Piers

Free Standing Pier.

Could also be a letter/mail box

If you are building a letter box,/mail box or a pier this is how you go about it.
The principles are the same no matter what you are building.

Set up a profile/straight edge that is plumb in both directions and where you want the pier to be.
Mark the brick gauge on the profile, its usually 86mm per course, give or take. tables

If you are doing a bigger pier or a BBQ set up two profiles and run a string line between them.

The profiles are held in place with timber battens that are weighted with bricks to keep them stable.

Piers and Fence.

Prepare the trench for the concrete, make the sides straight and clean out any loose material from the bottom.



Drive in some pins to set the top level of the concrete when your pour it.
The two pins together represent a 1 course step that will be formed in the concrete.



Pour the concrete up to the level of the pins that you set up earlier.
Put in some starter bars, the starter bars will go inside the piers that will carry the gate, the gate piers will be filled with concrete to add strength.



Step formed in the concrete.



Set up the profiles and run a string line between them, this way the piers will line up.
The concrete strip between the gate piers stop the piers from going out of alignment over time.







Starter bars and conduit being bricked in, the conduit is for the power cable, lights will be added to the tops of the piers.
Wall ties are built into the pier so it gets tied in with the concrete fill.
The Piers were filled with fine concrete after they had gone off for a few days.



Because the front and rear piers are offset from each other the end bricks of the wall had to be cut on a slight angle.



When pointing brickwork keep all the perps angled the same way.

To do that you put the same side of the trowel into the joint on each and every perp, if you alternate which way you point the wall it looks messy.

The beds are "Weather Struck/Pointed"