Cutting into a brick retaining wall to build steps

[Coral_M]

Hello there,

 

I'm hoping someone can help me...

 

We have recently acquired a piece of garden at the back of our garden - the trouble is, it is about a metre higher than our garden, and a 1m high brick wall is retaining the soil.  We need to cut into the wall (several metres long, 1m high) to build steps to get up to the new top level garden.  We have no budget for professionals, so need to tackle this ourselves - we are give-it-a-go DIYers, willing to learn and want to get it right. 

 

Has anyone done this before? Or does anyone have any advice on the most straightforward way to achieve this?  Any pointers at all - we would really appreciate it.  

 

Thank you so much

[markc]

Hi, at 1m ish height difference you should not have any problems unless you are taking out butresses. Post a pic if you can. 

[Redbeard]

Depends whether you want to cut the steps fully into the retaining wall (with the bottom step in line with the wall) or whether you want to 'lean against' the wall, with, say, only the next-to-top step cutting in. In the latter case, provided the flank walls had adequate footings they would in fact add, rather than remove, buttressing to the existing wall.

[Coral_M]

1 hour ago, markc said:

Hi, at 1m ish height difference you should not have any problems unless you are taking out butresses. Post a pic if you can. 

Thank you for replying markc. Here we go - I hope I've attached the photo correctly.  We intend to cut steps in the other side of where the ivy is..

[Coral_M]

1 hour ago, Redbeard said:

Depends whether you want to cut the steps fully into the retaining wall (with the bottom step in line with the wall) or whether you want to 'lean against' the wall, with, say, only the next-to-top step cutting in. In the latter case, provided the flank walls had adequate footings they would in fact add, rather than remove, buttressing to the existing wall.

Thanks Redbeard - we need to cut fully into the wall, as there is no space for steps to lean against the wall unfortunately

[markc]

7 hours ago, Coral_M said:

Thank you for replying markc. Here we go - I hope I've attached the photo correctly.  We intend to cut steps in the other side of where the ivy is..

Hi, I can’t see any problem at all taking out where the ivy is, bottom left of pick looks like a low buttress so better to leave this bit. If you are looking to wall either side of the steps even better as these wing walls will assist the existing walls if tied in.

[Coral_M]

Great, thanks @markc, good to establish it should be ok to do there

 

Now, down to the detail - do you have any pointers at all for how we should do this? Should we be chiselling out brick by brick, removing the soil in the shape/measurements the steps will take, building the wing walls (with bricks or maybe sleepers,  as we have no experienceof brick-laying?) Then adding in the sleeper steps? 

 

Any advice to help me get started would be AMAZING - Thank you! 

[markc]

@Coral_M your planned method is pretty good, you will probably find the bricks come out pretty easily so be careful at the sides as you don’t want to disturb the bricks you are keeping. When it comes to the last ones on the vertical, if you wiggle them a bit you should find they will come out without too much trouble, you can then finish the bond (half brick) by cutting or breaking a brick or using a full one turned 90 degrees if the spacing allows. This is a good project for a novice so have fun and feel free to ask questions

[Coral_M]

Thank you so much @markc, looking forward to getting started now.

Have a good rest of the weekend