Catalan vaulted roof/ceiling

This was a project done last year and  I thought I had made a post about it, but looks like I did not.

After several small span  Catalan  roofs  we decided to roof this room using our new skills.  This method is referred to by many names:  Catalan, timbrel, cohesive tile.  I will use Catalan.

(Note the modern scaffolding!)

First we built end walls to draw the catenary shape  templates, run strings to control the shape, and "glue" the tiles.
  I bought handmade  floor tiles for the first course for aesthetic reasons.

 Butter two sides of a tile with gypsum plaster.

Tap into place and hold 1-10 seconds.


And then move on to the next one.  It is a bit tricky as the first one has to be "set" so better to build in two places or use gypsum that is almost set.

  A video is found here


Building on each side .

Conduit pipe for ceiling light.

From above 3/4 done with first course of tiles.  Sometimes extra gypsum plaster applied to help hold until an arch is completed.  gypsum gives no strength to the vault, it is just to hold until an arch is finished.

About to close the first layer.  We were excited about how good it looks.

 After finishing the first course.   We had disagreement on whether to do the other 2 laminate layers as we went along or finish one course at a time. 

It did bring and issue .

Before I talk about the hole.  This shows the 2nd and third courses with different bonds, first at 45* then at right angle to original bond.  After 24 hours you can stand on the 3 layers.  Mortar is cement - lime - sand  1-1-6.

Mason Dickson preferred to finish first course then sit on the end wall and lay 50cm of other courses, next day sit on the first 50 cm and lay another 50cm.  Worked okay until someone put something heavy on current days work and it collapsed!

As it dried out efflorescence occurred on the beautiful tiles but i figured it would dry and fall off like our bricks.  It is a year and still ugly like this.  I just tried washing it off and that looks like it will work.

we filled in level and then put heavy plastic and then 5cm concrete sloped into a drain pipe.

On a small Catalan vault we roofed with tiles to see how well that would waterproof the roof.

First Timbrel/catalan Vaulted ceiling / roof.

After the success with Timbrel vaulted stairs I was itching for a roof.  We added a bath on the terrace and so roofed with .....
timbrel or cohesive tile, or catalan vaulted roof.

This is the bath on the terrace.

 We used hand made floor tiles for the first layer.  they are not so square and it would be better if they were longer than wide but they look great.

 Then another two layers of our rough "tiles" in cement.

amazing how much stronger it feels.

some pic showing top of first layer and beginning second layer

Timbrel Vault stairs III

Dickson got some steps on the vaulted stairs in between jobs.

I am a happy camper.  I have been delaying the top part of these stairs for years.

Timbrel stairs - II

The temporary plywood sidewall was carefully removed. Dickson now can easily glue a line on both sides. You butter two sides with gypsum plaster, put in place and tap , hold a few seconds and then repeat. Better if you can have two lines going so it sets up a bit. Also we leave the plaster to set for 5-10 minutes before using.

Below  sees after three layers are in place.  the side will look better after pointing.  The courses all have different bonds and overlap joints.  It feels like a cast reinforced concrete slab.

Cleaning up some plaster. 

It is a bit hard to get perspective, from below looking up  the run to first floor. (second floor to Americans)

From the top looking down.  It would be better to have joints in the middle, but these are thin bricks and cutting makes them a bit weaker.  and it is covered of course.  I walked up the vault.  feels more solid than a full single brick in shiner orientation.  I mean it feels very solid, like i said like a reinforced concrete beam.

Now we let it cure a bit and put some treads, but not the final treads as we can't keep them clean.