Pre Cast Concrete Wall v ... a wall

hamsterboy

Hi All
Bought a house last year and there was a crappy wooden fence that was in a bad way
We've decided to build a wall to replace it and are getting differing opinions from everyone we mention it to, some say building a wall from scratch is the only way, others sayin the pre-cast concrete stone effect walls are cheaper and better.....
We've a fair distance to build so we know it'll be costly anyways but would like to hear what you guys think....
Also any recommendations for pre cast supplier in the west of Ireland....a lot of places don't do them anymore

Cheers

HB

Lumen

How long? How high? What slope? Ground conditions? Drainage considerations? Urban or rural?

hamsterboy

60m long, 1m high, 1m diff from front to back, ground conditions are pretty good, not rocky. Drainage is not an issue, Rural

akelly02

1m high overground sounds quite small.

listermint

why a wall and not a fence ?

The precast stuff looks ****e (my own opinion)

my3cents

Most would do a blockwork wall then face that with local stone.

my3cents

If you were to use large stones for facing then you'd probably do a single block on edge so its a thin base wall with a thick facing (one or both sides) or if you are using something thinner like then you might want a thicker base wall with blocks on the flat.

Lumen

Judging by the quotes I got, a proper stone faced wall costs about thirty times as much as a nice fence.

So almost nobody builds long stone walls any more, the labour costs are too high.

Unless we get another famine, it'll be fences and ugly concrete until the end of civilisation.

Reckless Abandonment

Walls are just one of them things. Expensive even for an ugly one. You could plaster it . We got it plastered using white sand. Very happy with it.

Markcheese

If its really rural, have you the space to do an earthen bank with a hedge on top, it'd probably be cheaper than a fence, very little maintenence and when established, would look a lot more natural than either a concrete or wooden fence,
(get a mini digger in with a decent driver to make the bank, if you've loads of stone on site you could face it with stone, but either way top it with a mix of hawthorn and other natives, which you can get reasonably enough from nurseries that do hedging mixes for farmers... And stick a fence outside it on your boundary line to make it stock proof...

akelly02

The rock face panels are lovely I think, and not too expensive