Garden Wall Cracked & Moving

FreeBear

Exodi said: Still trying to come to terms with the fact that I'm potentially out of pocket £2.5k because of a windy day - thats a week all inclusive in a five star resort in greece with spending money! 

One of the pitfalls of home ownership I'm afraid. When funds are limited, you have to make sacrifices (and Greece isn't much of a loss).

Is this quote for rebuilding as a single thickness (4" or 100mm), or double thickness (8", 200mm) ?

Exodi

FreeBear said:

Exodi said: Still trying to come to terms with the fact that I'm potentially out of pocket £2.5k because of a windy day - thats a week all inclusive in a five star resort in greece with spending money! 

One of the pitfalls of home ownership I'm afraid. When funds are limited, you have to make sacrifices (and Greece isn't much of a loss).

Is this quote for rebuilding as a single thickness (4" or 100mm), or double thickness (8", 200mm) ?

Single thickness - the issue being that if a double thickness wall was made, it would be an eyesore next to the other 5 walls.

I would also look to replace the gate to a wrought iron gate, so that wind coming down the alley can pass through the gate, instead of being forced into the wall.

From my understanding, this wall has been like this for about 14 years so I'm hoping I'd to get a new decade out of this new one, especially solving the gate issue. Maybe during that time I may win the lottery and have them all changed...

Yes, this is what I've said to my partner - one of the (few) downsides of home ownership. Just not the greatest time, it eats up a lot of our savings while we're saving for a wedding - but what can you do!

Appreciate all the insight so far!

Bendy_House

What is the purpose of that wall? Does it provide security? Or is it effectively a 'feature' wall that divides the garden?

The former might make it a valid insurance claim, tho' tbh this damage wasn't 'caused' by the wind; the wind only highlighted how poorly built the wall was, or what a poor state of repair. Ie, it was not really 'damaged', but suffering from 'wear and tear', so you might not be covered in any event.

Concrete posts and a timber fence isn't an option?

JGB1955

I would be tempted to contact my insurance company,  I would consider 'garden' insurance to cover items left in the garden - BBQ, trampoline, garden furniture etc etc, rather than something structural that forms part of the building and boundary.

Section62

Exodi said:

Single thickness - the issue being that if a double thickness wall was made, it would be an eyesore next to the other 5 walls.

I would also look to replace the gate to a wrought iron gate, so that wind coming down the alley can pass through the gate, instead of being forced into the wall.

Really it should be a case of what's safe and durable, rather than appearance.  Rebuilding like-for-like may result in throwing £2.5k away if it falls over again a month later.

I'm also doubtful the gate makes much of a difference as the passageway is 'open' at the top.  There's no guarantee that changing the gate design would prevent the same problem (the core problem is the unsutability of the wall slenderness ratio).  In fact if the wind blows in a direction towards the gate, changing it to a less solid one may increase the chances of the wall being damaged - at present the gate is possibly providing a degree of protection against winds from that direction.  Wind effects on structures is a complex subject, it is relatively difficult to predict the effect of changes to the structure.

Exodi

Bendy_House said:

What is the purpose of that wall? Does it provide security? Or is it effectively a 'feature' wall that divides the garden?

The former might make it a valid insurance claim, tho' tbh this damage wasn't 'caused' by the wind; the wind only highlighted how poorly built the wall was, or what a poor state of repair. Ie, it was not really 'damaged', but suffering from 'wear and tear', so you might not be covered in any event.

Concrete posts and a timber fence isn't an option?

I've attached a picture giving a birds eye view of our property. Our property is made up of 8 block walls connected by brick columns between them. The red one (at the front of the house) is failing.

The wall has a gate connected to. Right of the wall (or above in the picture) is an walkway that runs alongside the house to the garden. Left of the wall (or below in picture) is a shared access driveway. Technically we own it, but it is solely for the use of the houses behind us (an odd arrangement, I think this was a condition of the house being built).

To be honest, it would look awkward to knock one section of the wall down and replace it for a fence - I've included an additional picture that shows the sections of walls looking in from the front of the house so you can see what I mean.

Exodi

JGB1955 said:

I would be tempted to contact my insurance company,  I would consider 'garden' insurance to cover items left in the garden - BBQ, trampoline, garden furniture etc etc, rather than something structural that forms part of the building and boundary.

