Just had a wall start to lean on me in a tight Philly alley job

We were laying a garden wall and the base wasn't wide enough for the height. I saw the top course start to drift after lunch. Had to pull it down and redo the footing with a wider trench. Anyone else had a close call like that with a simple garden wall?

2 comments

2 Comments

wright.jesse3d ago

Glad you caught that drift in time. A lot of people forget that even a short garden wall needs a solid base. The rule I learned is the footing should be half as wide as the wall is tall, and twice as deep as the wall is thick. So a three foot wall that's one brick thick needs a footing a foot and a half wide and at least eight inches deep. It seems like overkill until you see one start to lean.

julia_jones723d ago

Tell me about it, @wright.jesse. I learned that lesson the hard way with my first little herb garden wall. I skimped on the base, thinking it was just for looks. Two winters later, it looked like a drunk snake trying to hold up some bricks. Had to redo the whole thing, frost heave just pushed it right over. Your math sounds about right, even if my past self would have called it overkill. That leaning mess in my yard is all the proof I need now.