Repairing garden wall.

Not really the wall, but a pillar that will support a gate post.

Essentially its a 9" x 9" pillar about 5 courses high that has parted company with the bit below it.

Easy way to repair is to just replace the top section in one - but if I mortar the lower section, the weight of the top will just squidge the mortar out.

I'm thinking of using something that will compress slightly to get a good bond, that can be removed when the mortar is set IYSWIM.

Any ideas?

Reply to
The Medway Handyman
Loading thread data ...

If you use a fairly dry mix I would not expect it to squidge that much?.

Reply to
djc

WD40

>
Reply to
Mr Pounder

Six 10mm wooden chocks, two inserted on each visible face, gently pulled out after the mortar has set. Worked when I had to do a similar job.

JGH

Reply to
jgharston

some evenly sized stone in the mortar should also work. It all sounds like a bodge, but hey if it works it should be fine.

NT

Reply to
Tabby

Yes, simply repair it the proper way of course (but you obviously don't know how).

That is, knock off the "about 5 courses" and rebuild the top of the pillar using individual bricks and the correct mix of mortar - that way, you get a proper joint and don't get the "mortar squidging out"

You can if you wish clean off the old bricks for re-use or use new ones - and you can certainly reuse any capping stone.

*OR*, you could lift the "about 5 courses" off, spread a load of mastic on the top of the remains of the pillar and then drop the aforesaid courses back on and hope for the best that it all doesn't come unstuck and fall on some poor sod.

What's the matter, having trouble working out the bond?

Bloody lazy amateur purporting to be a "professional" - call trading standards somebody! *eg*

But saying that, I once saw another amateur drill and screw a few aluminium chequer-plates over the cracked joint on a 13" square pillar, and then proceed to hang one of a pair of heavy galvanised steel gates on the bloody thing (and it's still holding after a couple of years) - you could try that and hope for the best I suppose!

Reply to
Unbeliever

You don't get mortar squidging out anyway as 5 courses is nothing. The limit IIRC is 16 courses.

Of course a 9" pier is a bit small for hanging gates on. It probably wont matter as long as no kids swing on the gate. I wonder why there are no reinforcing rods in it?

Reply to
dennis

It's still not the proper way to repair the thing - the quick and dirty way yes, but correct, no - unless your a handyman from a particular area of Kent! :-)

Depends on the size of the gate really - or whether it's bonded in as part of a small wall.

Reply to
Unbeliever

16 course of 4 bricks? Are you sniffing something illegal?

Quite right. In your opinion the proper way is two men for two days. Shame my customer can't afford that.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

if possible if there is a central void, shove rebar up it..

But as I said, the secret is to prop it before pointing up etc etc.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Chip off any old mortar on the top/bottom of the bricks by the join - so you have space for a full depth bed of new mortar. Mix a dryish mix of mortar. Before you apply it however, soak the joining faces of the broken bits of pillar to kill some of the suction and stop them sucking the water out of your new mix too quick preventing proper hydration. Slap a bed of new mortar on and lower your top lump on gently. It should not squish out too much. Tap down into position, and leave for 45 mins to go off a bit. Then point up. For added adhesion, stick some SBR in the mix.

Reply to
John Rumm

There is support for this latter view: an adhesive butt joint, which is what this would be, has most of the tensile forces concentrated away from the the centre - the joint fails from the outside inwards.

For scientific research purposes, adhesive butt-joints using staples of known and regular diameter have been used to control the thickness of the glue-line to quite close tolerances, and were shown to have no effect on the final strength of the joint.

Using spacers in this way located at the centre of the pillar area would mimic this, and prevent any 'squidginess'.

TF

Reply to
Terry Fields

Oddly I'm with Dennis on this one. 5 courses is within the limit of what you can build "in one sitting" without overloading the fresh mortar joint at the bottom.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

In message , harry writes

Pop across to Rochester and do it for free for the cash strapped old dear then 'arry

Reply to
geoff

Oh?. I had imagined a 5 ft high pillar..well yes.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Do you really think TMH could lift a 5 foot high 9"x9" pillar to put mortar under it?

Reply to
dennis

The Medway Handyman wrote in news:0D1vp.5614$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe22.ams:

First and foremost I am not a builder so take what I have to say with a pinch of salt but I have to say that I'd be tempted to re do the whole pillar from new.

If I couldn't salvage the old bricks I get fresh ones, doesn't have to be expensive and as others have said because of the limited size of the pillar I?d be tempted to put some rebar down the middle to help prevent it failing in the future. For the size of the job you'd be looking at a morning's work rather than an hour's work simply to patch. Throw in travelling time between that and your next job and you aren't losing too much time so it shouldn't add to much to the price of the job.

The bonus being is that if you rebuild it you know that the pillar isn't going to fail again.

If that's really out of the question I would not use the stone in cement method suggested by others, they may be correct but I?d be concerned about weak spots around the stones, lack of adhesion and the pillar fracturing again as a consequence. I'd also try to drill down and again slot in some rebar but unless it gets as far as the footings it wouldn't be of to much help.

Reply to
Chris Wilson

Dennis is suggesting 16 courses :-)

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

No it won't. Brickies lay more than 5 courses on top of each other before the bottom run of mortar has had time to set and nothing squidges out.

Same thing happened to the pillars in my retaining wall as the little shites who live hereabouts think it's fun trying to pull the capstones off as they come back from the pub pissed on Friday and Saturday nights. When I had a collection of about 10 capstones, including one with several layers of bricks still attached because the joint that gave way was that far down, lying in the front garden I got them mortared back in place, including the one several courses thick.

Use a good strong mortar mix, preferably including some sharp sand, and keep it fairly dry. Knock off all the old mortar, slap some new mortar down, drop the pillarette into place, give it a tap or three until it's sitting at the right height and she'll be right once it's all set.

To be bulletproof I'd probably suggest 1 part cement, 2 or 3 parts soft sand and 1 part sharp sand. That should still be flexible but stronger than just using all soft sand.

Reply to
Dave Baker

Its interesting that he thinks it will.. either he has never actually used any mortar on brick work or he has made a very poor job of it when he has.

Do what they do around here.. drill holes through and drop in a length of rebar and some resin. It will never come off.

He could even drill some long holes in if its soft brick, resin in a length of threaded rod and bolt them together. ;-)

I still want to know why there isn't any steel in there as IMO a 9"x9" pier isn't strong enough for a gate without unless its only 3 foot high.

Reply to
dennis

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.