What to use for shuttering.

[Doggit]

Acutally, Ians comments have made me wonder if there is a better way of doing this. The foundations are obviously okay, and you're doing this for aesthetic purposes, so why not drop the new concrete 2 inches below the ground surface, and then take the earth up to the wall. Do you have an angle grinder to take out the existing concrete, and that'll cut down on any disturbance to the wall.

If you want to keep the costs down, then doing it in 2.44m stages is fine; the concrete will bond together as you add the sections quite happily.

 

[DIYalot]

I feel minded to cut off the overhang. That's messing with the foundation, inasmuch as the foundation would be expected to have about 150mm overhang either side of the wall. To put back the overhang I'm thinking about putting in a 6" x 6" length of concrete. I think that would be OK. But, then one asks, could you in fact lay a length of 6" x 6" blocks along the length, adjacent & cemented to the 6" foundation that is under the wall. Probably not, as there is no longitudinal strength.

 

[Doggit]

You're overthinking this Diyalot; this is a small brick wall, not the side of a house. Cutting off the overhang that isn't doing much, and replacing it with a more solid "overhang" will be fine. I suspect you'll find the wall and the foudations are well tied into the pavement on the other side. And if you do it in sections, then the rest of the wall and foundations are providing stability as you go. If you try and cement blocks in place, it'd just crack on the mortar joint if there were any issues. Dig a hole, and see how far down the foundations go.

 

[DIYalot]

Yep. Although this a small brick wall, and in the circumstances the overhang isn't critical, in the sense that the wall is unlikely to fall over without it, given it's probably stable and secure on the pavement side, the right way is to pour in what will be the missing overhang. Cementing in blocks to produce that overhang is just me being a cheapskate - going too far hoping to cut costs. I've ordered myself a 9" grinder to cut off that overhang. I also have a brand new cement mixer unused yet.

 

[Doggit]

If you dig down and check the depth of the foundations, because it's tied in on the pavement side, you may find that you can just cut off the overhang, and leave it at that.