ᐅ Fixing Steel Plates to Masonry Without Drilling

Hello everyone,

I have an unplastered concrete block wall. I would like to cover it with steel / corten steel sheets but without visible fixing points, meaning no drilling.

The wall is 80 cm (31 inches) high and about 10 meters (33 feet) long. I was thinking of using sheet sizes of 2 x 0.8 meters (6.6 x 2.6 feet) with a thickness of 2 mm (0.08 inches).

Now to my question.
How can I glue the sheets to the wall?
Should I apply a bitumen waterproofing layer and then simply press the panels into the adhesive?

What types of adhesives are available for this? Unfortunately, I haven’t found anything suitable for such large surfaces through online searches.

By the way, the walls are backed up with soil.

Thanks for your help.
Best regards

You want to face an 80cm (31.5 inches) concrete block retaining wall with steel? I have never seen that before. That’s probably why you can’t find anything on it.

Do you want to place it only on the side then? What does the top edge look like? (Just out of curiosity)
For my concrete block retaining wall, I glued an aluminum cover with Enkolit on top. It’s a very viscous adhesive paste – recommended by the metal supplier at the time. It’s held perfectly tight so far.

Yes, that's exactly what I want to do. I've seen it many times in public facilities or hotels, but there’s usually no one around who can tell me how it is constructed.

Nothing will be placed on top. The steel will extend 5cm (2 inches) beyond the wall, then be sealed with bitumen and filled up with soil up to the upper edge.

I can easily imagine that. How much does a sheet metal panel cost?

As far as I know, Corten cannot be glued. The corrosion layer is only moderately stable, so any adhesive will eventually fail due to a separating layer. Also, consider the runoff stains from Corten. We had a planter made of Corten that ruined the entire paving.