Knackered old garden wall advice

Robby1988

I live in a mid-terrace and the garden wall between our yard and the neighbours is crumbling to bits. For years its been covered it's been disguised by various screening. After the screening got damaged by the wind earlier in the year we decided we would look to get it sorted once & for all.


I think it's fair to say that the wall is knackered. We consulted a builder who was working on a house down the road & he basically said its beyond any lasting repair and needs binning & recommended replacing with a fence. We liked the idea, but sadly our neighbour isn't playing ball as his side of the wall still looks semi-decent and he just repainted it.
Has anybody got any advice as to what we could best do given we can't demolish it, I am loathed to cover it up again    Is it feasible to render after some repairs to the broken bits at the top?

grumbler

Well, if you were happy with a fence, why not just fix it to the wall? If it's not panels, then horizontal battens go first.

Or you can fix cement boards directly to the wall and then, possibly, paint them.

There are more expensive options like, say, brick cladding.

Mutton_Geoff

I wouldn't attach anything to it to hide it (fence panels etc) but just have it rendered. You can get all kinds of colours and textures. Look up a product called K Rend for ideas. There are much cheaper products, even sand and cement with a colouring in it. Use a plasterer rather than a general jobbing builder for a better finish.

K Rend even do a product called Brick Rend if you wanted a "new" brick wall instead but if plain rendered, you could fix trellis or an outdoor mirror or WHY to break up the expanse.

TELLIT01

First question - is the wall jointly owned, or is it your property and responsibility.  If it's your property the neighbour can't stop you taking it down, and to be honest it looks about ready to fall down anyway.  If it does fall and cause damage or injury you could end up being liable.

greatcrested

Who owns the wall?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Hard to say from the pictures if it's knackered but I wouldn't take the word of one builder.

Options are render or, I appreciate you said you don't wish to cover it again but if the previous cover was damaged in a storm may be it wasn't the best of options, you could clad it in timber to soften the area, (1st video is a bit too long but basically attach battens and then timber):

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X8xuipr4_A

or plastic cladding:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgh9uCGMmGc

or stone tiles:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqhne24XYnY

Each are DIY jobs really although if you was going to tile it I'd guess you should render it first. 

If the wall really is a danger then another chat with your neighbour might be due, perhaps they like the wall for privacy or keeping nose at bay and would agree to something other than a fence. 

Robby1988

Thanks for all the replies.
I am not actually sure who owns the wall, I have always assumed that it is jointly owned. The neighbour has a brick storage unit attached to it so knocking it down would mean that being messed around with too, I very much doubt we will persuade him to invest money & effort into a problem that as far as he is concerned doesn’t exist.

I suspect that we might end up getting it rendered again but I also suspect some repairs will need making to the wall beforehand. 

Mutton_Geoff

Robby1988 said:

Thanks for all the replies.
I am not actually sure who owns the wall, I have always assumed that it is jointly owned. The neighbour has a brick storage unit attached to it so knocking it down would mean that being messed around with too, I very much doubt we will persuade him to invest money & effort into a problem that as far as he is concerned doesn’t exist.

I suspect that we might end up getting it rendered again but I also suspect some repairs will need making to the wall beforehand. 

Parging it should increase it's integrity before the smooth render goes on.

takemymoney

Maybe it has been four years, and if you are still on the forum, can you tell me how you fixed the wall? Did you tear it down or cover it with an artificial green wall? 

flo22

I have a 6 ft brick garden wall, a few years ago I had to have about 5-6 metres of it rebuilt (removed to footing level and rebuilt with same brick and also buying similar Victorian bricks from salvage yard) and it cost me about £9k.  

takemymoney

That's a lot of money for a wall. Mine is not that big: 5 meters long and 50/60 cm high. My wife hates the natural bushes that I was planning to plant, so we are now considering buying artificial living wall panels to cover the bricks and make the wall look better.