Prolong Life Single Skin Garden Wall

[BathDIY]

Having a new single skin brick garden wall built to replace the old.

Brick wall approx. 1 meter high. I will also be adding close board fence to make the total height 2 meters. essentially replacing what was already in place.

In places, the wall retains about 3 courses worth of my garden and I noticed that in this area the old bricks were shot pretty badly.

Aside from repointing as required is there anything I can do to help preserve the wall, generally and in this area in particular?

My initial thoughts are:

Apply some kind of paint on water seal to part or all of the wall.

Add trench with gravel behind the portion of the wall that retains the garden. I was thinking of recycling some old slabs and putting them on end to hold the gravel in place.

What do you think?

 

[Mobo_14]

If it doesn’t already have them you could add weep vents to allow the water to pass through the wall

 

[BathDIY]

If it doesn’t already have them you could add weep vents to allow the water to pass through the wall

Sounds like a good idea, how regular should they be, every 4 bricks or so?

Is water seal of some sort worthwhile I wonder if the cost would be prohibitive, especially if I coat both sides of the wall?

 

[bobasd]

weep vents might help - ie just drill 10mm holes throgh the beds and perps.
but without seeing a pic of the damaged brickwork there's no telling what will work or be worth doing beyond re-building.

 

[Alastairreid]

Put a damp proof membrane along the side the soil is butting the wall...keeps the damp soil from touching the wall.

 

[bobasd]

how will a "damp proof membrane" stop moisture coming from under(capillary action) or over(gravity) this "damp proof membrane"?
besides, basic rising damp will continue to rise from directly below the wall, and continue to destroy the lower brick courses.

OP,
without seeing a pic or having any knowledge of any:

hillside, water table or water pressure then my suggestion would be to demolish and re-build the three courses - in 30 to 40 yrs do it again.

forget about any "paint or water seal".

 

[Alastairreid]

https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/dpm-with-a-retaining-wall.378582/

 

[bobasd]

i briefly checked out your reference but it leads to chains of references - perhaps you would care to explain the pertinent bits?

 

[Alastairreid]

https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/garden-retaining-wall-waterproofing.278828/

 

[bobasd]

No, that ref is not a "pertinent bit" - its merely you repeating yourself.
why dont you select the pertinent text and show it here - you will have #16 posts to select from, and a number of further references??

 

[Alastairreid]

No, that ref is not a "pertinent bit" - its merely you repeating yourself.
why dont you select the pertinent text and show it here - you will have #16 posts to select from, and a number of further references??

https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/garden-retaining-wall-waterproofing.278828/

Read it!...Educate yourself and stop being a pric$

 

[bobasd]

now you've lost the argument, which is about a garden wall not me - but for old times sake, read what exactly?

 

[IT Minion]

Sounds like a good idea, how regular should they be, every 4 bricks or so?

Is water seal of some sort worthwhile I wonder if the cost would be prohibitive, especially if I coat both sides of the wall?

There's a lot of different views on this, some people say add a damp proof membrane on the soil side to prevent water getting into the brickwork. Others say to add weep holes to allow the water to drain.

The weep hole view is generally because of structural rather than asthetic reasons, water is heavy and if the soil being retained is full of it then it weighs more. Which means your wall is more likely to be pushed over. I find the weep hole view more persuasive, but that's me.

I like the idea of having a French drain on the soil side and the weep holes connecting into it, all screened by a porous weed proof membrane. But that may be overkill and just drilling holes every meter (and the membrane), is all that's worth doing.

 

[BathDIY]

Thanks all, will add the weep holes as a minimum and consider the french drain idea.