Concrete Pier - cheap but not portable

[MarkRadice]

I can’t believe how much metal piers cost! Looking online they are several hundreds of pounds. 

While I am sure they are robust, I made my bombproof concrete pier for just over £100 in materials. It easily takes a C11 on an EQ6 without breaking a sweat.

That being said, now it is concreted into the ground, I cannot take mine with me if and when we move house. This is the true benefit of a metal pier. When we do move, I shall simply pour a new one, wherever that may be.

Measurements are 1.2m tall x 0.3x0.3m square with M20 bolts supporting the top plate. It took a day to prep the shed and make the wooden framing (with hindsight, I should have bought a length of scrap air conditioning duct) and a morning to pour the cement.

Thank goodness my friend, Ian, who has an observatory in Bath was able to bring his mixer and lead the show as I have never mixed concrete before.  Thanks, Ian. 

The bolts for the top plate were put in the cement while it was cured but I added further bonding with the rawl-plug epoxy (whatever it is called!) as belts and braces.

After a week of curing, it is now loaded up waiting for clear skies. Hurrah!

 

 

[Stuart1971]

So, this may be a stupid question, but how it the new pier block of concrete, fixed to the original block in the ground, as it seems you just stood it on top, which will mean it’s not solid at all…and could quite easily be pushed over…..🤔🤔

[MarkRadice]

Not a stupid question and one that I asked my friend Ian. It is the joys of rebar. There is a metal cage in there. He drilled a good way into the original block and then assembled a number of 1m rods vertically, held together with horizontal struts and rebar-wire. We then poured the concrete over the top. Secondly the first buckets were quite wet to help it flow into the original plinth. 
 

Not being a builder that’s the best I can answer! 

[ollypenrice]

I agree that concrete is good. However, I also think that square is bad! Well, yours is a pretty small square section but we have four square piers with square tops here and all users are fed up with them. When I became a user I cut the corners off. Round is less likely to snag cables or collide in meridian flips. You can buy round concrete cylinders for making fake Greek temples etc (something I do all the time...) and these make good piers when filled with concrete and rubble. (Use some rubble to mix less concrete!)

But, yes, concrete makes great piers. It's very rigid and has lots of mass to absorb vibration.

Olly