Garden Retaining Wall

Clair77 · 24 Jan 2015

Hi

I had a double skin (think that's the right description), breeze block retaining wall put up in my garden last year. It's 5ft high with my new patio at the base on one side and the raised turf for the garden on the other side. The rendering my builder put up on the patio side is just falling off and I've been in an absolute panic over what to do. It looks like he didn't put in a damp proof membrane on the earth side. Can anyone suggest anyway of sorting this out ? The thought of trying to get him out knock down the wall and dig back the earth so that it can all be redone right is massively stressful. Can waterproof membranes be added to the exposed side of the wall - like they do in basements ? Any help massively appreciated as this is such a stressful situation.

Clair

noseall · 24 Jan 2015

Rendered earth retaining walls are a pain. There is always the risk of all the nasties within the soil to leach into the masonry.

Face it up with some bricks.

ree · 24 Jan 2015

Why not post pics of the wall from both sides?

It might be, as above, water penetration blowing the render off or it might be soil & water movement applying enough pressure to deform the wall brickwork?

Alastairreid · 24 Jan 2015

Why can he not dig the earth back out to insert a membrane?

freddiemercurystwin · 24 Jan 2015

Surprised it's still standing if it's retaining 5ft of earth tbh. Anyway there's a good couple of threads on this subject already, do a search.

Clair77 · 24 Jan 2015

Thanks for replies so far. I've attached pictures to an album called

//www.diynot.com/network/Clair77/albums

which I've just taken.

alastairreid - given the pics do you think digging back the wall is an option ? Will he be able to get a digger up there ?

noseall - will facing it up with bricks be enough do you think - should I ask him to seal the front of the current breeze block and then put bricks in front ?

Is a membrane on the exposed side an option ? Like in damp basements ?

Please any solutions would be so much appreciated.

Thanks

Clair
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Alastairreid · 24 Jan 2015

There is a cavity between the retaining wall and the outside skin? what has he filled it with?

The render looks far too thin as well.

Clair77 · 24 Jan 2015

He just used earth so that we could use it for bedding plants.

I just can't believe it has all turned out so bad.

Alastairreid · 24 Jan 2015

The render is blowing from the top of the wall as well, there isnt any soil behind the wall at the top.

He has made the render as thin to stay beneath the width of the coping stones.

If the wall is rendered properly with waterproofer in the scratchcoat it will have more of a chance.

You should not see the outline of the blocks behind a properly rendered wall.

Burnerman · 24 Jan 2015

Some coping stones / slates with a decent overhang would help too!
John

Alastairreid · 24 Jan 2015

He hasnt pointed between the copes either.

Clair77 · 24 Jan 2015

Ok - so if I ask him to completely re-render the wall with a thicker layer and with waterproofer in the scratch coat (sorry I'm not sure what that means but hopefully he will) and sort out proper coping stones across the whole wall do you think the render will be ok ?

thanks again

ree · 24 Jan 2015

Thanks for the pics.

Is there any cavity fill or cavity ties, or are both inner & outer block walls freestanding?

Your flat coping stones should shed water back into the cavity - they appear to be flat.
The copings are not pointed - water is entering at the joins.
Have the limestone(?) copings been pre-sealed?

The seating stone isn't pointed - is it pointed at the back, and does it tilt to shed water forward?

The blown render appears to be of a crumbly quality - what was the mix?
Plus, the block should have been prepped before rendering - was it?
Pic 3. shows an exposed metal corner bead.
Is that a stop end to the wall or does the wall return to somewhere else?

Have repairs been attempted following the bed lines?

Getting a digger up where from where? We dont know the layout or access.

Alastairreid · 24 Jan 2015

No guarantee it would be ok but it would be a step in the right direction.

I would get him to dig out as much soil from behind the wall as possible and get a membrane installed.

Burnerman · 24 Jan 2015

If the render has blown Clair, then it has to come off until sound areas are found.
I had one project a bit similar on a brick wall between the wall of a terraced house yard.....I treated the brickwork with Johnstones Waterseal, fixed some stainless steel mesh onto the brick face and then had a thick render with waterproofer applied - this was pebbledashed too. The render was well swept out at the bottom to cast water away, and wide coping stones were put on the top.
15 years on, its still looks canny.
John

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Garden Retaining Wall

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