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Is Durisol suitable for a garden wall - say a 2m high wall enclosing a back garden, either on the boundary or as a divider? In the past all sorts of materials have been used for garden walls which are then rendered over and capped at the top. I am wondering if Durisol could be used for such a purpose, as it is inexpensive, fast, easily incorporates reinforcement, and is suitable for render. The full above ground sections can probably be done as a single pour after an earlier pour for the foundations, and perhaps the copings can be plonked straight on top of *that*. Compared with the cost of a traditional brick or stone wall, that looks attractive. Does anyone have any thoughts? Ferdinand

So I have a somewhat decrepit 1.7m (ish) stone wall between me and my neighbour on the West side, on the South side of the house. The wall is in poor condition - I have this year removed the ivy that had come over and *through* it. Small stones can be removed by hand. It is full of solitary bees in the spring / summer. The ground level on the neighbour side is approx 12-18" higher. And the boundary is my face of the wall. It is 14-15m long. Something needs to be done. Neighbour is please that I removed the ivy. I would like to grow things like a black berry and fruit espaliers on the wall as it gets quite good sun and shelter. Obviously that needs permission from N. How would you proceed? Relations are fine, but I do not see the neighbour spending a couple of K to restore my side of the wall until after it has fallen down. Had a chat and he said "yes you can repoint it". ? He also has a further 45m of the same wall between him and the lane, which I do not envy. Rebuilding fully by a real stonemason would be perhaps £200-250 per metre. I am wondering about the benefit of repointing this myself. Any thoughts would be most welcome. Ferdinand

My neighbour has built a new block wall and I would like to render my side to tidy it up. I'm pretty sure my neighbour won't render his side and will leave it as exposed block. Am I wise rendering my side?

Hello Can I have some advice please, I brought a new build home and I was shocked and disappointed at the standard KIER homes have built my external wall please can you give me your knowledge and experience regarding to the standard of this wall. This wall is next to a canal and I am responsible for the any repair. Anything will help please.

Just about to build the wall connecting our house to the piggery. The wall has a full-on foundation, piles and all (for which there is no need, but thats another story) This is the junction between the house and the wall. You can see the DPC and radon barrier in the house. The wall hasn't been poured yet. (empty Durisol blocks) You can see the EPS300 butting up to the Durisol block. There's a 100mm + gap to make up the wall to the house DPC level. As it's a garden wall, there's no need for the horizontal DPC is there....? But should I run some DPC vertically between the house and the garden wall?

(This thread is about brick walls - please do not invade it with fences, and hedges - except as garnish for the brick). In a few days I will be having a small front garden wall built ... about 5m x 1m high so 500 or so bricks, in a street of small 1960s bungalows. I did a little wander up my street to crib a few ideas, and these were a few of the walls I have locally. It is a former lane lane which has been absorbed into the near town centre and has buildings from approx 1830 to present. There will hopefully be a longer blog post, but these are a few examples off the type I may be having built. I am looking for comments. The surprise for me is how quickly these deteriorate, especially with the wrong choice of materials - some are looking shoddy after only 25-30 years. IMO brick walls should easily last a century unless there is a requirement not to do so. Here we go. A Nice looking wall, made with facing bricks (like my house) and copers, and basic engineering bricks as DPC. B But it has spalled badly. Do not use facing bricks for a garden wall. C I like this combination of red and blue. 40-50 years old and suffering a little? On the main road with the traffic. D Posh gatepost. Inadequate materials as used in the flats behind. Now badly deteriorated. E Yep.Like it. Recent, and they have trees in the right place, too. But are those facers and will it spall later? F As above, but two or three decades older and now careworn: G Similar with added decoration from blue engineering bricks. English Garden Wall Bond, I think. H Again, with blue decoration included in the paving: I Another variation. Someone did not like the postbox in the gatepost. J A very carefully done piece of architecture imo. That stone wall style used to be the dominant note on the road, and is still the background. What have you done or seen? What will wear best? Feel free to post lots of pictures of garden walls from your area. If there is one fault with the above imo, it is that there is no discernible vernacular in this selection. Ferdinand

Is there any wisdom on attaching fence panels to the top of a small wall for extra privacy? I have seem this done by people drilling down through those concrete copers that are everywhere, or by buying (or making) a bracket which is screwed down to the copers, Highly bodgy or somehwat bodgy - asking for ingress of water down the middle of the wall, and require repair in under a decade. In my case it is a 3ft wall with coping bricks which are 45 degrees each side. I think I am inclined to use 3x3 tanalised posts attached to the back of the wall for perhaps the top 18" to 2' attached using concrete screws or concrete screwbolts, using 3 per post section, then attach the 2ft high or whatever panel to the front of the posts. If I can find any I will add brackets to let the panel rest on the wall with no mechanical attachment. Can anyone see any issues or suggest better methods? (I am OK wrt fencing facing the highway and height regulations, because it doesn't). Cheers Ferdinand