wig wrote:
Wrote:
A 3' retaining wall is quite able to kill children and animals,
cripple
adults and result in law suits. If much of the mortar is missing,
it
is
most likely dangerous.
Finally I would not buy just add water mixes, but mix your own,
otherwise youre liable to end up with an unsuitable mix.
Hard bricks: 3:1 sand:cement by volume
soft (eg Victorian) bricks: 1:1:6 lime:cement:sand
Do not add a mortar face to the wall, this will trap water and may
increase the load on it substantially. As well as not solving the
problem. Can cause other problems too.
NT
HI again,
I got the impression this is just a small retainer wall in a garden.
No
mention was made of nearby buildings or other.
no, so we dont know if theyre there or not. Ditto concrete paths and so
on, any of which might be partially supported indirectly by the wall.
The lack of mortar between the current stones would only make it
possibly dangerous *if* the wall was initially built with mortar, if
it
was built without mortar initially then it is likely to be as strong
today as the day it was built.
agreed - we dont really know enough about it.
I would think any water behind the wall would just go "underneath" it
into the lower bed.
yes, but that would take time. Also we dont know if the soil is heavy
clay, or whats going on.
The wall slants into the upper bed (as it should) and even if
"facing"
it were to trap water and cause collapse it would not "topple", it
would "slump" without seeing the site, I doubt this would be
dangerous.
we really dont know, as we dont know the shape or degree of slope. Nor
what its supporting.
Ladybodger, if you are concerned about trapped water....even if you
are
not concerned it would be good idea to either leave some areas along
the
base of the wall uncovered (i.e. no mortar and tiles on). OR you can
put
some plastic pipes through any current gaps you have in between
stones
before you build the face. FOr example if there is a gap between
stones within the first 6-8 inches from the base of the wall. You
might
be able to first hit a stick through the gap then pull it out and
push a
plastic pipe through. Fill the end of the pipe which will be behind
the
wall with a piece of wire wool before you push it through - so it
doesn't block up with soil. Use plastic (or copper) pipes depending
on
what you have lying around and depending on the size of the hole
available to you. You could use for example 15mm plastic pipe or
copper pipe, 22mm, 32mm 40mm even (given a big enough hole) a piece
of
old 60 - 70mm drain pipe.
Then face the wall working round these pipes, and cut them off flush
afterwards.
that'll work. I'd be more tempted to use tapered sticks from the
garden, cement with them sticking out, then pull them out after several
days. if I were rendering anyway, which I wouldnt.
Ladybodger, if the garden behind the wall keeps rising beyond 3ft,
i.e.
if it slopes upwards to a height of 6ft or more, then you should be
more
cautious. The wall you have has successfully retained whatever
behind
it for donkeys years, but a build up of water could change all that,
hence, the weep holes are a good idea. The higher the ground is
behind the wall the more concerned you need to be. If you are
concerned just post back here a more indepth description of what you
have.
that would help a lot.
Rendering is still liable to cause earlier failure though, and
unnecessary, except as a temporary measure for a wall thats in a
terrible state, ie bricks disintegrated.
NT