[mrusk]

I looked at a job the other day. I need to build a set of stairs. I'm looking to cut the side walls on a angle so it sweeps up instead of having each row of block step up. If you understand what i am saying.

Has anyone ever done this? And advice on this?

Also, is it acceptable to mortor and joint bullnose as caps? Or will the flexablity of the wall crack the motor?

Thanks

[HRLand]

Pete talked about this at the techo showcase last week. Get yourself a good angle grinder with a cup wheel. We haven't done what you're talking about but we use one all the time.

[Stonehenge]

I haven't done it but I've seen it done. You'll have to cut through the full depth of the block (as you would expect), and that angle grinder would probably help even out any inconsistencies from block to block.

Unless the stairs are on a solid concrete footing, mortar isn't going to work. But there's no reason you can't use adhesive. You just have to brace all the cap work until the adhesive has a chance to set up.

[zukofsu]

We did two entrance walls like this last year (picture at the top of one wall).

The company (anchor) did not have a two sided 3 piece wall unit at the time so we also had to split retaining wall units to create a double sided 3 piece. This batch of wall block also had large inconsistencies in the height of each unit so we had to do lots of grinding. This year they have a double sided 3 inch unit and the blocks are much more consistent.

We built a plywood template so the two walls would match on either side of the driveway. There was ALOT of grinding involved in this project and we actually made a temporary "jig" to cut the blocks at an angle. Every course was glued and the columns were filled with 57 stone.

The walls were originally going to be natural stone (much easier), but the customer wanted the SRW units.

[cgland]

zukofsu - Nice job! Man! What a ton of cutting and grinding. The end result is well worth it though. How many man hours did you have in the cutting and grinding?

Chris