Help on building a little wall for the first time!

[Jillofmosttrades]

Hi Folks!

There's a first time for everything and this week my cherry poppin' activity is building a wall in my garden.

I was hoping I could get some opinions on materials and method from you all before I plunge headlong into the new activity.

I've uploaded a picture of the garden as is at the moment - as you can see its a small city garden which is walled on all sides. My plan is to build a small curved wall for raised beds and a seating area. You can see the shape of the foundations in the trench I have started to dig. The circular section there is for a three quarter circle seating area, the two walls of to either side of that are the same height as e seating area and behind it will all be filled with soil for plants

The wall itself is going to be no higher than 40cm when complete and is 7 meters long in total.

Here's my questions for you's all!....

1) The circular seating area is going to be double thickness wall, because it's going to support a concrete (or wood) seating area, but can the other two walls either side of that be single skin given they are quite low?

2) How deep should the wall foundations be? I was thinking 15cm deep x 40cm wide for the seating double thickness bricks?

3) I can't for the life of me work out how many bags of whatever I need to make the foundation concrete... Can someone tell me what mix I should use and how many 25kg bags of cement, sharp sand and aggregate I'd need to buy?

4) What kind of bricks should I use for the blockwork? I want them to be -
a) cheap,
b) as light as is sensible
c) small enough that they make a nice tight curve
I don't mind rendering them after, so they don't have to be pretty!

Thank you so much already folks! I really appreciate your input!

P.S - sorry the picture is upside down! I can't turn it up the right way on the forum for some reason.

Untitled

• Jillofmosttrades
• 31 Mar 2014
• 1

Untitled

• Jillofmosttrades
• 31 Mar 2014
• 1

 

[stuart45]

Untitled

• stuart45
• 31 Mar 2014
• 1

 

[ban-all-sheds]

sorry the picture is upside down! I can't turn it up the right way on the forum for some reason.

Then turn it the right way round before uploading it - simples.

 

[Jillofmosttrades]

Thanks for the tip on posting the photo, do you have any tips on the wall building at all though?

 

[stuart45]

Hi Folks!




1) The circular seating area is going to be double thickness wall, because it's going to support a concrete (or wood) seating area, but can the other two walls either side of that be single skin given they are quite low?

Yes.





2) How deep should the wall foundations be? I was thinking 15cm deep x 40cm wide for the seating double thickness bricks?

Depends how many fat people are going to sit on it. Rule of thumb is one foot depth for every fatso on it.






3) I can't for the life of me work out how many bags of whatever I need to make the foundation concrete... Can someone tell me what mix I should use and how many 25kg bags of cement, sharp sand and aggregate I'd need to buy?


6/1 all in aggregate/OPC



4) What kind of bricks should I use for the blockwork? I want them to be -
a) cheap,
b) as light as is sensible
c) small enough that they make a nice tight curve
I don't mind rendering them after, so they don't have to be pretty!

Any cheap commons. Render tends to fall off in the winter.
]

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Hi Folks!




1) The circular seating area is going to be double thickness wall, because it's going to support a concrete (or wood) seating area, but can the other two walls either side of that be single skin given they are quite low?

Yes.





2) How deep should the wall foundations be? I was thinking 15cm deep x 40cm wide for the seating double thickness bricks?

Depends how many fat people are going to sit on it. Rule of thumb is one foot depth for every fatso on it.






3) I can't for the life of me work out how many bags of whatever I need to make the foundation concrete... Can someone tell me what mix I should use and how many 25kg bags of cement, sharp sand and aggregate I'd need to buy?


6/1 all in aggregate/OPC



4) What kind of bricks should I use for the blockwork? I want them to be -
a) cheap,
b) as light as is sensible
c) small enough that they make a nice tight curve
I don't mind rendering them after, so they don't have to be pretty!

Any cheap commons. Render tends to fall off in the winter.

But she didn't.

 

[Jillofmosttrades]

Thanks very much for the input Stuart, really appreciated. I'll post a photo once I'm done.

I must be missing something Ban All Sheds, I'm assuming your post is a pun?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

It's not.

He claimed you wrote things which you did not.