Bricks, Masonry, Asphalt and Concrete - Shortening the width of a brick wall and adding to the height of the wall

Hi All,

I have an interesting project coming up where I will be removing about 3 feet of width on a brick wall that is about 16" thick, then building up a 2 foot pillar at the end of the wall.

This brick wall is at the end of our property, and has a gate that we drive through. We are essentially making the entry point wider, then adding pillars next to the opening to support an overhead door. The existing wall is 6 feet high, so we will be raising the door height to 8 feet by creating brick pillars next to the opening.

So with all that being said, what is a safe way of creating the pillars on the existing wall? should I remove alternating bricks off the top to create an area for the pillar to "key" into? these pillars will roughly be 16" square. They will have to support a fair amount of weight... Roughly 700 lbs. What do you think?

Should I leave this to the pros? This might be blasphemy on a DIY Forum! I'm inclined to do the work myself because I have the patience, and decent tools. What I'm definitely lacking is the practical knowledge, which is why I'm here :)

Thanks for any tips,
Bob

Hmmm. Doing some reading, it looks like I might be well served to use concrete and rebar inside the pillar, and looks like I may find that inside the wall when I shorten the length!

http://www.quikrete.com/diy/BasicBrickConstruction.html

is the wall completely brick or is it veneered with brick?please repost

Thanks for taking the time to read that long message up there :)
It appears to be completely brick. The header is made up bricks laying legthwise on the top of the wall, perpendicular to the running bond course below. Each brick is about 3.5" wide, and the bricks on top are about 8" long, so it looks like I have a 2 brick thick wall.

There are existing brick pillars on the ends that are 16" x 16", so the pillars may be solid brick as well. They also are running bond with a header of bricks laying on the short side of the brick (like a soldier laying down-missing technical term on this one). I'm going to have to disassemble one pillar, 3 feet of the wall, then recreate the pillar to a height of 8 feet (up from 6) on both sides of the opening.

What do you think? I'll see if I can get some pictures up here to help explain things.


Thanks!
-Bob