Brick experts

[Kerry Adams]

Good Morning,

The neighborhood is putting up a new entrance sign. We will put a pad down and hang the sign between two 16 inch brick columns about five feet high. The sign is aluminum and will not weigh that much. What do brick masons in your area fill the middle with?

Thanks,
Kerry

[Dan Hintz]

Concrete block?

[Kerry Adams]

Thats what we were going to do originally 2) 8x16 block on each level but then they look to fat after you put the brick on. We like the look of a true 16 inch column.

Thanks,
Kerry

[Dave Bonde]

I'm not an expert but I would build my column with the brick only, then fill the hole in the column with concrete.

[Lee Koepke]

You can use a 8x8 block in the center, filled with grout and some re-bar, then wrap your brick around that. I'd worry a little bit about just brick as your columns. If you do just use brick, then you can fill the cavity with grout (portland cement type) not the brick mortar. The brick mortar isnt really intended to be THAT structural.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Oooops...wrong thread.

I saw the subject and thought it was about the Kansas Jayhawks.

[Erik France]

I'm not a mason, nor an expert. Your column size should be a function of your brick size, unless you want to do a bunch of cutting. Most standard face brick works with an 8" module. The length of one plus the joint is 8" , three rows is 8". If you do a 16" column with standard brick you can fill the inside with an 8" CMU block or just use two more bricks on the inside. That'll change some if you're using king size brick or such.

[Kerry Adams]

Nice Kent!LOL Thanks for the replys! I was hoping that someone would reply that there is a new space age filler that just takes seconds to fill the area after your done with the column!LOL This board has so much knowledge, I just knew someone would make my day with the new filler! Oh well, I think we will just use 8 inch block and mortar.

Thanks again for all the replys
Kerry

[Lee Schierer]

You might want o make that pad you are pouring about 12" thick so it is good an heavy and anchored in the ground to prevent the local cow tippers from tipping your sign.