Garden wall - building DPC

[pilsbury]

About to sort my drive which entails building a 3’ high front garden wall. Going to be using commons because they’re cheap and I need 1000.

My initial thoughts were to just build straight of my strip foundation with no DPC. Then started reading about frost damage. It seems as though a plastic DPC isn’t recommended as in regular house wall building as there isn’t much load on top and this break in the bond can be a point of failure. Most suggest using engineering blues for a couple of courses. Are the ones with holes in acceptable or do they need to be solid?

 

[KenGMac]

pilsbury, good evening.
.
If you consider it what is the point of installing a DPM on an external wall, one postulation I have heard of is that on a "free standing wall" any DPM will act as a "slip plane" and any sharp bump / nudge on the wall above the DPM could?? deform the wall.

Your proposition of using engineering brick will negate the above scenario, I have tended to advocate the use of Solid Engineering brick, I for one consider the presence of holes "could encourage" capillary action if the holes are filled, or not, with mortar.

As an aside at one time it was not easy [up here] to find Engineering bricks without holes?

Ken

 

[23vc]

Always use perfs, whether an extension build or garden walls. Wouldn’t have crossed my mind that there’d be any issue doing so. Like kgm says I’ve also had probs sourcing solids before

 

[Leofric]

2 course of solid red or blue engineering bricks as dpc in garden walls .