How thick do you want the brick pillars?
I have a thread on here
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/44358-creating-entrance.html?highlight=Creating+Entrance that I built colums that I finished in cultured stone with a three rail vinyl fence tied into them. Using brick would be done the same way.
Dig a hole into the ground below your frost line for your footing. Then frame out the dimensions you want your colums to be with 2x4's. Basic sizes are usually based on the size cinder blocks you want to use. Small square blocks are 8 inches. You can stack them up and fill with concrete and rebar for maximum strength, or just stack them with mortor, which is the most common method around here. I took two 8 inch by 16 inch cinder blocks and stacked them on top of each other to build my columns. That gave me a 16 inch square to start with. To support your brick, you need the base to be the size of your cinderblocks PLUS the width of the brick.
On another project, I used four cinder blocks for each level of the column for a 24 inch square.
My guess is that you want two cinder blocks per level for a 16 inch square column plus the brick. This is the most common size for fences, gates and mailboxes.
For added strength, put a few pieces of 3/8 rebar into your base before pouring the concrete. After the concrete is dry, just mix your mortor and install the blocks. Take your time to make sure they are level and plumb. It's not hard work, but unless you do it all the time, it's slow and tedious because you have to keep checking your work to get it right.
After that's all dry, you can do the bricks. Again, go slow and take your time. To cut the bricks, you can either buy a masonary saw bladie for $40 to cut them with a 7 1/4 inch saw, but a bigger blade and cut them with a chop saw, or practice breaking them with a chisel. If you use the chop saw, it's better to have a metal one. I've destroyed wood chop saws doing this, so unless it's a small job, it's not the best tool to use. If using the 7 1/4 inch saw, you just score each side of the brick and break them off. It's not the fastes way, but it works great on smaller jobs. Of course, you can always rent a wet saw to get perfect cuts.
To put in the fence rails, you can either leave the bricks out where you want them to go and slide them in when you are done, you can put them into place and brick around them, or you can buy/make brackets to attach them to the brick after you are done.
If you leave the holes in the brick when installing the brick, be absolutely positive of your measurements. When I did mine, I hade the fence in place and the rails there to get it right.
What are you using for rails? If wood, then dimensions are pretty standard. If vinyl, they vary. They are all called 2x6, but some are true to that, and other brands are lumber dimensions. Be sure to have your rails on hand to get it right.
Are you running electricity to the tops of your columns? Lights, outlets or automatic gates? Are you putting in a gate? If it's your main entrance, you want that gate wider then you'd probably guess. Mine is 24 feet wide and real nice for big rigs to get in and out of. I wouldn't want an entrance gate any less then 16 feet. That would be the absolute minimum. I've had gates that small and they are a tight fit sometimes.
If you ever pull a trailer or will have people with a trailer coming there, is the gate far enough off the road so you don't block traffic when parked at the gate? If it's not a perfectly straight shot coming in, then make sure there's plenty of room for the trailer coming in through the gate. Trailers cut corners allot faster then the vehicle towing them. Longer trailers just make this a bigger issue.
Eddie
