Building a Garden Wall
A garden wall serves many purposes. It could be built to distinguish boundary lines. It could be to build to retain or hold back a slope. It could be built to add interest and complement your garden. You can fill the back of your garden wall with soil, plant some flowers or shrubs and you have a beautiful raised flower bed accenting your garden.
Building a garden wall is quite a daunting task to a new DIY'er. For an old hand though, the project would be easy. It is best to select materials that would complement the overall style of your house and garden. There are a variety of available stones and pre-fabricated masonry that you could choose from. However, if your garden wall should go over a meter in height, it is best to hire a professional mason to the job.
If your intent is to build a garden wall to for garden accent or for a low wall for a lot boundary, then the work would be easy enough for you. The height for a regular non-bearing garden wall is about 500 mm or 18 inches. At this height there would be no need for you to dig deep for the foundations. There are several options for materials and the most practical to use are those interlocking bricks that need no mortar filler. You basically just have to connect and interlock the bricks. However, if you want natural looking stones for your garden wall, then there are natural and synthetic stones available too.
Decide where to build your garden wall. If the purpose of your garden wall is to put up a boundary between your neighbour's lot and yours, then it's quite obvious where to build your garden wall. If this is the case, tell your neighbour (s) of your intent because you would surely cause mess to some degree your neighbour's side of the wall. If you intend to build the wall for garden accent, then visualize where it should be put up.
Decide on the materials to use. If you are a new DIY'er and has real experience yet, don't let the task daunt you. You can do it! Choose the interlocking bricks for materials and don't attempt to do a long and tall garden wall. Keep it short, low and simple. For the hardcore DIY'er, here is a list of options for your materials.
- Natural
stone- The primary material are large flat stones, limestone and sandstone. Gravel and sand and cement are needed for foundation and
as mortar filler. You might even have to add gravel backfill and drainage pipe.
Stones are stacked and overlapped for effect.
- Man -made stone - Concrete stones in different colours, textures and patterns are
available. You need to buy sand, gravel and cement for your mortar and
foundation. Bricks are interlocked to each other to form the garden wall.
- Poured Concrete Mix -You can either mix your own concrete mix as long as you do batches below 1 cubic meter. If you need more, then it would be better to order pre-mixed concrete. If this is your choice, then additional lumber for framing and bracing is needed.
Building
a Stone Garden Wall
Buy the necessary materials for your garden wall. Make a list of all the materials you would need. You can make a rough estimate of the cost just by counting the amount of materials and checking out how much each item cost. Remember to order 10% in excess of your estimated amount of materials for allowance in breakages and material lost in transport.
Excavation. A deep trench is necessary for proper drainage. It is not a must to dig deep. A 600mm (24 inches) excavation is enough to have a 500mm (18 inches) finished garden wall. After excavating, tramp down on loose soil.
Laying of Stone blocks. Fill the excavation with about loose gravel for foundation. Draw a taut string from one end to the other to keep the first stone course straight. Chisel out any uneven part of the stones. Use a level across the length and width of the stone for a straight course. Use the butt of a mallet to tap the stone to seat it in place. Remember to level out each laid course of stone as any variation would be magnified as the wall grows longer and taller. You would not want to end up with a lopsided garden wall. Put special care in lining and levelling corner stones. If the stones are too large, cut them into the desired sizes.
Backfill the garden wall as you go along. This would reinforce the garden wall. When the desired height is reached, backfill enough gravel 150 mm from the top of the finished wall. Fill the remaining spaces with quality garden soil.
Capping the Wall. Now that you are done with the basic garden wall, it is time to cap it. First, size up the cap stones and make sure they are almost of the same depth and width. Mix the mortar for the cap stones. A good mortar mix would be 1:3 where 1 is cement and 3 is sand. Make sure you have grooves on the final top layer of the stone wall for mortar to anchor.
Apply a generous amount of mortar on the top layer of stone of the garden wall. Use a trowel to lay out the mortar bed evenly. Then, gently lift the cap stone and put the whole length on the mortar bed. Level the cap on the stone by tapping it with the heel of a hammer or a rubber mallet. Tap gently so as not to break the capping. Each cap should be flashed to the adjoining stone cap, levelled and all. Put in some mortar in the front of the cap stones where they meet the stone wall for added reinforcement. Wash out any excess cement before it dries.
Wait at least a day or two for the cement to dry and
strengthened. Your garden wall is done!
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