Hello community,
I need your advice.
I have started a project in my garden. I want to build a garden wall using formwork blocks.
My original plan was:
Dig 90cm (35 inches) deep, place reinforcement bars, then fill with concrete and finally set the formwork blocks.
So far, so good.
Then I rented an excavator and started digging.
Instead of the planned 30cm (12 inches) width, I now have a trench about 50cm (20 inches) wide (plus or minus 5-10cm).
I now have a few options:
1. Use larger reinforcement cages and fill with more concrete. The entire garden will be filled up by 30cm (12 inches) later.
2. Build formwork with shuttering panels, then remove and sell the panels on eBay.
3. Use stay-in-place formwork made of XPS insulation boards.
What do you think?
Or does anyone have a better approach?
I am leaning towards option 2, but I’m unsure.
Regards
I need your advice.
I have started a project in my garden. I want to build a garden wall using formwork blocks.
My original plan was:
Dig 90cm (35 inches) deep, place reinforcement bars, then fill with concrete and finally set the formwork blocks.
So far, so good.
Then I rented an excavator and started digging.
Instead of the planned 30cm (12 inches) width, I now have a trench about 50cm (20 inches) wide (plus or minus 5-10cm).
I now have a few options:
1. Use larger reinforcement cages and fill with more concrete. The entire garden will be filled up by 30cm (12 inches) later.
2. Build formwork with shuttering panels, then remove and sell the panels on eBay.
3. Use stay-in-place formwork made of XPS insulation boards.
What do you think?
Or does anyone have a better approach?
I am leaning towards option 2, but I’m unsure.
Regards
WilderSueden schrieb:
I see several issues here:
1. Trench too wide – you could either fill it completely with concrete or compact the backfill on the side. If you want to avoid using a compactor next to the concrete, you would need to widen the trench further.
2. Trench not as deep as planned – how frost-sensitive is your subsoil? 50 cm (20 inches) is already quite deep; on many soils, that is sufficient. 80 cm (31 inches) might often be excessive.
Or is there another problem that I’m not seeing right now? My problem is that I’m a terrible excavator operator.
I wanted the trench to be 30 cm (12 inches) wide.
Now it’s about 50 cm (20 inches).
I could fill the 50 cm (20 inches) with concrete, but I wanted to avoid that. Although it would be covered later, I didn’t really like the idea.
The depth is fine as it is now.
I’m leaning towards using wider formwork blocks as a base for the actual formwork blocks.
Do you have any concerns about that?
Best regards
W
WilderSueden16 Jun 2022 21:13Oh, you’re only concerned about the appearance. Then do it so that the foundation goes down to 10cm (4 inches) below the current ground level, and start your wall from there. That way, you won’t have to fill in the garden.
WilderSueden schrieb:
Oh, you are only concerned about the appearance. Then just make the foundation go 10cm (4 inches) below the current ground level and start your wall from there. That way, you don’t have to fill the garden. We were talking past each other.
I just understood your first post now.
Yes, you’re right.
I would still need to excavate a bit to compact it properly.
But it wouldn’t be a big deal.
The garden will be newly landscaped anyway.
It still needs to be filled.
Next door, a basement is being dug out.
So the soil will be shoveled over here.
I was worried that water might not be able to drain at that spot.
Best regards
To be honest, I still haven’t understood the actual problem.
Okay, you’re not a great excavator operator. But before starting the work with wider formwork blocks, I would simply fill the 50 cm (20 inches) gap with concrete, and that would be fine.
Using wider formwork blocks won’t make it cheaper or more stable...
You don’t need to add any rebar when filling with concrete, except for inserting a few vertical bars sticking out, on which you then place the formwork blocks to give the whole structure extra stability.
Okay, you’re not a great excavator operator. But before starting the work with wider formwork blocks, I would simply fill the 50 cm (20 inches) gap with concrete, and that would be fine.
Using wider formwork blocks won’t make it cheaper or more stable...
You don’t need to add any rebar when filling with concrete, except for inserting a few vertical bars sticking out, on which you then place the formwork blocks to give the whole structure extra stability.
Sedax182 schrieb:
I think that’s a good idea.
I would also use 36.5 bricks.
How would you build the first row then? Your gravel layer, as usual, then a mortar bed to align the bricks evenly.
At the transition to the narrower bricks, also make a concave fillet with mortar.
Then apply a black coating from below up to above ground level.
Crosswise reinforcement bars can’t hurt, as another user mentioned, but vertical bars are definitely beneficial for your own safety. They provide significantly more stability to the wall and allow you to pour concrete into rows one after another while keeping them connected with the vertical reinforcement.
Thank you for the responses.
Today I walked one street over and invited the foreman of the structural builders for coffee. The workers also had coffee.
He found both solutions (formwork blocks or concrete) feasible.
However, due to the cost, he would recommend filling with concrete.
He would form the top edge (garden side).
He will provide me with boards for the formwork.
If I wait another two weeks, I can also order the concrete.
Today I walked one street over and invited the foreman of the structural builders for coffee. The workers also had coffee.
He found both solutions (formwork blocks or concrete) feasible.
However, due to the cost, he would recommend filling with concrete.
He would form the top edge (garden side).
He will provide me with boards for the formwork.
If I wait another two weeks, I can also order the concrete.
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