More piers

[Mikey_C]

I get the feeling that the pier finish is Mr LLL's signature. and as is all his work, it is a good one.

The bricklayer who did my front wall does the "dickie diamond" His name is Richard and he puts blue engineering's protruding by 10mm in a diamond shape.

[GB_Groundworks]

i like the pier cap as well, nice little touch

[mickg]

very nice finish indeed, would you of done the same finish if the pillars had been 2 metres high ?

[lutonlagerlout]

probably not,
originally they wanted those 550mm concrete pier caps (EEK!)
i felt sorry for him getting the knock back on his planning so i did it to cheer him and his missus up
hes been good as gold money wise the whole job and wants me to convert a victorian house in london into 6 flats
not overly keen on red buses and that, but good payers are hard to come by these days

some lads did a fantastic curved bellmouth near me with handmade bricks on a rising curve
then they stuck £8 concrete pier caps on the gate piers,ruined the whole look of the job
the mitred piers probably cost us £60 extra timewise,but engendered a lot of goodwill
LLL

[lutonlagerlout]

Ey LLL that pillar is quality mate, love the struck pointing too! I re-pointed the whole of my house like that, time comsuming but worth it. You dont see that much of that type of pointing up north though, dont know why like.
Yeh Tobermore delivery anywhere in the UK direct, cutting out the builders merchant and you can split packs to what ever quantity you like, listen to me I sound like a rep !haha

i used to work with some scouse/woolyback brickies,and they said all the houses in liverpool were built of the same red brick
and that rather than use scaffold they were all built overhand then jointed up off ladders
even 20 years ago that sounded a f**ked up way of building but they were adamant that was how it was done
LLL

[mickg]

I know many a bricklayer over the years who has told me about building houses overhand, including jointing overhand too.

they used to lay no more than 26 courses in a day because if they had a blow down they would not get paid if they had gone any higher

[Suggers]

Every photo I see of your work LLL, looks the nuts.
Looking at the larger picture - is everybody building a sort of wall round their little postage stamp, saying f off to one & all?
If this is the way civilisation's going, then I want no part of it.

[matty brock]

haha thats mad, never heard that like. The majority of houses around south Liverpool, where I live are 1930 semi's not a red Ruabon in sight but areas like Anfield are full them.
Like your use of the term "woolyback" im impressed you know the lingo ! basically anyone not from liverpool is called a wool ! haha, but surrounding areas get the most stick !
:p

[mickg]

you mean like skelmersdale matty

[lutonlagerlout]

well these lads were mainly from kirby,and although they had red blood running through their veins,there was one fella from liverpool city and he called them woolly backs.
mind you they looked and sounded like scousers to me
and every power tool on the site went walkies within a week,courtesy of kyle stewart,later in the pub it was "ey toe, wanna buy a wizzer for a nifty?"
translated "Anthony my good man,would you care to purchase a stihl cut off saw for fifty pounds?"

I tried getting in touch through the liverpool fansite (lost contact pre mobile phone days) and i received all sorts of abuse as a dole inspector or CSA snooper lol

have to say though,some of the best craics ever had on site have been with scousers and north west folk

cockneys always on about their bleedin house price :;):
LLL

[matty brock]

haha yeh Mick, skem, Wirral, Widnes, St Helens it's all good banter ! Bet they have a few names for though aswell !
LLL I'd still class people from Kirby scousers, when I wouldnt like to tell them there not to there face anyway, ha.
Mate you need to have your whizzer chained down in some areas round here, I was cutting on the pavement and walked ten yards away to pick up some blocks to cut, looked up and saw a car tearing away along with my whizzer ! Gutted ! The annoying thing is is like you said, they would flog it in the ale house for £50, It was the new model aswell 6months old, new disc and a full tank of fuel ! devasted !:(

[GB_Groundworks]

we've had them stolen off the back of a truck in traffic guy just darted through the traffic and grabbed a ts400 hopped over the central fence and dissapeared into the estate,

we've got some plasteres on site telling story about how they were working on a massive site in manchester there for a year said he got to be mates with all the lads like you would after a year, one day he dropped his cars keys went rd asking lads you seen my keys next thing someone is driving off in his car they'd only gone and knicked his car haha.

we had a labourer kenny, moaning about the hinges breaking on his fridge door, next day the bloody door was missing off the brew cabin's fridge the cheek.

[Tony McC]

Matty lah! Them's not Red Ruabon - them's red Accrington, even though many of them came from Leigh, Hindley and Wiggin.

The front facade would be built in Accy's and the sides/back in Cheshire commons. Nowadays, the salvaged Cheshires are worth more than the reclaimed Accy's!

Of course, there was a tradition of painting over the Accy reds with Tile Red paint, just because the 1 gallon tin bought to do the front step had plenty left. Have a look on Luxmore Rd, opposite Walton Bizzy Station, near the <shudder> Everton ground. Class houses that will have a longer lifespan than many of the thing's we've thrown up in the last 30 years.

[matty brock]

Go head then gaffer, whats the difference between Ruabons and Accringtons (norry's ?)

[lutonlagerlout]

the fella that told me said that most of liverpool was built of these same red bricks,like a semi engineering
I cant imagine working overhand now to save money on scaffold
we do overhand brickwork when necessary but the quality goes downhill the higher you get,and its slow
LLL