Masonry piers
£100.00 – £150.00
Masonry piers
Description
Masonry piers
Masonry piers are normally provided in residential buildings to support the ends of beams. Often when new openings are formed in walls, there is very little of the original wall left and a new pier is needed. Masonry piers are easy to build. They are also inexpensive. They are also very good at suppporting heavy loads and they have good fire resistance.
Once the length of a wall becomes less than 3 times its thickness, it is called a pier rather than a wall. For light loads higth strength blockwork piers may be used. However, if the beam reactions are heavy, then the pier is normally built with engineering bricks. These are bricks with a high compressive strength.
Sometimes piers are kept as a feature, but more often than not they are plastered if they are inside. If the loads are heavy, then the pier may need to be quite large. in which case, a concrete or steel column may be a better alternative.
Masonry piers normally need a new pad foundation if they at ground floor level.
We need the following information to design masonry piers
architectural layouts of the building showing the location of the pier
any beam calculations you may have already
alternatively you can just provide the design loading on the pier
the height of the pier
Design information
All design work is carried out in accordance with BS5268
The calculations provided will be suitable for Building Regulation approval.
