Hi,
There is an old coal chute outside my house that was built with cement blocks and hasn't been used for decades. It's 2' x 3' outside the house and the blocks stick up about 3". Years ago I put a piece of steel on it and put cement on top of that which actually turned out to not a good idea because 1) the cement gets cold and 2) the steel causes condensation which drips and increases the dampness in my cellar, which is 80% crawl space and 20% open.
What I want to do is build a brick wall in the cellar right up to the house and fill that outside the house 2x3' hole in. I was going to get some estimates for it but I'm willing to bet people would want a small fortune for a job that I could probably do myself for a fraction of the cost, with bricks, cement, and some time. I can use old leftover coal and some dirt from the crawl space to fill in the hole as I build the wall. It's only 2 feet wide and about 6 feet tall from the cellar. Or maybe I should build the wall and then have someone fill the hole from outside.
Do you think this sounds OK for someone who's never done masonry work?
I need the wall to be strong enough to support the fill I put in it.
On the foundation there seems to be about 1/2 an inch of cement between each brick.
Could I build this wall with whole bricks without renting something to split the bricks with?
Should I use bricks with holes in them or solid bricks?
There is an old coal chute outside my house that was built with cement blocks and hasn't been used for decades. It's 2' x 3' outside the house and the blocks stick up about 3". Years ago I put a piece of steel on it and put cement on top of that which actually turned out to not a good idea because 1) the cement gets cold and 2) the steel causes condensation which drips and increases the dampness in my cellar, which is 80% crawl space and 20% open.
What I want to do is build a brick wall in the cellar right up to the house and fill that outside the house 2x3' hole in. I was going to get some estimates for it but I'm willing to bet people would want a small fortune for a job that I could probably do myself for a fraction of the cost, with bricks, cement, and some time. I can use old leftover coal and some dirt from the crawl space to fill in the hole as I build the wall. It's only 2 feet wide and about 6 feet tall from the cellar. Or maybe I should build the wall and then have someone fill the hole from outside.
Do you think this sounds OK for someone who's never done masonry work?
I need the wall to be strong enough to support the fill I put in it.
On the foundation there seems to be about 1/2 an inch of cement between each brick.
Could I build this wall with whole bricks without renting something to split the bricks with?
Should I use bricks with holes in them or solid bricks?
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