Building Garden Walls

[stevenrafferty]

Planning to build a couple of garden walls which will be retaining.

Was planning to build them out ot dense concrete blocks but is this overkill, would I get away with a lighter (and cheaper) block?

Was planning to build only a single skin of blocks, but laid on the large face, so that there is still enough strength and I get the required thickness

thanks

[TexMex]

stevenrafferty wrote:

would I get away with a lighter (and cheaper) block?

Lightweight are just not suitable. They absorb moisture, then disintegrate.

stevenrafferty wrote:

Was planning to build only a single skin of blocks, but laid on the large face

You can do but there are other methods. What height are you planning to build?

[stevenrafferty]

both walls are only 2 1/2 to 3 feet high

[TexMex]

Like I say, you can lay them blocks the way you describe, but it wouldn't be my prefered method.

The number of blocks used would be identical to a cavity wall of the same surface area. The cavity wall would be thicker than the solid wall you propose. (although the cavity should be filled) You could then elect to use bricks on the outer skin. Although somewhat more expensive than the blocks, they give an acceptable finish without any further work. If you were going to render your wall, the savings here would offset some of the extra cost.

If you want to stick with solid blockwork, you also have the option of the 9" hollow ones. These are a bit trickier to lay, but go up quicker than the method that you propose. Once you have the wall to height, you can then fill with concrete to bond them all together.

You may also find these posts of interest as they concern a similar project.

http://www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=31163
http://www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=31272
http://www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=32003