Building A Garden Wall

[jthorneuk]

Hi all

Im after some advice on building a wall around my front garden... Let me give you some history first....

My house is on the end of a row of houses...next to my house is a path that leads through to a car park area at the back which is used by about 20 houses/flats and I have a garage under a coach house there... The path is meant to be used only by me and the people next door as a way of getting to our garages. The Problem is that because the car park area is accessible via its own drive people walk their dog's through the car park and down the path all the time. This is not the problem as such.. the problem is that my front garden is at the end of the path.. and rather than people stepping off the path and into the road area and then walking around my front garden.. they just cut the corner and march right across it... This means that they walk right past my kitchen window and actually let their dog's do their business on my garden!!!

SO.. I spoke to the management company and they agreed to let me put up some sort of fencing to stop this happening... the only condition is that it has to be in keeping with the area...

The rest of the area has iron fencing or walls rather than wooden fencing.. so im going to have to stick with this design/plan....

I believe that 4 foot iron fencing the entire way around the garden is going to cost me a fortune… I am skilled in DIY as far as wood working/general stuff goes… but I have never ventured into hardcore building……my thoughts are to build a wall around the edge of my garden and then to put some sort of wooden trellis on top of the wall…

So… Questions…….

I think I can build a wall from breeze block fairly cheep.. I have never done it before but I am in no rush and I believe it quite strait forward as long as you get the mix right and get everything level…

I know that the key thing is the foundations… so this is really were the bulk of my questions lie….

The wall will only be about 4 runs high. Its not got to retain anything.. Just hold the trellis on top.. What I need to achieve is a flat foundation on which to build my wall…..One of the issues is that the front garden has a curb stone running around it.. This curb stone has been put in with lumps of concrete behind it.. So digging a trench down behind the curb stone is going to be very difficult….

How would people normally get around this problem?
One thing I have thought of was to simply dig away what I can to a set level.. And then put a shutter board up about 12 inches behind the curb stone… and poor concrete into the space.. Therefore filling up the gaps and ending up with a flat base….

I welcome all your comments and advice as the situation is doing my head in!!![/img]

 

[kingandy2nd]

The path is meant to be used only by me and the people next door as a way of getting to our garages.

Is there any documented evidence that the path is only for the use of you and your neighbour? I.e. do you jointly own the land the path is on or is it noted on the deeds to your house?

If it is, why don't you just put a lockable gate up on the path and only you and next door have keys?

 

[jthorneuk]

The path is meant to be used only by me and the people next door as a way of getting to our garages.

Is there any documented evidence that the path is only for the use of you and your neighbour? I.e. do you jointly own the land the path is on or is it noted on the deeds to your house?

If it is, why don't you just put a lockable gate up on the path and only you and next door have keys?

Its not on any of the deeds The only reason for the path is to allow me and my neigbour access to the rear.. but in reality im the only one who uses it... we do have rear gates in our garden but mine comes out into path... my nebours goes directly out onto the car park... Its also a little bit more complex as well... my garden runs down the side of the path and then the path ends and my garden opens out... where the path ends there is a garage for another house. The woman does not park her car in the garage but in front of it. This causes people to not be able to walk along the road but means they have to walk over my land. She is being told off by the management company but its really a bad design as the path just goes to nothing...

Ill post up some pictures of the lay out when im home tonight....

 

[jthorneuk]

This is the situation im in at my house... you can see the path from the back just stops.. and the girl parking her car there causes people to walk right over my front garden..

As you can see.. i tried to plan trees around the edge to stop people.. but they just got trashed

The plans clearly show that all the land belongs to me

I want to build a wall like this

[/img]

 

[kingandy2nd]

Great sketches!

I completely see what you mean now. Surely a few tactically places rose bushes (or other thorny plants) would sort it out

Although a breeze block wall would be cheap, in my opinion it would look awful unless it was rendered. Looking at your pictures, I would imagine your management company would expect a wall to be made out of red bricks like the houses - worth clarifying now rather than making a costly discover later. (Get any answer in writing too).

Of course, building in standard bricks will be more expensive and more time consuming. However, you idea of digging back and then adding more concrete to join the curb stones would work. You need to ensure that the footing is deep enough too. I did a two foot wall last year in my garden and made the footing a foot deep. You could go for half that and save a bit on materials and digging time, but end up with a wall that falls down in a few years time.

An iron fence you install yourself probably wouldn't be much more expensive than a brick wall - you can get all the bits from the large diy outlets (B & Q, etc). However, I would have thought some sort of low level wooden picket fence would look ok and be the most effective option.

 

[jthorneuk]

Thanks... I have bene playing with google scetch up and its fantastic for this sort of thing

I was thinking of building the breeze block wall and then getting it rendered... either that or making the front face out of standard bricks....

I have no idea how much it would cost for building a wall... would be interested to get a rough guide.. i dont know if its £1 a foot or £80 a foot....

I figured that I would dig back behind the curb stones by about 12 inches and dig down about 6... this is about all i would be able to do as the vurb stones have just lumps of concrete behind them and its all over the place... then just build that up till its flat level with the top of the curb.. then build my wall on top of that...

