# Forum Home Renovation Brickwork  building brick letter box, need advice about several things

## wozzzzza

im about to build a brick letter box out of normal house bricks.  the size will be 2 bricks x 2 bricks in size.  so each coarse will have 6 bricks in it. 
i have calculated a foundation of 500mm x 500mm giving 15mm overhang of the foundations past the bricks that build the letter box.  i am planning the foundation to be 100mm thick, is this foundation big enough?? i will have reinforcement rods in it. 
I will also put 10mm reinforcement rod in each corner of the letter box going into the foundations about 80mm but not all the way through the foundations, these reinforcement rods will go from the foundation through the bricks in all courses right to the top, there will be 4 of these.  is this the correct way of doing this?? 
will i also need to lay a damp course between foundation and first course of bricks or not really?? 
i then plan to lay a huge paver on top with a few cm's overhang each side to provide cover, the reenforcement rod coming up from the base will go about 15mm into this top like dowels to locate it. 
does all this sound good? if not, what do i need to fix it? 
also, anyone know any good tutorials/vidoes on how to lay bricks?? last time i did this it took me about 10 minutes to lay each brick and get it sitting straight on my last letter box. and it took 3 days to build it and 70 bricks

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## bugsy

Im no brick layer but what Ive seen is......
They just get a concrete slab, a big one like for paving
and just just mortar and brick up.
no rods. 
you can move it then later down the track if needed

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## Master Splinter

Yup.  Two big pavers for top and bottom.  Level the bottom paver on a sand bed or something, splat your mortar down and start putting bricks on.   
Use a level and framing square way more often than you'd like - you are basically just building four corners so there is nothing else to do other that being slow and accurate.   
If you want to be really professional looking, mark off a series of brick + mortar height intervals (86mm on normal bricks, so marks at 86, 172, 258, 344...) on the level so you can use it as a gauge stick to keep the course heights even. 
Don't forget to work it so that your letterbox plates have to half bricks over them...do it wrong and you'll be trying to balance a whole brick on top of a thin face plate if you don't have a 'box' for the letterbox.

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## Planned LScape

I would lay a bigger foundation, wider than the bricks and deeper, makes for a stable foundation. How many brick letterboxes do you see on older houses that are still straight? 
I'de go 600 x 600 x 500 deep, no reo. Sounds a lot but do it once do it right.  
Put 2 bricks in the middle filling it as you go to make it solid, then add your letterbox fitting in at about 800mm or so (buy the fittings, box, newspaper hole etc from bunnings). You will need to put a thin paver on top ( i use a bluestone tile) or a gal steel plate as a roof so you can lay bricks on top of that, unless you get the letterbox insert that fits your pillar size and has a roof.

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## Ausyuppy

Im all for the reo. The brick letterbox I have here needs to be ripped down. The house is 5 years old. The mortar has seperated from the bricks down low and is now a hazard of toppling onto any kids that may play with it. 
This could have been easily avoided if a reo bar was through the bricks. 
Cheers
Steve

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## rrobor

My advice is increase the foundation. My foundation goes down 2 feet, and the internal space in the middle under the letterbox is concrete. Neighbour across the road had a habit of reversing his trailor int the old one, did it once with my letter fortress and was more careful after that. Im no brickie but what I have found if you get your mix wrong, bricks are tough to lay, I swear by a splash of washing up liquid in the mix.

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