Yes...it's another pier thread!

[Baskii]

Last year, after struggling to make the most of the clear skies, I promised myself that this summer I would build a pier in the back garden. In fact it was finding this thread on Kai's pier that led me to this merry forum in the first place!

I purchased one of Gary1968's pier top adapters a few months ago in expectation of building the pier. The first step was to decide what kind to go for, concrete or metal. In the end I decided to have a metal pier fabricated, so that it could be removed should I be foolish enough to move house...

My first design would have had the pier top adapter bolt directly to the top plate of the pier. This proved unworkable as the bolt holes in the adaptor are too close together for the 4 inch circular tube I wanted to use, so I solicited the advice of Gary1968 and then RobinDurant, who had dealt with exactly the same issue I was having. His elegant solution was to bolt the adapter to a sturdy block of wood, which is then itself bolted to the top plate.

I knocked up a model of the pier in Google SketchUp (and several versions of the pier down the line, I'm now getting quite handy with it!)

Meanwhile, out in the garden I started to dig a hole. This has proved difficult since the soil here is flinty, chalky and generally flippin' hard...

[robindurant]

Hi

You don't need the plate on the base if you are sinking it in the ground. Ask the manfacturer of the pier to weld some short rods to the base. Make the hole 2'x2'x2" It will take up to 6 bags of Postcrete ( quick drying)

Robin

[robindurant]

Sorry I did not read your post correctly. plate fixing OK. You still will need a good concrete foundation as I said.

Robin

[gary1968]

That looks good Alex, keeps us posted mate......

Gary