Garden Wall Construction

[Jeff Gaines]

I am planning to have a wall constructed at the bottom of the garden, ti will replace a 2 metre wooden fence and be about 27 feet long by 6' high. It abuts a private shared path servicing about 6 or 7 terraced houses.

The builder who is quoting has said it will be cheaper if the skin that faces the outside world is brick with a concrete block inner skin to give me a solid 9" wall.

Does this sound a reasonable method of construction? The inner face will be covered by a hedge once it's grown.

Will I need a brandy before I read the quote?

[Jock]

No, makes a lot more sense to have a single leaf run of 8" concrete blocks.

Yep.

[williamwright]

Six feet is quite a high wall. I think I'd be asking for brick pillars every 2 metres or so. And really good footings. It's a lot of wall and a lot of bricks. I suppose you've considered cheaper options?

Bill

[Andy Burns]

couple of thousand bricks? roughly £1 each, is the rule of thumb still "as much to lay them as to buy them"? plus digging and pouring of a foundation

[Andy Burns]

required every 3m, but 2m might be better, also expansion joint required for runs over 25ft, if it has an opening for a gate that might alter.

[Colin Bignell]

You could opt for all blockwork, unless you have some reason to want the outer face to look pretty. Even then, skim and paint also works.

I don't think a 9" thick wall needs pillars. The house I had in France had long walls of that thickness without any piers and I have a shorter one in my garden that only has them at the gate, but that is also to enclose the steel columns of a U frame that carries the double gate hinges.

[Martin Brown]

It may not officially need them but if it falls on someone it would be very embarrassing. My 3' retaining wall inside the garden failed a few years back and was two courses without pillars but with a zigzag in and out structure so that the longest run without a rightangle was <10'.

It was on adequate foundations and failed due to an abnormal load of water and mud forming behind it (field drains had stopped working).

ASCI ART ____ ______ ____ ___| |____| |____| |__

The recesses built by a previous owner contained steps, BBQ space, oil tank and went back different distances (not shown). I had not expected it to be a problem until it suddenly keeled over. No bulging just one moment it was vertical and two seconds later it was flat on the deck.

It failed after water had built up behind it and an outer 10' chunk broke away as a single slab and fell over without warning. It went with one hell of a bang! Didn't do my lemon tree much good.

It sheared along diagonal lines down from the supported corners.

[Jeff Gaines]

Many thanks for the replies :-)

A 9" wall won't need piers. I want a decent outside face, the inside will be covered in plants quite quickly.I did get one quote for fence which shocked me a bit (looks like I aint seen nothing yet though), the path is used by about 6 houses and if they have maintenance work carried out the fence takes some knocks so I want something a bit stronger.

[Colin Bignell]

Retaining walls are a different case. One that high needs batter and to be tied back into the ground it is supporting.

[Robin]

Location matters* but feels a bit close without piers even in a sheltered area. And patently good ties needed in the absence of bonding courses.

*

[Bev]

and as the OP has said it abuts a path and can get some knocks then I'd be much happier with piers. The extra cost will be far less than a personal injury claim should the wall fall on anyone and insurers may be very reluctant to cover any claim.

[williamwright]

I had a retaining wall built years ago. It was 20 metres long and varied in height but at one point was 2 metres. We put really good footings in then built the wall 350mm thick for the first metre, then 225mm. The wall was curved which added strength (I hope). I put weep holes in. It hasn't moved.

Bill

[williamwright]

Six foot high though? And against a footpath so kids might be climbing on it. I like pillars at intervals; they break up the wall visually.

Bill

[williamwright]

Yes, that's my feeling. And it will look better.

Bill

[Jeff Gaines]

I have piers on the 4" wall along the side of the garden but can't see why a 9" wall would need piers.

[Tricky Dicky]

When we had the groundwork?s done for our garage, it necessitated a number of retaining walls being built these were sandstone faced but the inner facing wall was constructed from what the builder referred to as ?sugar cube? concrete blocks which were standard concrete block height and width but double the thickness of a normal block. A 1.5m high wall was built with this method without any piers.

Richard

[Colin Bignell]

Mine is higher, at 2 metres

. And against a footpath so kids might be climbing

Mine backs onto a garage compound. Never had any problems with the kids climbing over to collect a ball that has been kicked over. Nor would I expect any with a properly maintained wall.

I like pillars at intervals; they break up the wall visually.

The inside is going to be hidden by a hedge. The outside can't have pillars if it is built up to the boundary, as they would be on somebody else's land. The only place pillars are actually needed would be at free-standing wall ends or on either side of a gateway.

[Andrew]

Indeed, slotted concrete posts with 6 foot high heavy duty panels (not the usual shiplap crap) on top of a 6 foot by 1 foot and

2 inch thick gravel 'board' should do the trick. If you can still get solvent-based treatment to give them an initial coat even better. Should last 30+ years.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Yes. I will add some extra points - its nice if the top few courses are all brick, and if it is a wall unless you go for house quality foundations tie the thing together with steel in the courses somehow

yes.

[Tim Lamb]

Nobody has yet mentioned stability weakness due to plastic damp coursing.

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