How do I put pier caps on?

melanzana

Do I need to cement them on or what? My sister's house has caps that are just placed on top of the piers. They've been there for twenty odd years, no cement. She knows because she can move them! But they are solid just the same.

But I don't think that's probably right!

Anyway, my OH is not a diy er at all, so I thought we might be able to just hoike them on top of the piers ourselves. But I suppose a little cement mixing wouldn't be too difficult either!

Sorry for the mad post, but I hope you understand what I mean here.

SailorSam

You need mortar, exactly the same as if you were building a wall. Even a non-diyer can do that.

melanzana

SailorSam wrote: »

You need mortar, exactly the same as if you were building a wall. Even a non-diyer can do that.

Ok thanks, so just mortar, or M + cement? Neither of us has ever built a wall!

Added complication is OH will be directing me. He is in a cast as he broke his foot doing his version of DIY recently. We shall say no more on that one!

SailorSam

Mortar is cement.
You want to mix say 3 parts sand with 1 part cement. Or for such a small job you're probably better buying some ready mixed. Look on Youtube for a video showing you how to do it.

Furts

I may get shot down for suggesting this, but I have repaired walls (like random block ones hit by cars) just using Gripfill. You just place the pieces back on with a bead of Gripfill acting as glue. In your case you could buy four tubes of the green product for around £10 at Screwfix/Toolstation plus a cheap cartridge gun and away you go. Of course this depends how many pier cappings you have, but a bag of cement and sand would probably cost you £10+ and then you have to mix this and get the mix correct (1 part cement to 3 part sand).

Better modern adhesives are available but more expensive and need handling with care. Provided your Gripfill beds are tight and not exposed to light you should be OK.

Le_Kirk

+1 for Gripfill but make sure you buy the cartridge gun designed for Gripfill cartridges, they are a different length to others such as silicon.

Furts

Le_Kirk wrote: »

+1 for Gripfill but make sure you buy the cartridge gun designed for Gripfill cartridges, they are a different length to others such as silicon.

Not something I have ever thought of, so a good point. I always get the 350ml (I think) sizes because they are better value and need changing less often. Smaller are available - 300ml(?). Perhaps the smaller ones are made to fit guns aimed at the DIY market.

melanzana

Thanks all. The Gripfill sounds like a great solution. Have two caps to put on.