How much at a guess would it cost do build a wall 3 foot high and 10 feet long?


I do have the picket fencing option and My father owns a wood working company that I help out at by programng all the CNC stuff... I could have a fence made for very little money...but im not sure at all how to make it fit into the area... and I also would have the problem with not being able to sink posts into the ground due to the concrete lumps behind the curb stones

What I reallt need is some cheep iron fencing to put on top of the curb all the way around.. but i have seen prices around £80 for a 6 foot by 4 foot bit.. and I guess i would need about 10 of them...

 

[noseall]

if that were my place i would want a 6' high wall down that side.

 

[jthorneuk]

if that were my place i would want a 6' high wall down that side.

Problem is that thats fine down the side of the house.. but i cant do that along the front... my house is the only one in the road with any sort of land in front of it as the rest of the houses are almost terrist ones.. so just have a front garden about 2mts deep.... The situation does my head in

 

[kingandy2nd]

I'm not a bricky so wouldn't want to hazard a guess at how much it would cost. I wouldn't skimp and do the outer skin in brick and a inner in breeze - as you'll still have to look at the inner every time you look out the window.

Why not hire a breaker from a hire company and chisel out some of the curb concrete that's stopping you from having a pickett fence? The estate looks pretty new from the pictures so I don't imagine that such a fence would look too out of place once you had a few established shrubs behind it.

Alternatively, if the problem is mostly dog walkers, etc that don't realise the land is your garden why not put up a small barrier to just indicate the boundary:

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/skins/popups/scene7.jsp?skuId=9228433


For the sake of £50 to give it a try it might be worth a bash.

 

[Alison556]

This might be a daft idea but I'll suggest it anyway.....

But first, is that not wooden fencing in one of the pictures?

I have the same problem as you for putting a fence up - blooming curb stones with half a ton of concrete behind them. Do these things look like a prospective solution to putting a fence up?

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Post-Accessories/Erecta-Plate/invt/542501

 

[fastneattrowel]

The path is meant to be used only by me and the people next door as a way of getting to our garages.

Is there any documented evidence that the path is only for the use of you and your neighbour? I.e. do you jointly own the land the path is on or is it noted on the deeds to your house?

If it is, why don't you just put a lockable gate up on the path and only you and next door have keys?

Its not on any of the deeds The only reason for the path is to allow me and my neigbour access to the rear.. but in reality im the only one who uses it... we do have rear gates in our garden but mine comes out into path... my nebours goes directly out onto the car park... Its also a little bit more complex as well... my garden runs down the side of the path and then the path ends and my garden opens out... where the path ends there is a garage for another house. The woman does not park her car in the garage but in front of it. This causes people to not be able to walk along the road but means they have to walk over my land. She is being told off by the management company but its really a bad design as the path just goes to nothing...

Ill post up some pictures of the lay out when im home tonight....

phew glad i aint your neighbour

 

[jthorneuk]

This might be a daft idea but I'll suggest it anyway.....

But first, is that not wooden fencing in one of the pictures?

I have the same problem as you for putting a fence up - blooming curb stones with half a ton of concrete behind them. Do these things look like a prospective solution to putting a fence up?

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Post-Accessories/Erecta-Plate/invt/542501[/QUOTE]

I did look at this option and putting them on top of the curb stones....

The problem is that althought its wooden fence in the back garden... there is nothing wooden at all in the entire road at the front... I was thnking of making a wooden fence that looks like iron railings and then painting it black to match..... but im not sure how tha would look.... I also laid the gravel and put in the trees about 6 months ago as before it was just over grown land.. but now im thinking that i may turff it over as that would look better and make a picket fencing not look so stuck on...

 

[^woody^]

The wall idea looks a mess - its out of keeping and encloses the property in. An open railing would be better, but still a poor solution IMO.

Why can't you just gate the path off, and just the neighbour and you have a key?

If you have a probelm with people walking across the property, due to poor design of the adjacent path - especially if the path is not a public or private right of way, then the management company are bound to sort out a solution

 

[jthorneuk]

The wall idea looks a mess - its out of keeping and encloses the property in. An open railing would be better, but still a poor solution IMO.

Why can't you just gate the path off, and just the neighbour and you have a key?

If you have a probelm with people walking across the property, due to poor design of the adjacent path - especially if the path is not a public or private right of way, then the management company are bound to sort out a solution

The plans show that the path is area owned and managed by the management company... I dont think blocking it off is an option.. I did ask them this but they totally ignored the question

I am now thinking that i may move my rear garden fence to run along the edge of the path rather than having the triangle of land next to it... then when the path finished ill bring the fenct back into the side of the house.. then go with a 3 foot fence around the rest of the front garden...

The best over all thing would be iron rails... but its going to cost me clost to £1000 to have that done

 

[^woody^]

The best solution would be to get the management company to sort this out.

You have a [public] footpath ending in a private front garden, and this encourages the public to use your neighbours and your front garden.

This is causing a nuisance to you and diminishing the enjoyment and value of your home, and I would work on this basis in negotiating a suitable solution with them