A year ago I sold a turn of the century home that one of my investor clients had restored. Part of their fix-up included removing brick and pouring new concrete for the cellar access. The bricks that lined the cellar stairway previously were giving way and ready to collapse. When we closed on the resale, the buyer indicated they did not want the old bricks so I kindly removed them and stored them in my backyard.
Our plan was to build a BBQ stand next to our pergola (which is still a work in progress).
The first step was to procure the items I needed from Home Depot:
The 3/8" pointing tool is a handy finishing tool. I also used a square trowel.
Duplex nails are best for putting together concrete forms.
Hearty concrete for my base.
Type-S mortar for sticking the bricks together. (Type-N mortar is for decorative finishing not structural use.)
The first thing I did was put a prototype structure together to make sure I had enough bricks for the job.
After I put this together, I realized I had enough bricks but I needed to follow my written plan so the BBQ would fit on top. The finished project looks quite a bit different than this.
The next step was cleaning up the brick by scraping off the 105 year-old mortar. This was not as hard as I thought it would be but it was still time consuming. To do this, I scrubbed the bricks against a cinder block.
Next came pouring the foundation. To do this I built a frame out of 2x4s. I calculated that I needed 240 lbs. of concrete to fill my 48"X28" space. Unfortunately, I did not count the dirt that I dug out of the bottom of my frame so when I poured the concrete I was way short of the top of my forms. It's pretty hard to level concrete that doesn't reach the top of your forms.
In a panic I stuck some clinker bricks in the wet concrete to see if I could get it to flush out with the top of my forms. That just complicated my problems.
When I put the brick in concrete, they stuck out above my forms preventing me from running my scrap 2x4 over the top to level everything. I also started to crowd into the space that I would be laying my BBQ brick. The moral of the story is buy more concrete than you need so you don't have to improvise like I did here. I also discovered that the form I made was measured to the exterior dimensions instead of the interior ones. Whoops! I poured my foundation smaller than I had planned.
After letting the base dry and harden for a week, I started laying the brick. Two bags of spec mix was exactly the right amount for the job. Also, after reviewing my plans, I determined that even though the base was smaller than planned, it was still large enough to lay the brick where needed and provide ample support. Laying the brick took about five hours as I learned how to do it right and keep things plumb as I went.
Also, while selecting bricks from my pile, I was spooked by the biggest black widow I have ever scene. It jumped out at me with fangs salivating after I removed a brick and disturbed its home. Feisty critter...but no match for my shoe.
In the end, the finished product turned out quite nicely.
Now on to the pergola...
