Garden Wall Repair

[Old_Geezer]

Ok, I'm not in a position to measure and give exact details, but I'm trying to get a decent estimate of cost for repairing/rebuilding a garden wall, as we've had 2 quotes, very different, and even the cheaper one seemed rather high.

 

Recently my woman got a call from a neighbour living next to her late parents' place (no she hasn't moved in or sold it yet) to say the wall between the pavement and the garden had cracked and was leaning against the bushes/trees in the garden. We've checked it and it does, and seems to have parted at the pavement level. Most unexpected.

 

Pure guesswork from an armchair miles away; it's about 2 to 2½ feet high with coping stones, and more difficult to estimate, but maybe 18 to 20 foot long ?

 

What sort of price should we be looking at to get it sorted and the site cleared of any resulting debris ?

 

TIA

[The Builder]

You know what I'm going to say OG.  A pic would speak volumes because I can't tell from here 🤔

Anyway, Ill make a load of assumptions and give it a wild shot.

I'm assuming:

It's brick, and it's been blown over by the wind and simply separated along the first horizontal bed at ground level.

So.. it's a re-build. Also assuming it's lime mortar and fairly easy to clean off the bricks.

Straight section - no openings/pillars etc. Just a section of 9" brick wall. 2-brick thick with a matching coping. I'm also assuming it runs to a corner which is still Ok.

Clean off old mortar. Re-use everything (double facework i.e. face-finished both sides.). Dispose of the old mortar. Clear up.

They'll price for a week's work. It may be beyond the average handyman, so a general builder or bricklayer. 

For one chap - around £1200-1300 all-in.  It's only a 1-man job, but some of them bring along a labourer which bumps the price right up.

For cement mortar: it may not clean off successfully, so some bricks may break, necessitating going off and faffing around trying to find similar secondhand.  OR..........  there may be only a few salvageable. In which case they're all going to be new.

So... add 5 or 6 hundred extra for the brick, and maybe another 200 or more to get rid of the old brickwork (depends on where he takes it. maybe a small skip.)

I'm also assuming there's room to set up and work (big assumption.)

If it is a builder, then add for VAT.

It's the best I can do OG. There are so many ifs and buts.

[Old_Geezer]

Thanks for the response. I do have many photos, I may see if I can upload one or two later, but your assumptions seem close. 

 

Your estimate is nearer the first quote, but we know little of the 'friend of someone who did different work on her late parents' place years ago'. They may be brilliant, or they may not be.  The other quote is a recommended builder but being well over twice the first quote, I feel they are quoting at a level to put us off choosing them.

[Old_Geezer]

https://tinypic.host/image/20240104-135340.c7R4f
https://tinypic.host/image/20240104-135057.c7JS4
https://tinypic.host/image/20240104-135051.c7vC2
https://tinypic.host/image/20240104-135035.c7jxx

 

[Atheist]

If the footings are OK, then it's not too difficult. Remove the old bricks and rebuild with new. No need to match bricks, just choose something that fits in. Could be cleared in a morning. Could be rebuilt by end of next day.

I can't advise on price - Builder knows more than I do.

Good luck.

[Old_Geezer]

Cheers.

It does need to match really. The wall the other side of the drive will look odd otherwise.

[The Builder]

Ah... that's more like it OG 😁

I can see exactly why it went over. It's not a nice solid 9" wall but a simple 4" one-brick construction with a standard concrete 150mm coping. One brick thick is Ok as long as it has plenty of help to stay up. The other side of the wall should be thickened (piers) every 6' or around 2 metres. From the brick bonding, I can see that it doesn't seem to have any. So there's just a long run of unsupported brickwork. One good boot from this side would send it right over. I'm surprised it's lasted this long. 

Looks like it's been cement pointed, but the mortar inside the joints could well still be lime, so, easy to clean off (no promises though 😏.)

Anyway... dismantle and re-build. They look like standard early factory bricks, not handmades, so replacements for any duff ones should be available from reclamation yards. The damaged spalled (rotted) ones can probably be turned around for a better face. No need to re-build the gate pillar. And the other end is a simple 'stopped-end'.

Piers would have to be introduced. Because of the bushes, these won't be visible, so You could get away with ordinary concrete blocks laid flat and tied to the wall with simple metal wall ties. Although... there would need to be a little diggng to set concrete foundation pads.

One-man job. £1200 plus VAT (if any) should be enough.

 

[Old_Geezer]

Ok, thanks. In reality the lower quote is still higher than your estimate but it confirms my belief that the other quote isn't serious.

 

Getting sighs about not knowing who to get a third quote from. An issue that always exists.

 

Plus there is more wall (longer too) still standing to the left of the drive in exactly the same style. I just hope that isn't planning on falling any time soon !