weekend visiting family... and I walked past this old carriage house off King Street. The whole thing was brick, but the arch over the main door was something else. It wasn't just a simple curve... the bricks were cut into these really thin, wedge-shaped pieces called voussoirs. The joints were maybe an eighth of an inch, perfectly even all the way around. You could tell whoever laid it really knew their stuff, because the arch had zero sag after what must be over a hundred years. It made me think about how we mostly do straight runs now... I haven't built a true arch since my apprenticeship. Has anyone here done a restoration job on something like that recently? I'd love to hear what mortar mix you used to match the old work.

3 comments

3 Comments

the_william3d ago

For old brick like that, a lime-based mortar is the only way to go (modern stuff will crack it).

matthewmartin3d ago

Ngl, it's just some old bricks. People get way too into the historic stuff sometimes.

the_xena3d ago

Yeah, the old lime mortar is key. I had to repoint a 1920s chimney last year and used a 1:3 lime to sand mix. Modern cement mortar is way too hard and WILL trap moisture, then those soft bricks spall and turn to dust. You gotta match the flexibility of the original work or you ruin it.