Window Arches

I wanted to try and recreate the style of the existing arches on the front of my house. Two rows of bricks that define the arch.

Trying to work out the height of the arch and length of the cut bricks necessary so that the number of bricks for both courses worked out correctly drove me slightly nutty. I drew out ideas on CAD then laid out bricks on the ground to see if it worked for real.

Once I thought I had something that worked, I cut a piece of MDF to the chosen radius and backed it with a 3" off-cut of Kingspan to form the arch support. I wedged it in place and then cut the bricks and checked they fitted.

I built the arch, cutting bricks with an angle grinder to fit.

As agreed with the BCO, I installed a single skin lintel immediately over the arch. I know that the arch should do the job of support (that's why arches were invented), but at least this way the arch is merely supporting itself, not the bricks above. The lintel will be invisible, so I didn't mind fitting it to keep thBCO happy.

I fitted a DPC over the lintel, and added tiny weep vents. I don't like these vents, but they are hardly noticable, and the BCO suggested I fit them.

I am not sure of the regulations of having the vents as it appears to me that some builds have them and some don't!

My first two arches  that will make up my two kitchen windows.