Sorry, this ended up being a lot longer than I thought it would be...
We had a cedar pergola built almost 10 years ago and recently I have noticed a couple of the posts are getting some soft spots at the bottom (one in particular that sits on top of the concrete patio). I've wanted to add some brick around the bottoms of the posts for awhile and now it's become a priority to try and shield the bases from the elements. I've removed as much of the rotten wood as possible (still plenty of ground contact of solid wood) and filled it in with a structural and waterproof filler. I also plan to re-stain and seal everything before covering it up with the brick. My questions relate mostly to that process as I've never done masonry work of any kind. I have a pallet or more of bricks left over from when the house was built, so that part is taken care of.
Assuming everything underneath is sound and sealed, I assume I still need to wrap the posts with some sort of barrier. The brick will not be load bearing, but I do want it to be somewhat durable because I have kids that don't pay attention with bikes, skateboards, soccer balls, etc.
-Do I just mud the first layer directly to the existing concrete patio?
-What kind mortar should I use?
-Should I put the bricks right up against the post or do I leave a small gap?
-Should I have some weep holes, assuming water will get in from above at some point (a couple of the posts have some small splits running vertically)?
-Anything I'm missing, or not thinking about?
Plan to go about 2 feet up from the ground with either stone or split bricks top, sort of like these pictures.
We had a cedar pergola built almost 10 years ago and recently I have noticed a couple of the posts are getting some soft spots at the bottom (one in particular that sits on top of the concrete patio). I've wanted to add some brick around the bottoms of the posts for awhile and now it's become a priority to try and shield the bases from the elements. I've removed as much of the rotten wood as possible (still plenty of ground contact of solid wood) and filled it in with a structural and waterproof filler. I also plan to re-stain and seal everything before covering it up with the brick. My questions relate mostly to that process as I've never done masonry work of any kind. I have a pallet or more of bricks left over from when the house was built, so that part is taken care of.
Assuming everything underneath is sound and sealed, I assume I still need to wrap the posts with some sort of barrier. The brick will not be load bearing, but I do want it to be somewhat durable because I have kids that don't pay attention with bikes, skateboards, soccer balls, etc.
-Do I just mud the first layer directly to the existing concrete patio?
-What kind mortar should I use?
-Should I put the bricks right up against the post or do I leave a small gap?
-Should I have some weep holes, assuming water will get in from above at some point (a couple of the posts have some small splits running vertically)?
-Anything I'm missing, or not thinking about?
Plan to go about 2 feet up from the ground with either stone or split bricks top, sort of like these pictures.