Any suggestion for this retaining wall ?

mazibee

Hi Everyone,

Please can someone suggest to me what can be done to make this wall look better?

I have the option of painting the wall? WHich paint to use? Do I need to coat any other layer of chemical to make it last longer?

Any other suggestions will be much appreciated.

I have recently painted a few panels of my fence in slate grey from Screwfix.

Also any suggestion on what paint to use for painting these concrete posts and make the area (gap) better between the fence and  concrete.

Thanks in advance.

FreeBear

As the wall has already been rendered, and you have lumps showing, I'd betyempted to give it a coat of this - https://www.diy.com/departments/tarmac-one-coat-ready-mixed-render-25kg-bag/1501080_BQ.prd Then paint with an exterior grade masonry paint.

Between the concrete & fence, scoop out some of the soil and fill with a decorative gravel. Paint the posts with the same masonry paint that was used for the walls - Just don't go for grey. It is starting to look so last year !

Bendy_House

I think that slate grey looks lovely - almost like beautifully (and very evenly...) weathered timber. Since you will almost certainly be buying masonry paint for that wall, then - provided the colour is suitable - that would be the ideal paint for the concrete posts too.

For the posts, I'd suggest either go for the same colour as the fence, or a charcoal/anthracite grey (to give a crisp, proper dark contrast), or even black. I think anthracite/charcoal is less stark, and would also suit the wall - again a nice & crisp contrast with the grey pavings you have there.

That wall looks damp... Does it dry up at any time, after a nice week of warm dry weather? I'd give it a coat of stabiliser first - Everbuild 406 - and check that it dries ok. Then the masonry paint.

Spookily enough, I'm redoing some fences at my own place, and I've gone for charcoal grey for the panels, and black for the posts. I chose the charcoal grey to provide a contrast to the bushes in front of it, and I think it works.

Eldi_Dos

Real Stone Cladding "Gloria Natural" would be nice to look out at,do not know how easy it would be for diy.

mazibee

Thanks @FreeBear

As I am complete newbie in the DIY field , so rendering again with tarmac one coat, looks a bit difficult for me

Thanks @Bendy_House

Doing a coat of Everbuild 406 and then doing masonary paint seems doable to me. Anthracite Gray / Black seems a good combination for the concrete posts but seems a bit dark for the wall, so plan to go for either same slate grey or a bit darker than slate grey.

If you dont mind sharing photos , kindy share some photos of your fence.

Also is it OK to first coat the wall with Everbuild 406 and then coat with masonary paint withoit doing a rendering with Tarmac One coat as suggested with @FreeBear

Thanks for the suggestions @Eldi_Dos

Natural stones will look so beautiful on the wall , unfortunately i dont have much expertise for for doing them myself.

Bendy_House

I 'think' the Slate Grey will, as you also suspect, look a bit wishy-washy on the wall, so a darker grey (tho' not necessarily as dark as anthracite) would look better. It would also help disguise future stains...!

If there is constant damp coming through that wall from the other side, then I'm not sure how fully successful 406 and paint will be. Even adding another coat of render might not fully succeed - it would just need one of these hairline cracks to come through via fractional movement.

IF that wall DOES fully dry at some point, then I think that is still what I'd try, and I'm pretty sure it would be 'largely' successful; ie, the wall would look 100 times better, but there would remain the risk of these cracks coming through again, so would need touching up every year or so. So, wire-brush thoroughly, remove any loose mortar (if this opens up the cracks to be wider, then you should really fill them with exterior filler like Toupret), 406 it all (keep adding more if it gets sucked in), allow to dry and than Sandtex or a similar quality masonry paint.

It'll be transformative, but if water continues to come through, will need maintenance. 

I guess an actual solution would be to 'tank' the wall first using a tanking slurry, but I'm not sure if this can be applied smoothly enough for painting?

I'll get some photos of the fence. Funnily enough, I'm pretty sure it's 'Slate' grey I got too, but found it sure ain't! So I got some Tudor black and mixed them to get a dark grey ..

Bendy_House

I recall now - I found the Slate Grey at SF, but half the online reviews said it was a light-to-mid grey, and that's not what I wanted. So I went to a different store and bought a tub of 'Charcoal' grey (by Spear & Jackson) - even tho' the colour pic on the front also looked like a L-to-M grey...

And so it turned out - it was as light as your 'Slate' grey. So I got a couple of tubs of Tudor Black as well, and mixed them... The first pic has the fence grey in the 'anthracite'-mix range, and the posts and trellis in full black, and the second fence has the panels mixed a bit darker still - more dark than I wanted, so will probably lighten them slightly when next done.

In reality, there is a noticeable difference between the panels and the posts, especially in the first fence, but it all looks kinda 'black' in the photos!

I did the first fence in that colour so's it would be neutral for the neighb on that side and wouldn't stick out - it follows the colour scheme they have on their side, and they have a looong shed along that wall anyway (a wee firing range...). And I went for the dark at the front of our house so as to contrast with the bushes there - the previous fence was forest green, so it was all a bit vague. And it works - when the sun hits the bushes, they glow against the dark background. (Fence not yet finished, and posts need trimming down...)

I think a dark grey/near-charcoal would look good on your posts IF you wanted a contrast, or else stick with the same grey as the fence.

Ok, do this at your own risk, but I'm pretty certain it will work ('cos I've done it...): If you'd like your posts to be the same colour as the panels, then use the fence paint on the concrete posts! This would NOT work on concrete where damp would be coming through from behind (ie - not a chance on your retaining wall), but I have tried it on solid concrete posts and it sticks simply perfectly. In fact, in the second pic, you can see the concrete stub post at the bottom, and that's been painted using the same Tudor black fence paint. I'd suggest you try this on a test part first, but if the concrete posts are free from other coatings, I will lay high odds on it being fully successful. But don't come crying to me if...

 

twopenny

I've used garden paint on a concrete post and its still fine after 3yrs.
So if you want to do fence and posts the same colour that's an option.

DE_612183

Have you thought of just covering with trellis and painting that?

EssexExile

DE_612183 said:

Have you thought of just covering with trellis and painting that?

This is a great idea, anything you coat the wall with will just peel or crack anyway in time.

mazibee

Thanks, @Bendy_House for posting the photos of your fence , explaining in detail and bearing with me

I am only painting the fence on our side, but from the photos, you have posted seems that you have done it on both sides.

I have no idea whether our neighbour will mind painting the fence from their side. ( The fence belongs to us) our neighbours are not very happy neighbours.

Have you hand-painted the fence or have used the sprayer and how many coats?

I am also posting photos of the retaining wall from the front of the house.

The side in the above photo seems much better and dry as compared to the other side. As I plan to paint this side also.

Any suggestions on painting the copping stones? is it a good idea to paint them or leave them as it is?

Thanks, @DE_612183

I never thought of using trellis and then painting them, Any photos for the idea will be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance and sorry for my basic questions.