clueless - v long low single skin wall need piers?

Discussion in 'Builders' Talk' started by Jammers, Sep 8, 2019.

  1. Jammers

    Jammers New Member

    Hi all, I'm looking to have a boundary wall built only 4 courses high and single skin brick. It needs to be stepped as it runs alongside a sloped pavement. The longest stretch is 30 odd metres - this is sooo long I'm not sure if it will need piers, even if it is so low. Any advice? In my original quote I had I was told if I wanted it 8 courses high I'd need a double skin brick which apparently needed piers, but it was stupidly expensive...
    Thanks
     
  2. chillimonster

    chillimonster Screwfix Select

    Hello Jammers, until a regular builder comes along...I've laid stepped, 4 courses high and usually about 4 or 5
    fence panels' length. All ok. I would want the customer to pay me to build in some piers at your longest
    length equivalent to 15 fence panels.
     
  3. sospan

    sospan Screwfix Select

    Do you mean brick or block, 4 courses high in bricks is very low ? You won't necessarily need pillars but you will need expansion gaps. Constructing piers is a trivial part and is someone makes an issue of building them, find another builder. You should also put a some capping on the wall to help shed water and look more aesthetic
     
  4. Jammers

    Jammers New Member

    Thanks guys - yes I wanted it brick. I'll be planting a laurel hedge and just wanted the low wall in front of it to properly mark a boundary and hide the tree bases, rather than having a function. My builder reckons your can't build a single skin wall that long despite me mentioning piers, and it would also look horrible from the back (not an issue for me as the hedge will hide it). Why can't a single skin be built that long? Would the trees make it weaken?
     
  5. sospan

    sospan Screwfix Select

    If you are planting a long laurel hedge, I wouldn't put in a brick wall. Laurel unlike a lot of hedges spreads out quite shallow so very quickly the root system will spread and undermine the foundations unless they are really, really deep 1m plus and you would have to plant it quite a distance away from the wall.

    A better option would be to invest the money in mature root balled trees that can be placed in a strip trench with a mini digger https://www.wykehammatureplants.co.uk/products/wykeham-laurel-blocks

    If you want to put something physical around the perimeter, then use Gabion cages directly on leveled soil. Typically these are filled with stone all the way to the top but in your case I would fill the top with a suitable spreading plant e.g. ivy that will grow through the cages, hiding them until laurels do. The cages will move with the laurels but will be held together by the spreading ground cover plant. This will also be a much "greener" solution being friendlier to wildlife.
     
    KIAB and masterdiy like this.
  6. Jammers

    Jammers New Member

    Thanks Sospan, I have indeed ordered rootballed :)
    I've also given up on the idea of a wall now over pricing / thickness and root concerns that you reminded me of. I may just go simple with some edging stones now, and just a standing brick column eitherside of the entry gate as a compromise on the 'classy look' that I was aiming for! Hopefully this will be simple enough.
     
  7. sospan

    sospan Screwfix Select

    Brick pillars by the side of a gate are very, very dangerous things. It should be made a minimum of 600mm square and on foundations 1m square.

    If you want something classy which will contrast the hedging consider some white timber structure like thes

    upload_2019-9-10_13-13-15.png upload_2019-9-10_13-13-49.png

    They are surprisingly cheap and can add "presence" to an entrance
     
  8. Jammers

    Jammers New Member

    personally I don't think that's feasible for a driveway and would look a bit daft...providing right size foundations and brickwork are properly done by a good builder, why would 1m pillars/piers be extremely dangerous?
     
  9. sospan

    sospan Screwfix Select

    600mm pillars, 1m foundations. Free stand slim pillars tend to crack and fall on people especially if they get nudged by a vehicle. The foundations have to be quite wide to cope with the weight of a vehicle passing nearby compressing the ground on one side whilst you have softer uncompressed ground on the other. When there is a wall, the wall and pillar foundations and the same so become stronger and then stronger again when the pillar and wall are tied together
     
    KIAB likes this.
  10. KIAB

    KIAB Super Member

    Would have gone for Hornbeam, Laurels need a lot of work, very fast growing.
     
  11. sospan

    sospan Screwfix Select

    Last year I planted several hundred pyracanthus bushes in colour batches. They will be impressive once they mature and one heck of security hedge with a nice show of berries
     
  12. KIAB

    KIAB Super Member

    Pyracantha,or Firethorn shrub,had the orange berry one at previous place,darn evil thorns on it.
     
  13. sospan

    sospan Screwfix Select

    I had an open area just beyond the boundary of the garden that I was claiming and "fenced" the open sides with Pyracantha one side yellow, one red and the other orange. Also put in some Hawthorn, barberry and dog rose.

    Really, didn't think about the thorns ;) I wonder would anyone trying to get through hurt themselves :eek:
     
  14. Kas228

    Kas228 Screwfix Select

    If your looking at making a border what about sleepers instead of a brick wall. Have seen a few recently, about 2 high and look quite good.
     
    Jammers likes this.

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