KarlHungus1968

Thanks for your input and suggestions. I should have said, the option of building new brick wall in front was suggested by the first builder who looked at the job. What you can't see from the photos is our patio does not extend far from the back of the house before you get to the wall. So whilst it doesn't sound much, losing another 100mm + brick depth for a new wall would have an impact on our patio area. It's annoying as in all other respects this is a v good solution. Our preference is to keep the wall in the same place or ideally push it back into the hill further to gain more patio area - accepting this will be more expensive and disruptive, but would definitely add value to the house. On another note, honestly I never fail to be amazed at how many tradesmen are happy to get in touch, come to your house, discuss a job with you, mention ballpark costs and feign interest only to then go silent - no written estimates / quotes as promised, no response to messages / voicemails. Of the four we've had to look at this wall I've had radio silence from two of them, no idea why - maybe I need to change my deodorant...

Hi, First time posting here looking for advice, and hopefully to learn something. After 10 years in our 1930s house we are finally planning to tackle the 1960s retaining brick wall in our steeply-sloped garden before laying patio. Our plot is carved into a valley; we have a small area of patio behind the house with a very steep slope held in place by the wall. It's showing cracks / spalling, plus the previous owner decided to paint it so every couple of years we have to scrape off the flaking paint and apply another tin of Sandtex. Being in a valley, with lots of big trees nearby, the area is damp in winter. We intend to replace the biggest section, 10m wide and average 1m high. Other sections aren't in such bad shape so we've just had the top courses of bricks replaced. The question is, what would you do if this was yours? We want the job done properly and look good but have had different - sometimes contradictory - opinons from the four builders who have looked at it so far. After discounting a few non-starters we are left with: 1. Rip out old wall, replace with blocks with a facing brick layer in front for aesthetics. 2. Rip out old wall, replace with blocks to be rendered and painted. Option 1 seems straightforward, essentially 'like for like' but with added strength and the luxury of not having to paint it. It just might look a bit odd against the other - painted - sections of wall, although over time we could replace them too. Option 2 was suggested by a landscaping company and is our preference. We think it would look great as we could render the other (old) areas of wall for a matching finish. However, on Sunday I had a builder tell me rendering was a bad idea as the render will deteriorate and need repainting every year. Yet another builder flatly denied this today and told me it would be fine. If we go with this, I want to be very sure it is durable and to be specific about what we need in terms of drainage, type of render etc etc. And if it's the wrong solution, fair enough, we'll cross it off. Any thoughts welcome to help avoid a situation where I spend a lot of £ and then regret my decision!