Building a garden wall using 4" blocks

[Flinstone]

Can anyone steer me to a website that covers the construction of a garden wall using concrete blocks? There seems a lot of info about using bricks and various bond patterns etc but not blocks. Is the mortar strength/thickness different?

I am also interested in finding out about how the piers are constructed.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[TexMex]

Can we have a tad more info. What size are you intending to make the wall (height, length and thickness). Is it going to be a retaining wall?

Personally, I can't stand the sight of bare blockwork,(love bricks). The same basic bonding rules apply to blocks as bricks, but, since they are usually covered, there is far more latitude. ie. You don't need to worry about the bond being particularly pretty.

I assume that you have selected blocks to save money (compared with brick). You can compromise by incorportating both. ie brick wall with blockwork panels. This allows you some reduction in cost (since a large part will be made from blockwork), while giving scope for a rather attractive finish.

Get back with some more details and I'm sure we can help further.

Goodness, I've just realised, you've been waiting almost a week for a reply. Sorry, you've probably got it up now eh?

 

[Flinstone]

I haven't started block building yet . My brother-in-law was helping out but was injured playing Judo soon after the footings were done, so I'm on my own now!

The wall is intended to be 100ft long by 5-6ft high. It won't be a retaining wall (12" max of soil on one side).

It will start from the pavement at the front of the house and then will run down along the entire side of the house.

The first 60ft is flat and the remaining 40ft stepped in three places (back garden).

Because a garden door is wanted at the 60ft point, I was going to treat the construction as two separate walls, 60ft on the flat and 40ft stepped.

Piers would be at approx 10ft intervals.

Eventually I will want to have it rendered but not until we've decided what to have on the house. Therefore I want to try to get its unrendered appearance as smart as possible.


My first questions are:
1) Should the mortar thickness for aggregate blocks be the same as for bricks, 10mm?
2) What should the orientation of the first and second courses of the intermediate piers be?
3) How high do the piers go? Are they normally as high as the wall?
4) For the end pier (near the pavement) I would like to keep the width as small as possible to allow for my car to get into the driveway. Can anyone recommend a pattern of construction for this pier to keep the size down?
5) How should the mortar joint be finished? Bevelled?

Cheers & thanks for reading.

 

[masona]

1) Should the mortar thickness for aggregate blocks be the same as for bricks, 10mm.

15mm thickness.

I'm a bit busy at the moment, have a look at this useful site, any problem get back to us.

www.pavingexpert.com

 

[wickerman]

i think 6" blocks are now recomended for a wall, but because of the weight of the things i would use 4" and lay them flat a much better job all round. it doubles the cost but they are only pennies anyway, but you have to lay them 2 at a time otherwise they can crack. when you render them, even though it is a wall you will still have to give it 2 coats as otherwise if only one coat goes on you can always see the blocks through the render when it gets wet