Hello,
Apologies if this has been asked and answered but I couldn't find a specific post with all the answers that allowed me to sleep well.
I'm putting up a retaining wall at the end of the garden. I've been told by the building control chap that, even though I'm on a slight slope, the land is unlikely to slip. Still, "unlikely" doesn't mean "won't" and I always err on the side of caution so I want to take the safest option possible.
I'm putting up a 10 metre hollow block wall that will be 5 courses tall (although the first course will be 50%-75% sunk below ground level). Plan is for it to sit on foundations 400mm wide and 300m deep using a 4:1 ratio of ballast to cement - and I'm thinking of putting 16mm rods of rebar into the foundation (but not solved how to lay it yet). The ground that the wall and foundation will be built is all chalk and flint (undisturbed), so quite solid.
Any opinions as to whether the footings are wide and deep enough? (Note that the building control chap I spoke to was visiting a house 3 doors along and didn't actually see my garden - but he would if I stumped up a "planning fee")
The hollow blocks will have the same 16mm vertical rebar in each pair of corner cells and every other cell in between - and will also have horizontal bars on the 1st, 3rd and 5th courses (did I say I err on the side of caution?) All block cells will be infilled. The thing that is stumping me now is control/expansion joints and "weep joints" for drainage on the 1st course (i.e. not putting mortar between the blocks every 3 blocks).
Do I need expansion/control joints in this? Would I put a single one bang in the middle? What would I "fill" this expansion joint with?
Finally, if it put weep joints in, do I need to install any "tubes" for drainage? Once the wall is cured I will backfill with shingle with the topmost 6 inches being soil so I can put down grass seed.
Any advice much appreciated.
Apologies if this has been asked and answered but I couldn't find a specific post with all the answers that allowed me to sleep well.
I'm putting up a retaining wall at the end of the garden. I've been told by the building control chap that, even though I'm on a slight slope, the land is unlikely to slip. Still, "unlikely" doesn't mean "won't" and I always err on the side of caution so I want to take the safest option possible.
I'm putting up a 10 metre hollow block wall that will be 5 courses tall (although the first course will be 50%-75% sunk below ground level). Plan is for it to sit on foundations 400mm wide and 300m deep using a 4:1 ratio of ballast to cement - and I'm thinking of putting 16mm rods of rebar into the foundation (but not solved how to lay it yet). The ground that the wall and foundation will be built is all chalk and flint (undisturbed), so quite solid.
Any opinions as to whether the footings are wide and deep enough? (Note that the building control chap I spoke to was visiting a house 3 doors along and didn't actually see my garden - but he would if I stumped up a "planning fee")
The hollow blocks will have the same 16mm vertical rebar in each pair of corner cells and every other cell in between - and will also have horizontal bars on the 1st, 3rd and 5th courses (did I say I err on the side of caution?) All block cells will be infilled. The thing that is stumping me now is control/expansion joints and "weep joints" for drainage on the 1st course (i.e. not putting mortar between the blocks every 3 blocks).
Do I need expansion/control joints in this? Would I put a single one bang in the middle? What would I "fill" this expansion joint with?
Finally, if it put weep joints in, do I need to install any "tubes" for drainage? Once the wall is cured I will backfill with shingle with the topmost 6 inches being soil so I can put down grass seed.
Any advice much appreciated.