Front Page Forum: Building Brick Walls
We’re considering building brick walls in our back yard instead of the standard off-the-rack wood fence that seems to be the default choice these days. We’d like to do it out of salvaged bricks, so one challenge will be tracking the materials down. The bigger question, though, is this: How does one construct a stable…
We’re considering building brick walls in our back yard instead of the standard off-the-rack wood fence that seems to be the default choice these days. We’d like to do it out of salvaged bricks, so one challenge will be tracking the materials down. The bigger question, though, is this: How does one construct a stable brick wall that won’t have any adjoining walls to support it? How thick does it need to be? What pattern do the bricks have to be set in? Would it be crazy for us to attempt this ourselves or should we hire a pro? If so, who?
Thanks,
Brownstoner
Think of this as a concrete wall with brick facing. It must be about 3 ft deep at the foundation and have steel reinforcement. It must be designed by a Professional Engineer who will stamp the drawing. This is a structural wall, if if falls, even at 6 feet, someone can be hurt or worse. Anything else, likejust using brick, is not feasable. It is not possible to do yourself without experience, it requires a pick up truck and physical strenght for the work.
Just had a guy build a single layer brick structure for me. He did a three foot deep footing, and reinforced with rebar. It came out great! If you want a reccomendation let me know.
We have a small brick wall in our yard (4 feet high) and i can tell you that I cannot wait to get rid of it. It is very unstable. I would really suggest something of a stone or at least wider than a brick. We started using some cinderblock (ugly gray ones) and asked our friends and family to put their handprints on it with different color paint. It looks really wonderful
or maybe you could use salvaged iron gates, old barn doors, or something along those lines…
I don’t like the brick!
Is possibility you would need building permit for this – but I would never suggest going for one – I believe never involve bldg. dept. – just hope you don’t have neighbors that would object.
You would need to dig down below frost line and have concrete base. Not easy task. Newer brick has the ‘holes’ for rebars to add strength to wall but doubt you’ll find salvaged brick with rebar holes.
But definitely think that look would be great.
A cheaper alternative is concrete block wall with facing – but not the same great old look…but with a little ivy growing up – maybe not so bad.
like this:
http://www.pipeline.com/~pix04/pix/2003-10-25-13-23-14a-pix.jpg
or this:
http://www.pipeline.com/~pix04/pix/2003-10-31-13-00-15_a-pix.jpg
maybe you should consider a stone wall? I think that would be much prettier. You could use a mix of different size stones, it would be more natural and organic looking.
I can’t comment on WHO you should hire, but I can say that you should definitely hire a pro experienced in building a freestanding wall of significant height. I don’t know how high that you want to go with this, but if you are talking a standard 6′ wall than you will be digging 3′ deep for the concrete footing alone. You’ll probably be talking using reinforced concrete piers at intervals for verticle stability and steel reinforcing for horizontal stability.. The bricks used should be hard-fired to resist moisture absorbancy and prevent freeze-thaw damage, so I’m not sure about using recycled bricks unless they are just a facing.
Tremendous cost in labor for all this. And because of the height, I’d tell you not to pick this as your first DYI brick project. You even have to use a special kind of mortar. You may have to go find out whether you need a permit for it- you don’t for a standard 6′ wood fence but with all the structural issues of a brick wall it may be required. You might be better served to use brick piers with custom designed wood panels or just work with a fence maker to get a custom wood design. There are a few houses in Victorian Flatbush that the owners clearly have had their fences made for them to avoid a run of the mill look. Good luck!
Hire a pro. Have the wall built with cinder blocks with a brick facing. If you want to be kind to your neighbors, have a single row of brikcs in between each 2 or 3 rows of cinder blocks and then put a nice looking cap on top of the wall.