More digging:
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One of the problems with doing a short run of foundation and then brickwork (before stepping everything up the slope) is that it's hardly worth knocking up just a thimble full of mortar. So, I decided to start on the next job, and any mortar left from the retaining walls could be used for the brick and flint wall between the parking area and the garden. It's going across close to the corner of the house, this side of the mixer:
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I did the foundation and the underground brickwork a couple of years ago when I finished the drive/ car turning area, so it was easy to just start laying bricks. The only thing I had to do was establish levels, which I did with a long straight-edge and level. I set up a level post to reference each level:
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Then just started building a pier:
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Good bricklayers build piers easily. I find it a chore. There are two verticals to check at each corner, so that's 8 for the entire pier, every course. The reason I am building this one first is that it is the furthest one from the house, and the other three can then be built with string lines between this one and the house........and that really is so much easier. Just so you know what I am talking about, this is the wall I'll be building:
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And so you can see how I arrived at that, here are some of the alternatives I worked through:
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Back to the retaining wall. I laid another bit of brickwork, then poured some more concrete:
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Then I finished off the outer skin to the end of the foundation, and laid the inner skin:
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And finally used up the rest of the white mortar on the pier:
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That EML sticking out of the mortar is where other brickwork joins the pier. It's lethal, and if you don't watch your step it can slice your flesh pretty quickly. At least in the garden blood doesn't get on the wood and ruin everything.