I want to build a brick pillar without foundation

[bice]

I want to replace these wood posts with a brick pillar between my neighbour’s house and mine. This would be the gate post.

The pillar needs to stand on York stone slabs, so there won’t be foundations.

But I want it to be secure.

My idea is to use perforated ventilation bricks (6 round holes from Wickes) and place a thin metal clamp on the first row of bricks.

I would use the wood post stumps and a couple of pre-existing lead-filled holes to secure this.

Anyone have an idea of what could do this and where I could get the metal bracket to secure the pillar?

Otherwise the pillar could break away.

 

[JohnD]

why do you want to build a pillar that will fall over?

 

[bice]

Don't be silly.

 

[SFK]

Bice,
he is not being silly.

Mortar is not a glue, it does not stick the bricks together, it simply holds them in place.
The weight of the bricks then holds them all in place.

So your 'pillar' of bricks sitting flat on a stone will simply be a narrow tower that will shear at a mortar layer and easily fall over. (dangerously in fact).
Also it will not take the load of a gate.


A good foundation is needed, and to then stop pillar of bricks falling over, a steel re-bar buried and sticking out of this foundation, and build bricks around this re-bar so it lies up middle of the brick pillar.

SFK

 

[noseall]

The pillar needs to stand on York stone slabs, so there won’t be foundations.

But I want it to be secure.

Is this post a pi$$ take?

 

[Notch7]

It seems like a good idea, I hope you will post some work in progress shots

 

[^woody^]

Try sticking the pier down with milk-soaked cornflakes - that's a pretty powerful glue.

 

[pilsbury]

Cheerios stick harder. weld themselves to the bowl

 

[Notch7]

CT1 sealant

Amazing stuff.

Thatll sort out your brick pillar.

 

[John D v2.0]

This thread went downhill quickly! Seems not everyone can understand the concept of other people knowing less than them!

 

[bice]

What I am trying to avoid is to discard the York stone hearth slabs, which have been here for around 100 years.

Given that there are quite large apertures in the stone, it seems to me to be possible to secure the first, second, third line of bricks of the pillar to the stone hearth with steel inserts of some kind.

The alternative, in my inexpert reasoning, is to remove the stones, cut them, build foundations for the pillar (assuming the neighbour has not run his water pipe to the street here), build the pillar and relay the reduced-size York slabs.

There is another alternative on the opposite side of the street, which in other respects is the template for what I am trying to do here.

They simply threw out the York slabs and replaced them with concrete, some years ago.

This is another view of our York slabs. It might suggest that cutting them may be problematical.

And here is the house opposite, where the hearth stones were just thrown out (but otherwise is a good job).

 

[JohnD]

remove the stones, cut them, build foundations for the pillar (assuming the neighbour has not run his water pipe to the street here), build the pillar and relay the reduced-size York slabs.

yes, that would be sensible. Mark the cutout in the slab with chalk before you lift it, big enough for the column. You can cut out the corner with an angle grinder or stonecutter.

The cutout needs to be the size of your pillar, plus a bit of clearance. The foundation below the slab should be bigger.

To prevent the two gateposts leaning, run a concrete sill between them, with some steel reinforcement, and cast in a single pour so you have a monolithic structure.

Gateposts have stress from the gate, so have reinforcing steel rods cast into your foundation and rising up spaced to it will go in the mortar joints between the bricks. This is sometimes known as "Earthquake bond" or "shelter bond." The pull will mostly be from the weight of the gate trying to pull the post over when it is in the open or closed positions, plus loads from children climbing or swinging on it, plus slamming.

When a gatepost is built as part of a wall, the wall provides strength especially against loads in line with the wall. Even a short length of wall will do this.

If you try to fix a post to a paving slab, the post will just lever the slab up.

 

[geraldthehamster]

it looks like someone has already filled some holes in the slabs, next to the gate posts. What's that about?

 

[^woody^]

Reminds me of the time when Ed Sheeran used to live in our road, and I asked him to hold my gate post while i popped down to Tesco for some Cornflakes and milk.

 

[Ian H]

Reminds me of the time when Ed Sheeran used to live in our road, and I asked him to hold my gate post while i popped down to Tesco for some Cornflakes and milk.

Pervert.