Disclaimer - I'm not an expert and that my entire 'brick experience' has
been the removal of a brick chimney. That said...
Wall thickness - I seriously doubt that a wall one brick thick is going to
be strong enough to act as a retaining wall. The chimney I took down was
one brick thick and I was able to take it down, easily, with a 3 lb sledge
hammer, mostly just by tapping on the brick. A retaining wall needs more
mass to have the strength to...retain something. All the brick walls I've
seen - not retaining walls, but just walls like fences around a yard - are
two or three bricks thick. These walls are just standing upright and not
holding anything back.
Footers - the suggestion to search for block retaining walls should give you
the footer information needed. And don't forget about drainage *behind* the
wall. Very important with a retaining wall.
Old brick - again my experience with the chimney says that old brick
deteriorates, or has already deteriorated enough to be compromised. Weather
conditions can accelerate the deterioration. Many of the old bricks I
removed from the chimney were useless for re-use as they broke and/or
crumbled under any kind of stress. Sometimes, if the brick was fine, it was
the mortar which failed. But more often than not, it was the brick itself.
Which is another reason to go more than one brick thick.
Just my (inexpert) opinion.
Sandaidh bean-fhigheadair a' bhreacain
sandaidh@localnet.com
No comments:
Post a Comment