Any suggestion for this retaining wall ?

stuart45

I'd leave the coping stones. They take a bashing from the weather, so are better left.

Bendy_House

mazibee said:

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.

I painted both sides of one of the lengths of fencing, the one in the first pic. I also gave that neighbour the 'nice' side of the panels. This was because they are a nice young couple, and were thoughtful when building the shed just beyond that fence.

I also left a ~2'-wide access space between it and the actual border - their picket fence - for easy future maintenance. The quite-recent fence I put up there was completely flattened by Arwen, so these replacement panels are only 4' high!

With the other fence - at the front of our house - I have painted only my side, and given myself the nicer panel finish... Even tho' I get on ok with the cove next door, I made that decision based on a few things - the fence appearance makes a bigger difference to my side than to his (he just parks his large van there, and there's loads of other stuff just chucked there too). Also, when I fitted the first fence there around 15 years ago, I did offer to paint his side, and went on to do so. His attitude, tho', was more one of 'expectancy' than gratitude, and he did absolutely nothing to maintain his side since then. And, he'd secure heavy objects to my posts to stop them falling over (his objects, not my fence...), and I removed two large hooks from a couple of the posts during the current refurb. And, he'd lean very heavy objects against the fence too, like his large pair of old, solid wood, rotting driveway gates. And, after my fence was blown down by last year's storm, his EX wife - who visits him regularly - moaned at my SISTER (seemingly mistaking her for my wife) when she was visiting my neighb that I should fix the fence pdq because HER dawg could get through to our garden. Grrr. When I was replacing the fence above, the cove even asked if I'd be painting his side, so I politely told him that I would love to - but for the sheer lack of time at my disposal. And I pointed out that I'd done so originally only as a favour. (And he has all his family living within a half-mile radius, who are far better set up for such a tedious job than me...)

Hey-ho :-)

With your - much superior quality - fence, I wouldn't be concerned about the lack of paint on the neighbour's side - it should last decades without. If you don't particularly get on with them/ like them that much, then I certainly wouldn't bother asking for access to paint their side. I notice you very kindly gave them the nicer fence side, so you owe them now't.

If you make sure these concrete posts have no existing coating on them (they look as tho' they might have, at least in patches?), then please do try the fence paint on to the bare concrete. Try it on the sides of the furthest-away posts first as a trial. Look at how it goes on as you brush it - it should apply smoothly, with no beading. If it does, let it dry, and then check it for adhesion - try, say, a wire brush on it; if it scrapes off with reluctance, ie it's clearly being 'worn' away by the brush and not flaking, then I'd say you are good to go. I've done this, T'penny has done this - it works :-) And please post photos of the result :-) If you are still uncertain, then do just one post and leave it for a few weeks.

Fence paint will need at least two coats to give a good appearance. The second coat is always much easier to apply than the first. I did buy a Ronseal pump-up sprayer for my job, but found the nozzle blocked every minute or so (probably due to tiny bits of old paint still in the container...), so gave up trying to apply it directly like this. However, I still used it to 'deliver' the paint to the panel, by removing the nozzle and running the tip along each overlap board, with a large brush following it behind to spread it. This actually saved a shed-load of time, as the worst part of painting a fence (or anything similar), is the repeated stooping to load the brush.

Is that actually a 'retaining' wall you have there? What does it retain? Funny how it's much cleaner and drier on one side - does this get the sun? There's little doubt you could make it look a lot better with paint, but bear in mind that once you start this, it'll then become a regular maintenance job, every couple of years or so.

If it were me, tho', I think I would paint it, and I'd probably choose anthracite for the coping stones*, and a light colour - possibly even white - for the walls.

*Are the coping stones grey concrete, or are they 'sandstone'? If the former, then I'd personally paint them. If the latter, I might just clean them up and apply a patio sealer, as it's 'meant' to be decorative as it is. Again, do a trial first to check you like the finish - the sealer will darken it (as if it was permanently wet), and also give it a slight sheen.

mazibee

Extremely thankful to you again for such a detailed reply @Bendy_House

Concrete posts don't have any previous on them will clean them and will try a dark grey on them.

Yes, it's a retaining wall. On the nice-looking/dry side of the wall, you can see the block paving driveway, the driveway was done approx 2 years back, and the driveway was raised to match the level from the outside footpath after going for the dropped kerb in front of our house. The inner side / with the damp patches doesn't get any sunlight and gets a bit better as compared to the photos, during the spell of a few dry days.

I am happy to do it after every two years if it's a simple painting job, without involving the specialist jobs like rendering and mixing cement/sand etc as have no experience of these before.

The coping stones are grey concrete ones, I think the contractor bought them from B&Q (Light Grey Coping Stones)

In case we decide to paint the coping stones, need to be extra careful to avoid any drippings of the paint on the light grey block pavers.

FreeBear

mazibee said: In case we decide to paint the coping stones, need to be extra careful to avoid any drippings of the paint on the light grey block pavers.

That is what dust sheets are for. Spread one out along the base of the wall, and put an old pit of timber on top. A few well places nails of an appropriate size in to the gaps between the paving blocks will hold it all in place.

benson1980

If you use normal masonry paint I think you might encounter issues if it hasn’t been damp proofed properly on the other side. Speaking for experience, and using good masonry paint it may just start to bubble and flake off- which is then a total pain to rectify and isn’t a simple touch up every couple of years.

I have used waterproofing masonry paint on another retaining wall with no damp proofing on the retaining side, with much more success.