Bricklaying - Building Brick Arch feature
Stu builds a Gothic brick arch feature. How an arch is formed over a support, why the setting out matters, and what a well-built arch should look like.
One of the older videos on the channel and still one of the most watched. Stu builds a Gothic arch feature in brick, the pointed style with two curves meeting at the top. It’s decorative work, the sort of detail that turns a plain wall into something people stop and look at, and it shows a side of bricklaying that isn’t about speed at all.
An arch is built over a former, a temporary support shaped to the curve, and the bricks are laid up from each side to meet at the top. Getting it right comes down to the setting out: the former has to be the right shape and set level, the bricks have to be spaced so the joints are even and the arch meets neatly at the apex, and the whole thing has to be checked before the former comes out. Once the mortar has set and the support is removed, the arch holds itself up. If the setting out was wrong, that’s when you find out.
The video is a good watch for seeing how patient this kind of work is. Nothing gets rushed and every brick is looked at twice.
Who this is for: bricklayers who want to see an arch feature built, and homeowners planning a feature wall, garden arch or decorative panel who want to understand what goes into it.
What a homeowner should expect from a good job: an arch that’s symmetrical, with the same number of bricks each side and even joints that radiate cleanly from the curve, a crisp apex where the two sides meet, and the arch sitting properly on its supports with no sag once the former is out. Decorative brickwork should look effortless from a distance and tidy up close.
