Can anyone build a brick wall?

That guy (me) was and is overwhelmed

it's almost done. I'm working on the stucco now....then some railings...then some beer!

I did aq build in grill instead of a fire pit, but similar I guess.
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Thanks. I'd never done any kind or masonry work or run a piece of heavy equipment before this project, but I got some good advice here, at the cement supply place and the equipment rental place, took my time and everything seems to have come out just fine. The pictures were from last fall so it’s cleaned up a bit more now, the plant are in and growing.

I’m sure your project will come out just fine too, just lay it out carefully, and measure and check everything 3 or 4 or 5 times with a good level and you really can’t go wrong.

The right amount of water in the mortar makes all the difference in the time it takes to set the blocks…which I really only found out on the last 20-30 blocks when my brother who’s a mason, but lives in TX came to visit and helped me with the last few blocks and also helped cut and set the counter top…he set blocks at about 3-4 time the rate I did it turned out….Doh!

Total hours I don’t know, a lot. It took me 2 years to get it to where the pictures show it working nights and weekends, whether and wife permitting. The first picture showing the wall under construction was after about 3 months. I got the trenches dug and ready to pour the footers, that took 2 weeks. The first weekend with the machine, then a week to straighten out and clean up by hand because I was no expert with the machine it turned out. When I was ready to pour the footers I had to cancel the pour because it was raining that day….and it continued to rain for 3 weeks straight. The trenches started to collapse after about 10 days and it took me 3 weeks to pump then out and hand dig them back out again. What a way to start out.

I did 3 10 yd concrete pours for footers and a landing/stairs at the house and I was able to talk a friend into helping each time. Each time I ended up working also straight through the night before because the truck was coming and I wasn’t quite ready, but the pour had to be on a Saturday or I was on my own. Another friend helped the first day of the block by lending me his transit and showing me how to work it and helping set the corner blocks. My father in law (who doesn’t speak English) was visiting and helped lay the stone on the lower patio and helped mix the cement to pour the stairs and fill the blocks on the big curved wall.

Now it’s down to stuccoing the block that shows to match the house and I’m about ½ way through the base coat. Then a guard rail around the stairwell and it’s DONE and I can get back to working on the ferrari!

 

You're not a pansy, you just have more sense than I do! I tend to let the scope of my projects get a tad out of hand. Originally I was only planning to have a simple pool and patio installed and I would just sign a check...then the plans started to get more elaborate and more and more out of budget so I figure, maybe I’d do the fence…..then we switched from concrete to pavers and they were actually cheap than the concrete if I installed them….then the pavers became cut stone, which were cheaper if we imported them directly from turkey and not that much more work to install…..and so on until 2 years later I’m still working on it.

If you make a plan and stick with it life is SOOOO much easier!

Here's the ferrari project I'm trying to get back to which I think is starting to make the patio look pretty straight forward....I'm such a dumb*ss sometimes
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=170171

 

I'm inclide to pay others as well.....I just don't have any money to pay them with


A good project needs a good plan, so take the time to draw out exactly what you're going to build on a scale drawing so you'll know everythin fits, how many bricks to buy, how much cement for the pad ect. A good plan just makes everything go so much easier. Guys who build that kind of stuff everyday can work from a vague idea of what you what and have it come out perfect, but for the rest of us nothing beats proper planning...."no one plans to fail, they simply fail to plan".

I'll be looking for the progress pictures on your project, I'm sure it's going to be great!