Tricky garden wall

Helen2k8

Just chewing over some ideas really. I have a stretch of garden boundary about 25 feet long. It is sort of walled, at one end the wall is about hip height, and at the other end it is retaining about 2 feet of soil but is only a few inches above my soil level (my garden is the raised area). The wall is one stone wide (6 inches?), some is mortared in and some is just stacked. My neighbour's fence is a few inches beyond this wall.

How irritated would a builder be if I asked them to rebuild the whole stretch to about 6 feet tall, but without disturbing the neighbour's fence OR the plants on my side of my wall? There is enough room to work around them but it's not easy. I could temporarily move some but not all. Or would they need moving anyway to find the foundation?

Any idea what sort of cash figure I'd be looking at?

Alternatively, how easy is it for a novice to build a narrow wall in an awkward space? Is there an idiot's guide somewhere, and what about calculating how much material I'd need / what material is most suitable?

Davesnave

A 6' wall needs substantial foundations, or it will be dangerous. If it's going to be built along the same line, these would have to go under your neighbour's fence too, so I think this project as described is a non-starter and needs a re-think.

Most builders would use a mini-digger, if possible, to get foundations in quickly. One of those could re-locate larger plants. No one likes tip-toeing around plants when building, and if asked to do so, some might not even bother to quote you for the job.

Sorry!

moneyistooshorttomention

Agreed - it does sound like it's not that straightforward.

My 6' tall wall did involve ripping out nearby plants with a mini-digger in the process - whether I wanted it or no. Fortunately - I did want it.

Also the foundations for a wall that height are going to involve a width of concrete laid down that is about 2' wide at the base (from memory trying to picture it).

It is necessary for pretty sturdy type foundations for a reasonable height wall in a windy area and probably in any area pretty much.

You need to bear in mind that a wall of that sort of height is going to be pretty wide - I've just had a quick measure and mine is 13" wide. It hadnt really occurred to me that the nearest edge of my "boundary feature" was going to come back some inches into my garden - compared to what had been there before. Fortunately, there was room on my side of the wall for this to happen - but it did occur to me after the event as to how come that bit of my garden seemed to be marginally narrrower than it had been - until I got out my tape measure and had a think about it. Ahem.....

I_have_spoken

WHat about a concrete slab wall? The concrete post holes can be dug using an motorised-auger which shouldn't cause a lot of disturbance, then the pieces are dropped into position.

moneyistooshorttomention

Just a slight problem with a concrete slab wall. They're ugly and OP might want to sell the house on at some point and that would go down on most potential buyers list of "negative points about the house".