Would it had to have already fallen over to warrant an insurance claim?

Section62 said:

Really it should be a case of what's safe and durable, rather than appearance.  Rebuilding like-for-like may result in throwing £2.5k away if it falls over again a month later.

I'm also doubtful the gate makes much of a difference as the passageway is 'open' at the top.  There's no guarantee that changing the gate design would prevent the same problem (the core problem is the unsutability of the wall slenderness ratio).  In fact if the wind blows in a direction towards the gate, changing it to a less solid one may increase the chances of the wall being damaged - at present the gate is possibly providing a degree of protection against winds from that direction.  Wind effects on structures is a complex subject, it is relatively difficult to predict the effect of changes to the structure.

I truely appreciate what you're saying, but I would really prefer to avoid a situation where one wall is significantly different to the others, unless absolutely essential. As these walls have lasted over a decade in their current state, and ones failing condition was significantly accelerated by Storm Eunice there's no reason to believe it would fall over again a month later.

In an ideal world, I'd love to replace them all with thicker worlds, but I don't think my bank account would allow it at present.

If I may poke all your brains one final time - the wall is no longer completely stable - if you apply a decent amount of pressure to the 'gate end' you can make it move a couple of centimetres each way.

The tradesperson said this means it needs to be rebuilt - would you agree with that stance, or is it possible to repoint a 'wobbly wall'? I'm a bit cynical in thinking that a tradesperson would prefer to just knock it down and rebuild as it's a cleaner job for more money... but then this may genuinely be the only option. They did say the foundations look fine, they wouldn't replace the 'bottom bricks' you can see in the picture (not painted white).

FreeBear

Exodi said: The tradesperson said this means it needs to be rebuilt - would you agree with that stance, or is it possible to repoint a 'wobbly wall'? I'm a bit cynical in thinking that a tradesperson would prefer to just knock it down and rebuild as it's a cleaner job for more money... but then this may genuinely be the only option. They did say the foundations look fine, they wouldn't replace the 'bottom bricks' you can see in the picture (not painted white).

Most of us would concur that rebuilding is the only proper way of fixing the wall. Repointing (with or without helibar stitching) is a short term bodge.

Section62

Exodi said:

I truely appreciate what you're saying, but I would really prefer to avoid a situation where one wall is significantly different to the others, unless absolutely essential. As these walls have lasted over a decade in their current state, and ones failing condition was significantly accelerated by Storm Eunice there's no reason to believe it would fall over again a month later.

Alternatively you could look on it as being incredibly fortunate the walls have lasted as long as they have and the next failure could be imminent.

However, another issue is that the width of both the passageway and the driveway are minimal to say the least, so the scope to build a sufficiently wide wall is limited.  You may also be limited by planning/covenants in replacing the wall with a wooden fence.  Ideally you need to take a longer-term view on this, otherwise the cumulative costs could greatly exceed the cost of doing the job properly (as the original builder ought to have done)

Exodi said:

In an ideal world, I'd love to replace them all with thicker worlds, but I don't think my bank account would allow it at present.

If I may poke all your brains one final time - the wall is no longer completely stable - if you apply a decent amount of pressure to the 'gate end' you can make it move a couple of centimetres each way.

The tradesperson said this means it needs to be rebuilt - would you agree with that stance, or is it possible to repoint a 'wobbly wall'? I'm a bit cynical in thinking that a tradesperson would prefer to just knock it down and rebuild as it's a cleaner job for more money... but then this may genuinely be the only option. They did say the foundations look fine, they wouldn't replace the 'bottom bricks' you can see in the picture (not painted white).

Walls falling over can do considerable damage to vehicles and other property, and can be fatal to people and animals.  Now you know there is a problem you need to fix it in a way which protects yourself from the liability and potential legal consequences if the wall fails.  Bluntly, that could go as far as doing jail time... assuming the wall doesn't fall on you.

No responsible tradesperson would risk a bodge repair on a wall of that height which is visibly moving under very small loads.

Eldi_Dos

@Exodi, regarding the gate, until finances are available to replace you could drill a couple of holes then using  a multi tool cut out a slot.A few dotted about the wooden slats might even be a feature and help to lessen buffeting caused by wind.