First tier: cuts made, ready for final placement and sand to end
Making progress! The bricks are ready to go for the first tier.
Went into the basement to get a power extension cord to outdoor outlet, wood stakes (needed later for fence location), dust masks, rubber mallet, caulking gun and also grabbed my goggles (sitting in the kitchen for my rack mount project late this fall). My box on the front porch had a sledge hammer and chisel.
After bringing out the extension cord to our front porch, I opened the Mikita masonry saw box and read the instructions carefully. There were many warnings about kickback: when the rotating blade would kick you back. This could happen if you start the blade in the crack. This will happen, but you need to take the proper wide stance behind the power tool. It also warned about keeping both hands behind the tool, saying that you can guarantee this will happen by holding onto the tool with both hands.
The saw only cuts a couple of inches deep maximum. So to make my cuts into the bricks I needed to make cuts all around and then use a chisel and hammer to break off the chunk I didn't need.
This worked! I had to cut pieces out of 3 bricks: the end brick needed to be shortened to only meet the fence line, a brick close to the fence line needed a notch taken out to bypass a small root and I needed a brick with a large notch cut out to make way for the large root, leaving about 2 inches of the brick as a facade. Those will be all the cuts I need to make for the first tier.
After lunch I will check level ground and start at the big root with placement, working out from there to the fence line placing bricks. Then I will pour more sand to where I want to put my drain connection and finish placing bricks to there. The drainage connection will be installed and more sand added to the end of the first tier, then I will finish bricks up to that point.
Next it is back to leveling earth to the level of 2nd tier, adding gravel, then the pipe, then sand. The 2nd tier will start from the middle of the u staddling the sand 2nd tier start to the brick end of the 1st tier. Once that is level I will add another 2nd tier brick in the sand before doubling back and adding all the 2nd tier bricks to the fence line. This is where I use cement: between the 1st tier and the 2nd tier. At the fence line I need to cut and chisel out the brick to make it not extend past the fence line.
If I get to a 3rd tier dirt/gravel/sand, I don't know. It is possible everything else will be 2nd tier and don't know I will get all of 2nd tier as I didn't dig the top part of the U yet.
That is okay: I will go as far as I can without additional extensive digging and will do a 3rd tier and stair step the end to finish later. The important thing is to finish the wall facing the sidewalk.
Went into the basement to get a power extension cord to outdoor outlet, wood stakes (needed later for fence location), dust masks, rubber mallet, caulking gun and also grabbed my goggles (sitting in the kitchen for my rack mount project late this fall). My box on the front porch had a sledge hammer and chisel.
After bringing out the extension cord to our front porch, I opened the Mikita masonry saw box and read the instructions carefully. There were many warnings about kickback: when the rotating blade would kick you back. This could happen if you start the blade in the crack. This will happen, but you need to take the proper wide stance behind the power tool. It also warned about keeping both hands behind the tool, saying that you can guarantee this will happen by holding onto the tool with both hands.
The saw only cuts a couple of inches deep maximum. So to make my cuts into the bricks I needed to make cuts all around and then use a chisel and hammer to break off the chunk I didn't need.
This worked! I had to cut pieces out of 3 bricks: the end brick needed to be shortened to only meet the fence line, a brick close to the fence line needed a notch taken out to bypass a small root and I needed a brick with a large notch cut out to make way for the large root, leaving about 2 inches of the brick as a facade. Those will be all the cuts I need to make for the first tier.
After lunch I will check level ground and start at the big root with placement, working out from there to the fence line placing bricks. Then I will pour more sand to where I want to put my drain connection and finish placing bricks to there. The drainage connection will be installed and more sand added to the end of the first tier, then I will finish bricks up to that point.
Next it is back to leveling earth to the level of 2nd tier, adding gravel, then the pipe, then sand. The 2nd tier will start from the middle of the u staddling the sand 2nd tier start to the brick end of the 1st tier. Once that is level I will add another 2nd tier brick in the sand before doubling back and adding all the 2nd tier bricks to the fence line. This is where I use cement: between the 1st tier and the 2nd tier. At the fence line I need to cut and chisel out the brick to make it not extend past the fence line.
If I get to a 3rd tier dirt/gravel/sand, I don't know. It is possible everything else will be 2nd tier and don't know I will get all of 2nd tier as I didn't dig the top part of the U yet.
That is okay: I will go as far as I can without additional extensive digging and will do a 3rd tier and stair step the end to finish later. The important thing is to finish the wall facing the sidewalk.