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Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 4:21 pm
by mikeadelic
I am in the process of designing my front driveway & would like some advice please.
At present it is a garden which I shall be removing via a 5 tonne excavator (free of charge) I am per my design going to install a perimeter wall but due to cost and brick laying experience I was going to construct out of blocks with pillars for latteral support.
1. Can I use the light weight internal blocks & then render them.
2. wall is going to be approx 1.2 metres high so what foundations are required (depends on answer to question 1)
3. Is a DPC required
4. Do I lay the first row in bricks.
Thanks in advance & I look forward to receiving your replies.
Mike
Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 10:18 pm
by Mikey_C
I recently wanted to put a boundary wall up, Internet searches provided no clear idea of how far down I should dig, no calculations that could be made, a general opinion was that the base of the footing needed to be below 450mm for frost protection.
A local structural engineer advised me I would find a “nice gravel bed about a meter down� which I duly did and built off, I was also advised that to put piers every 4m on a double skin wall.
Round here you need planning if the wall is adjacent to public land (e.g. path/road) and over 1m high.
You may want to contact a local structural engineer/or architect for advice.
As always this web site does feature a page on brick walls which can be found here
Finally, if you can't brick lay, will your block laying be any better? As for rendering can you do this either? A bricklayer may be better value for money, you can always get the materials in and labour for him to reduce the costs.
Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 10:44 pm
by lutonlagerlout
1 no, not worth a carrot outdoors,concrete blocks or frost resistant bricks
2approx 300 mm deep into decent ground and 350 wide
i cant see your ground but you need to be on solid subgrade
3 no
4 no need
hope this helps
LLL 
Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 11:30 pm
by Rich H
Don't you think dense concrete blocks are easier to lay than thermalites anyway? Laying those fly-away things feels a bit like herding cats to me. Plus with the dense blocks you can put your scratch coat on pretty much straight away.
Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 11:32 pm
by Rich H
Can I also be the first this season to report ice on the digger seat this morning. Fortunately I still had my rugby kit in the truck from training the night before so I grabbed my towel to sit on! Don't want a case of chalfonts to add to everything else!:D
Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2007 1:25 am
by lutonlagerlout
sadly its a myth rich
its a poor diet or pregnancy that causes the farmers,so 1 outta 2 aint bad
we covered the BWk with hessian tonight just in case
BTW did you watch the argie=frog game tonight?
what a great player that contempi guy is!!
so far this world cup i have had
1 eng to beat aus
2eng to beat france
3 and the day after eng lost 36-0 i put £3 at odds of 65-1 england to win the bloody thing
and guess what?
its my folks ruby wedding anniversary tomorrow night and we are booked in for a meal at 7.45p.m.!!!!
aaarrrgggghhhhhhhhhhh
such is life
LLL
Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2007 8:41 am
by matt h
I was in france when England beat the french Cheval was a broken sorry for the pun. Best of luck against the springbocs.. I SHALL BE WATCHIN WITH ME FEET UP 
Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2007 1:33 pm
by lutonlagerlout
did you go to the game then?
its a shame really ,but when i was a kid i used to dream of going to a world cup final, or olympic 100m final, or world heavyweight boxing match.
but sadly touts have got everything by the bollox
saw bruno beat mccall at wembley,and steve collins beat nigel benn in manchester but thats about it.
you want to see england play nowdays you need 500 quid for a ticket £20 for a burger and all the rest
IMO it should just be plain illegal to resell tickets,i know touts who made 30 K in germany last year just buying and reselling tickets
LLL
Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2007 8:02 pm
by mikeadelic
Guys,
Thanks for great advice, I shall follow.
For budget purposes can you advise me on the exact blocks I require (technical name) & perhaps cost (rough price)
Thanks
Mike
Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 10:01 am
by lutonlagerlout
sorry mate bit of a tangent there
you need 100mm concrete blocks
if you ask for these you will be ok
expect to pay roughly £1 a block
cheers LLL