22x6' wall – 6" block or 4" block with peers?

[Deansplit]

I need to get a wall built ans eventually rendered - 22ft long, std 6ft high. it's not a load bearing wall, literally just needs to stop a sliding electric gate (on wheels on a track) from toppling over - there will be a wheel mounted at the top and the same on the other side of the gate but attached to a fence post of the existing fence, so in effect, the gate will slide back between the fence and the wall.

I've had 2 builders look at the job. I must also point out that founds will be only 12" as there is soil & water pipes & an electric cable running directly beneath where the wall will be.

1 builder says 4" block with peers at each end, the 2nd one says no way, it'll wobble and crack - 6" block all the way thru, ie. no peers required (which will actually save me 2" of space).

What do I do???

Thanks for any advice

Dean

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

If its outside the wind will also play a part, taking the word of a builder be it in person or off a forum (no disrespect my fellow posters) would be IMO not a wise decision, an engineer would maybe charge you an hour of his time for the right advice. I'm not saying any of your builders are wrong but it seems a bit of a risk to me.

 

[Deansplit]

Hi - so what are u suggesting, neither thickness?

 

[ukwrecker]

if you are building any wall of any length of that height you need peers evenly spaced along the length of the wall and with you mounting such a gate I would say you need 6" block with peers every 5.5 ft apart , and is the Electric cable armoured cable that you have running under and running seperatley from the water

 

[BuilderSte]

for a start, no sane man would contact a structural engineer over a 22ft by 6ft wall. find a recommended local bricklayer / builder, there advice will be more than suffciant. i would suggest 6inch block and pillars. i would not use 4inch on a single skin freestanding wall. if the location is sheletered you may be able to use smaller or fewer pillars.