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I plan on building a brick wall about 18 inches high. It will be a full circle, 24 feet in diameter. The center will be a landscape bed, maybe with a fountain in the future. Brickwork will be clay brick, mortared in. My question is how much footing/foundation will this require? I plan on pouring a footing but does it need to be below frost line or can I keep it just below grade?
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Rob,
In a 24' diameter circle I would expect that you could get too much soil movement due to frost. I think you would be best to go below the frost line. If you had a small localized feature, you could go with a floating pad, but the size of your circle, I think you would be inviting trouble if you don't go deeper.
larry
Yep, you need to go below the frost line. Now, if there was no mortar it would be a different story.
Rob, I would use a retaining wall syster so as not to have any problems with cracking. A retaining wall system will move and then settle back without cracking. I have built many walls with Rockwood concrete blocks and have never had a problem. Simply dig 4 inches below grade, put in 2 inches of granite dust, then lay a corse of the blocks, then fill the cavity between the blocks with washed 3/4-1" stone and put a cap block on. If the ground freezes the blocks will move, but will stay in the same orientation with the ground. The blocks are heavy at 77 pounds each but will make a super wall. Here is a pic of the wall around my pool, sorry I don't have a pic of the whole wall, but this will give you an idea. Later, Nat
Here's an update shot. I ended up with a poured footer with two rebar in it. Got the block and some brick up last fall and am just now finishing the rest. Here's a shot as of last weekend.
On the downside, I did get a crack over the winter. Never determined if it was the footer or just some of the brick/block above it. I'm not too worried about it, after all it's just a landscape wall. Once I get the brick work done I can backfill the outside with driveway stone which will add significant support [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Tried to add a photo but not able to from work. Here's a link to some photos from one of my other favorite sites [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Rob