I've been asked to give a price on building a small bridge out of stone across a creek, maybe 10' across. I haven't gone to look yet but I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with bridge building (I don't) and has any tips about things particular to bridges to be looking for at the site. I'll be looking for signs, and asking questions about high water levels, and asking about styles wanted etc.. I guess just wondering if there's anything bridge specific as opposed to any old arch that needs to be thought about
Oh, one thing i've wondered is what are common/popular walkway materials? Obviously wood, what about concrete? i don't think asphalt, maybe flagstone or cobbles (wet set callade stonecutter) If wood, what would be the best way to attach it?and I guess it would want to be raised so that water could get away.
If you can keep the NHL dry enough that it won't be frost damaged...
weeps and vents and water tables, water proof bridge deck? or gutters, drains, and scuppers?
dampproof coursing? everywhere in piers to stop capillary water flow?
What I don't like about rounded units is that they rely on the tensile strength of the masonry cement to stand up, lose your bond they are soon laying in a pile again.
No weeps, no vents, no damp proof layers. Mass masonry.
It will absorb water and evaporate it out. The road won't be flat, it will follow the curve of the bridge so most of the water should run off the bridge before being absorbed
That stone in the first pic is 3'x6"x1' deep, a decent corner stone
don't expect anything like CJkarls jointless work or Bytors super crisp arris work, this is almost a random rubble and joints will be anywhere from 1/4"-1", most in the 1/2-3/4" range. Should be a nice place to work for the next 3 mos or so
After finally talking with the mortar guru that I've been trying to talk to for years, we decided to go with NHL 5 for the face work and the entire arch but use a Portland/lime mix in the middle to cut down on cost a little. The lime will be an air entrained lime which should help with freeze thaw and salt. Won't be delivered until sometime thurday so I'm going to make a trip into the city tomorrow and get a few bags cause dry bonding sucks
The owner is making the centre. He has already built the trusses, once I get the base up to 18" he'll install them and cover them with 2x6. Hopefully he did his math right and they're strong enough
Pretty much 1 day in so far. 3 hrs yesterday just cutting a few of the corners and getting my bearings and 6 hrs today laying up. It will be a little slow until i see what the consistent bedding planes are. So far it's 4", 5", 6" and some thinner stuff, . Not much over 6" real mix of stone, Mostly limestone but of 3 distinct types (same geological formation but different strata which makes for different colours and they work very different) Also some granite, or gneiss or schist or something thrown in for fun.
So at this point I'm at +/-13". There is a projected ledge after this that the centre will bear on, top of that will be at 18''. I should get the delivery of cement and lime tomorrow so I can do the backing and then have some good deep pieces for the ledge. The bring the back of the abutment up fill in and go to the other side. Hopefully he'll be able to set his trusses before the end of the month
3mos actual working time, maybe more. Never done anything quite like this so it's tough to estimate...Actual time will be different since I can't turn down all my regular customers. I'm telling most people though that I'm booked until Sept
yes. I could have given him a price but it would have had so much added in unknown cover my a$$ cost that it would have ended the project before it ever began
And he wants square columns at the ends, but the entire bridge including the abutment is tapered to the middle. Also the upper wall is 1' but we want 16" columns so the columns project 2" passed the corner...kinda weird but I think it will look good when it's done. So this is the corner, and how it will be tied into the rest of the wall along with being tied in further down
Big corner
And a funny tie, not a huge amount of bond but better than nothing, and the corner stones will still be tied in on the return. I'll have to be creative to make sure its tied in well like a decent corner
I might start a post in the pictures section since that's about all i'll be posting from here on out. If I have any questions I'll probably post them here
No rebar, entirely a masonry structure. I could have cut off the rebar that was sticking up through the footing but I thought it would add another few bites between the footing and the abutment, not tat i think it really needs it but it's not bad. The rest of the tying in will be entirely masonry
This type of project is a once in a lifetime build, best of luck with it Dom, looking forward to watching the process, maybe I will take a road trip up some week end,
I have built a lot of houses and such and they will be there for a long time after I am gone, this build will be talked about by your kids kids kids for years. Every house after a while just becomes another house, this is something different.
👍👍👍
I've thought about a date stone over the key stone or something, more likely with the homeowners names...it's their money that's building this. What I might do is put my name on the back side.
I'm pretty handy with carving chisels myself. I've mostly done mouldings for around windows and doors and entabulatures, but I've done some lettering as well
Thanks SC. The college I went to taught everything from laying brick and block to "approved" restoration techniques to banker work. Then when I got a job with the feds they were doing a large project at the time and since I enjoyed carving I asked if i could stay in the shop for a while. Did basic shaping and hundreds of square feet of batting (the little lines on the red stone). As we got up the building I was allowed to do some more involved work. Still nothing compared to some guys who really know what they're doing.
This is a friend out in Saskatoon who spent a year or so learning under Walter Arnold
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