Hi all,
Lurked for a while but now it's time to take the plunge
My house backs onto a Sydney Water establishment has a very ugly boundary fence - Chain type fence with 3 lines of barbed wire across the top. The fence sits at a height of about 1.7m at my back yard. I would like to build a simple fence/wall in front of it to hide it.
It looks like to best option for me would be to build a 'Besser Block' dwarf wall to approx 1m then add Besser block pillars at about 2.4m apart which I shall render and infill with a wooden slatted fence.
I am a pretty accomplished DIY'er but have never built any form of wall in my life, hence help required please
On my side of the fence is a 50cm high, 20cm thick, retaining wall which I would like to build the wall on top of, so foundation is there. I have visited a supplier today who recommended I purchase 150mm series Besser blocks, and build the wall 'dry' i.e. no cement. I would then in-fill the spaces with concrete. This all seems pretty reasonable and do-able for me.
The question is, how much rebar should I use for this free standing, non structural wall, which for most of its span will be about 1m high? My intent is to use rebars for the parts of the wall that go full height (1.7m). Probably qty 7 for this 15m span wall, I think around 220 bricks total. The leaflets I have found tend to talk about structural walls that take load so I don't think I need to go for so much rebar as they talk about.
Many thanks in advance for any assist that can be given.
With most councils if any part of the wall goes over 1m ( 900mm for some ) then you need either a structural engineer or plans submitted to the council or both.
Stewie
With retaining walls stability is consequent upon the depth of foundation into the earth. Do you know how deep the current foundation goes? Im betting it isnt deep enough.
Traditionally you want a depth minimum 25% of exposed height. Deeper at staggered points.
Even if its deep enough, you're going to need to make a strong bond to the existing foundation to make it as stiff as if it were built as one originally.
I suspect it would be easier to just put in the shrubs to cover it all. A 1.7 m fence with barbed wire is excellent security - look at the positives!
Hi,
I've had a good look at the retaining wall. It is hard to ascertain if the foundation is deep enough. I am on the high side of the wall and it is my understanding the foundation should be built out on my side to take advantage of the weight of soil piled on it my side. I have decided to go with Stratco Ezi-lock fencing. It is lighter and because it is slatted will not offer so much wind stress to the retaining wall. Additionally if the wall does show signs of distress than I can take it down pretty easily.
Many thanks for the assistance
I think that is a good choice.
New rules came out about brick fences about 10 years ago after a child climbed it and it fell on him....it was a sad result....
Even though it's only a fence it still needs to be built structurally for safety reasons