What would you do???

[scapepro]

I met with a customer yesterday night. They want a patio and some landscaping, but they already have retaining walls. You can see the picture, they have a poured concrete wall and then a modular wall. This is like this on both sides (you can only see one side in this picture).

What would you do about the poured wall? Cut block and glue them, or hire a masonary guy to put in face brick, or build a trellis and use vines?

Any ideas?

[Paul]

is it going to be a deck or just a patio? A combo of plants and stone would work well in my mind. How about some natural stone (limestone outcropping?) that sets along the concrete wall maybe coming up 3'-4' for say 10'-15' then plants screening bare wall along with ground cover, and shrubs mixed in along the stone.

[Bladewizard]

Would painting the bare wall be an option? And then surrounding the front of it with plants or something? Maybe a good option to add to the others you have........You could actually score the wall in the shape of block and then paint.....I have seen this done on poured wall foundations that don't match the landscaping around it...

[Stonehenge]

The segmental walls that are there - are they staying, or can they be taken down?

[PSUscaper]

Is it me, or are the segmental walls retaining nothing but air??

It looks like the one is about 2 block above grade on the back side, and the one above the concrete wall..........It appears to be supporting nothing on the backside....

I like the economics of planting a hedge screen or planting some sort of creeper to job down from the top.

as for beveled keystone type block........blah!!!! Rip it all out and do the job with something tasteful.

steve

[Bladewizard]

The more I look at this the more I can picture laying out vertical lines and horizontal lines, using a straight edge and skillsaw or grinder to sculpture a concrete surface into a custom piece of stone art.....A V-Groove Crackchaser would leave a nice deep joint and make any concrete wall, "Come Alive".........Any thoughts? Has anyone ever tried this?

[scapepro]

The lowest, small wall is built higher than it should be, but the others are all holding stuff back. I think the angle on the top one makes it fool the eye, but its to hold the nieghbors yard up. The walls were all there before I got there, and the last homewowner put them up.

The walls will have to stay there, so I think I need something to dress up the ugly slab walls - maybe cutting them, or painting them. Or cutting the faces off a bunch of block and gluing them. Or a trellis with vines.

Does any of that sound any good?

thank you for your ideas!!!

[Stonehenge]

I'm not really enthused about the idea of cutting a bunch of faces to glue to the wall - time consuming, may fall over in time.

I don't know anything about painting concrete, so I can't help any there.

That leaves either cutting (freehand would be pretty tough on a vertical surface), or adding a trellis of some kind. I vote for trellis.

[dan deutekom]

I am with Stonehenge on this one. Cover the wall with a trellis. A possibility is to use the same segmented wall block to build a planter in front of the concrete wall at about 1/2 the height of the concrete wall and then use a trellis and planting for what is left showing.

[Stonehenge]

Hey - Dan's got a really good idea there... :D

[agla]

Another option is to drill in some expansion bolts and put on some nailers. Then you could side it with anything from lattice, vertical redwood, or even the same siding as the house. The latter would at least gain some unity - if you can't match the wall block, match the house.

Just another way, not necessarily the best way.

[Bladewizard]

Here's another option.......Stucco..........You can go right over the concrete with stucco and then paint it after it has cured.........Perhaps even put some lighting in the concrete too....

[scapepro]

sorry its taken so long to back to you guys. Its been really busy lately. Thanks for your great ideas!

I think I'm going to try the retaining wall with trellis idea. I'll let you know if the customer goes for it!

Thank you very much!!!

[scapepro]

Ok, I'm meeting with the customer this week to look at the design...........I'll let you know how they decide!!!

[BRL]

"I'm not really enthused about the idea of cutting a bunch of faces to glue to the wall - time consuming, may fall over in time."

The supplier where I get most of my stone\pavers\walls etc. sells thin "veneer" wallstones in different styles & colors. That style is exactly for this type of application, instead of cutting normal stone. You would just have to find one that matches the Keystone block, or the house.

[scapepro]

The customer seemed to really like the design - if I get this one, where do I send the groundtradesxchange cut?


thanks again for all your help!!!

[agla]

Not so fast, remember that somebody approved what they already have, ...they might not be the best design review committee. LOL.:)

Just kidding, good luck with it. ... and what did you finally propose?

[scapepro]

Sorry it took so long to respond - been relly busy. Anyway, I proposed the small retaining walls with trellises to cover the concrete.

And yesterday I just got the signed contract. Funny, they didn't sign up for the trellises or retaining walls. Like the idea, ran out of money. But we got $10,000 in work out of it.

Thank you very very much for everyone who helped me out with this design. I probably owe you the credit for this project (ok, but maybe not the $$$ - I got to eat!!!).

[Stonehenge]

I don't think I did much, but I'm glad you got some help! Congrats!! :woot: :woot: