advice on garden wall strengthening

[wambangers]

have just recently patched an old wall at the botttom of our garden.i have leveled it off the best i can by relaying the bricks with some fresh mortar(will try to upload sum pics).the wall dates back donkeys and looked a bollfrocks.i plan to put up 4 6'x4, fence panels with the fence posts secured to metpost brackets through the brick. ..this is where i see a problem folks.when i come to drill for the bolts im worried that the bricks will loosen and all my work will be undone.next door neighbour says he drilled through with sum thread bar and put some epoxy resin in .are there any other ways to do this??how would you go about making it stronger?? before u start drilling???

Picture 1
Picture 2

 

[Deluks]

You're not gonna know what will happen until you start drilling. Regardless of the walls strength, I'd be tempted to shore the fence posts with diagonal bracing into the ground, but it looks a reasonably sheltered location anyway.

Instead of expanding bolts on the metpost you could use hammer in (parabolts) or screw in (thunderbolts) both will reduce the chances of any cracking. or indeed resin fix.

Also consider fixing the fence post on the back of the wall, straight down into the ground, and screwing it into the wall in 2 or 3 places.

 

[wambangers]

finally got round to answer replies!! firstly thanks to admin for uploading pics and thankyou to you deluks as well.
after checking today to see if ok a few of the bricks are loosening slightly after tapping with broom handle.gonna have to remortar them.the path a t the back gets a lot of traffic what with dog pooers etc so i dont want to use any brackets that somebody may catch ...then.. claim i origanally wanted to run 4 fence pieces across the top,so may have to use some thread bar and that resin stuff.iwas thinking of trying to level it all off with some mortar...is this the correct way do ya think.i'd rather spend time getting this right then fixing the fence to the post will be easier later on .should i use some pva in between the raked out joints then wack sum gobbo in and smooth over???

 

[Deluks]

A row of coping stones or even paving slabs will give a smarter finish than a load of mortar. In any case, if bricks are a bit loose then I wouldn't bother with fixing the bolt-in on top. My diagonal bracing plan would work equally well on your side, if it's in a flower bed then it will be disguised somewhat.

I still think that affixing the whole post to the face of the wall will be strongest. You could resin fix studs protruding from the wall vertically, then drill corresponding holes in the fence post, slide it on and secure with washer/bolt.

Or fix post to brick with T30 drive plugless frame anchors. They are available up to about 180mm and they go through the timber straight into the brick (6mm pilot holes needed in both)

 

[WabbitPoo]

A lot of old garden walls have little or no foundations - still they stay standing! Anyway, it may be the case in your garden, in which case you could sink the posts into holes on your side of the wall. Its simple then to fix up fence panels. I suggest you have a dig to see what you can find. For 6' of post above ground you'll need a hole of 2' depth (ie an 8' post!) so keep digging until you are that depth.

Attaching fence to the walls MAY succeed as described above, but if the bricks are in any way loose or the mortar crumbling, you'll simple pull the wall apart in the first strong wind. Been there - done that.

 

[tomos]

This is about your best bet to get the most strength.

 

[noseall]

a strap-on rocket.

like it.

 

[wambangers]

hi all.have just removed post and rotten fence panels..the posts were concreted into ground and wanted to put sum fence panels on top cause i think it will look neater but maybe strength is an issue.dont know wether to do wat deluks said and stud and resin the post to the back of the wall or put sum coping slabs on top and drill through for bracket but stren gth worries me here .dont want to put them(panels on the front again)

 

[wambangers]

forgot to say what do the diagonal brackets look like