Brickwork Q w/pics

[Jethro_uk]

If I have managed this interweb thingy, there should be 5 pictures here:

This is the driveway to the garage, and on the LH side, the block paved drive which provides level access to the house.

As can be seen, because of the drop between drive and garage, there is (was, really :() a small brick wall separating the two. Which is f***ed, basically - as can be seen by the rather casual arrangements of bricks. This is mirrored by a smaller wall the other side (in pics) which is also breaking up.

Assuming that it was built into a proper foundation of hardcore so that there is a layer of solid bricks to build onto again, how would the experts of uk.d-i-y class this in terms of difficulty ? Given that bricklaying is probably my worst skill :)

Alternatively, without being held to it, what would folks here suggest is a decent-ish quote for a good brickie to do the job ? Either in cost, or hours. I have a feeling that it's no more than a days work.

Alternatively (again) the eagle eyed may notice that the drive to the garage is also f***ed. Ideally it should be block paved like the LH drive. With this knowledge is it best the two jobs of work are combined (i.e. we need to find a massive lump sum) or could the wall be repaired and the drive attended to next year ?

Just for the record, I did have an idea of banging pieces of wood against the sides of the wall, ordering a couple of yards of concrete, pouring it in and having a less pretty, but more solid wall. Are there any reasons NOT to do this :)

[Andy Burns]

"sorry, this person moved or deleted this image"

[Andy Burns]

but a link to the album works

[dennis]

Not here. Maybe he has deleted them because they showed where the body was buried?

[Jethro_uk]

try

[Jethro_uk]

Oh FFS !!!!!

I'll try and rehost somewhere ....

[The Natural Philosopher]

Er no, it doesn't "Sorry, the requested page does not exist."

[The Natural Philosopher]

Page is there, but totally blank - probably due to aggressive anti-spam measures.

Sorry.

[The Natural Philosopher]

nah. Its my problem not yours.

Something in my adblock / third party cookie settings screw up photobucket.

[Andy Burns]

Yes, I think "f***ed" is a good word for it.

I've rebuilt smallish walls like that, you don't exactly need to be a bricky to tackle them. Are the lower layers ok? Looks perhaps as though it's just the top soldier courses where water got in and ruined them, maybe build it up a layer or two and mortar some coping stones on top to stop is happening again?

[The Natural Philosopher]

decent hard or engineering bricks plus say PVA in the mortar should stop water ingress making the top courses more resilient

[Tim+]

Works for me (iPad). Pop-up ad might be bothering some.

I would agree that it probably shouldn't be more than a day's work for a bricky. Block paving (if done properly) will add considerably to time/cost. If you do go the block paving route, do make sure that you specify depth of base, block thickness etc. as a lot of cowboys will economise on this. Looks fine when new but shit once it starts to sag.

Lots of good info here.

Tim

[Graeme]

In message , Jethro_uk writes

I built a smallish wall like that some years ago, and it looked great. Really pleased with myself. However, it was time consuming - nothing like as fast as a proper brickie, of course. Having said that, I started with an even, solid base and new bricks whereas yours will require work to prepare and cleaning old bricks to reuse takes forever.

I bought a second hand electric mixer which made life easy, and was useful for many jobs afterwards. I still regret getting rid of the mixer when we subsequently moved house.

[tabbypurr]

Not hard really. Take care to align the bricks exactly. The golden rule is: bricks good, mortar ugly. If it doesn't have a good solid base you can include thin plastic rope (eg poundland) in each course to counter cracking & disintegration.

If there were fence panels fixed onto it, expect a repeat of the problem.

NT

[Brian Gaff]

Sounds like he should have used dropbox or google drive instead then. On the original problem. The missing info from the words below the links does not say the time line for the problem with the walls and the drive. IE is it just that its been there a long time or could it all bedue to some ground issue like not correct preparation etc making it fail in a few years.

I'd imagine a quick fix would be the concrete idea and some kind of resurfacing on the drive, but as to how long it will bebefore you get cracks and stuff its all a bit of an unknown. Back in my youth, been there done that. Bodging can be quite successful if you are lucky, but if the ground moves not so much. Brian

[Graeme]

In message , [e-mail] writes

I poured the mortar into a barrow, which was good, but also bought one of those six/eight sided mixing trays from a shed. Very handy for mixing and containing smaller amounts.

Finally, I cut a few inches off a garden hose and used the end to finish the mortar lines, which gave a smooth, neat appearance.

[Graeme]

In message , Brian Gaff writes

Agreed, but I would imagine that is one hell of a volume of concrete to mix, even with a mixer and a low-ish wall.

[Jethro_uk]

Just to say thanks to all for responding ... so it's a job I *could* do, but if not, no more than 2 days work (leaving the black paving for now).

Point about the cement mixer noted :)

And nice tip about running a rope in the mortar - not heard that before.

Wall doesn't have fence posts.

Whatever gets done, I shall ensure it's capped with nice coping stones (? ) to keep the frost off.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Some years ago, I did a 2 or 3 day course on brick laying at my local building trades college. It was both good, and good fun. The classic exercise is to build a garden wall.

I built a couple of gateposts and repaired a garden wall which was demolished by a delivery van driver after that.

Your wall has no rain protection, so it will need to be built using low moisture absorbing bricks, and strong mortar, particularly along the top. Alternatively, fit overhanging concrete capping so water isn't left on the top of the wall to soak in.

Depends what's acceptable to you. Might have to section it to prevent cracking.

[F Murtz]

Imgur.