How to fold a brick post for a fence with your own hands

Recommendation points

• What should be the basis
• Column reinforcement options
• Pillar laying technique
• How to level a brick

A fence on brick pillars is an immortal classic, but few succeed in achieving perfectly straight seams and edges. In this article, we will not only tell you how to properly lay out brick pillars, but also share some secrets regarding durability and aesthetics..

What should be the basis

The posts will quickly lose their neat appearance without a solid and solid foundation. Only two types of foundations should be considered seriously: strip and screw piles..

The width of the foundation should not be greater than that of the post, it looks very ugly. An exception is if you plan to bring the entire courtyard to the level of the foundation or arrange a blind area-path on both sides close to the fence. In other cases, the foundation should not be more than 20 mm wider than the pillar, and ideally be flush with it.

For high pillars, the foundation should be built in depth, which is not always economical. The depth is approximately 30–35 cm for posts with a height of 2–2.2 m, and for posts taller than 3 m, this is already about 45–50 cm.

At the same time, the foundation profile is constant along the entire contour, that is, more massive pedestals for pillars, connected by a less recessed belt – this is a deliberately bad decision. The difference in height will make the concrete more susceptible to bending, which, in principle, can lead to rupture of the brickwork and is guaranteed to lead to a decrease in its strength.

For these and other reasons, it is better to arrange the foundation for the pillars of a brick fence on screw piles. So the whole structure will be evenly supported on the deep soil layer with high stability. A bunch of pillars with a reinforced belt, however, is needed, it eliminates vibrations in the installation plane. But for the ligament, a much smaller belt is needed, only 40% of the side section of the pedestal under the post. It deepens by only 20 cm, and remains 10 cm above the ground. That is, a standard reinforced belt will have dimensions of only 13-16 cm by 30 cm, it can be placed on the edge for laying a parapet, or turned horizontally and hidden under a layer of soil for laying paving slabs in a single contour.

The reinforced chord connecting the screw piles is practically free of bending stress. It is reinforced with four rods of 14 mm, installing them along the edges of a concrete parallelogram with a protective layer of 30 mm and a bandage of 160 mm. 4 pieces of the same reinforcement 3/4 of the post width are welded to the pile pipe. They are placed perpendicular to the belt reinforcement at the same level and tied with wire. Another advantage of screw piles is that their pipes can serve as reinforcing rods for the posts..

Column reinforcement options

If you are not using screw piles, pay attention to properly strengthening the posts. For these purposes, one reinforcing bar is not enough. When laying the pillar, a cavity is formed, it becomes clogged with the remains of cement, the thickness of the layer of which cannot be more than 100 mm, otherwise it will simply break when hydrated.

The first way to avoid this is to reduce the volume of the filler using a 50 mm round or square pipe. If you use a square profile, orient its edges along the plane of the fence, this will help level the textured brick masonry.

The second way is to strengthen the backfill with a square frame with a side of 7-9 cm, made of 10 mm reinforcement. Install cross straps in increments of 25-30 cm.

The height of both the frame and the pipe should be 15% higher than the height of the post. It is this rule that determines the depth of the foundation: it is built up not because of the increased mass of the pillar, but for a reliable connection of the masonry with the base.

Pillar laying technique

The very technique of laying pillars is extremely simple and is carried out according to seam patterns – rods with a thickness of 8 mm of a square profile, the length of which is 10-15 cm longer than the width of the post..

It is convenient to lay out the first row along the square cut of the rolled waterproofing. The side of this square is equal to the length and width of the brick, plus 8 mm of the seam. Bars are placed along the perimeter of the waterproofing, a layer of M150 cement mortar on M400 cement is laid inside this “formwork”. Then a brick is laid at the corner, a piece of 8 mm of a square rod 10 cm long is attached to the outer edge of the poke and the butt is greased with cement mortar, fixing the template. The second brick adjoins the first in the perpendicular direction, its end is also greased under the bar, then the third brick and the fourth brick are laid.

Bars are removed from vertical seams first, pressing the seam with a trowel from above and pulling the bar vertically. With the extracted bar, they immediately measure the seam from the back side, making sure of its uniform thickness, and therefore the correct geometry of the entire masonry. It remains only to align the horizontal plane of the masonry with a rack level and you can proceed to the next row.

Horizontal rods under the first row are not pulled out immediately, but left for 2-3 hours, for subsequent rows use the second set. It is advisable not to spread more than 3-4 rows at a time and move from one pillar to another as it dries. You only need to pull the bars in the direction in which they are laid. That is why it is so important to first place them correctly: if you pull the spoon to the side, the extreme brick will certainly move.

To make the masonry truly monolithic, after applying the solution, two 80 mm galvanized nails are sunk into it perpendicularly in the center of each seam. They cost a penny, but the masonry is guaranteed not to loosen even after 30 years.

How to level a brick

Craftsmen without masonry experience think that leveling textured bricks is more difficult than usual, but in fact, everything is just the opposite. The so-called torn brick does not have strict edges, so all that can give out a crooked masonry is the discrepancy of the vertical seams. And they are very easy to align in one vertical line along the plumb line. The question arises: how to align the first two rows of bricks, because only on the third two coinciding vertical seams appear?

The first row of textured bricks is difficult to align with the waterproofing square, since the torn edge does not have a straight edge. Therefore, alignment is carried out along the inner, flat face: the size of the inner cavity of the column is easy to calculate, you can also make a template from the corners.

Brick with straight edges is more difficult to align, any mistake will be visible to the naked eye. Firstly, the eye catches three geometric landmarks at once: the horizontal plane, the edge of the fence and the vertical seams. Secondly, two bricks from the same batch can have a difference in length and width of up to 0.5%, which translates into a difference on one side of more than 1 mm, and this discrepancy will also be striking. It is quite simple to eliminate such a defect: if the brick is light, it is leveled, strictly observing the thickness of the seam. If the brick is of a dark tone, it is aligned along the outer edge of the pillar..

After laying the pillars, they are wrapped in black plastic wrap for 2 days, then the tops are installed. After another week, you need to brush the seams and rinse the masonry with a jet of water to remove gray cement stains.