Building garden walls made easy with concrete blocks
The new concrete block from the company Christoph Betonwaren, in Freudenberg, Germany, now makes building garden walls still easier. The blocks can be used not only for building walls, but also as pillars – and are available with matching cover plates. In this way, patio borders, privacy protection walls, and visual structural elements can be built in no time at all.
Concrete block walls are a popular alternative to hedges and fences. And these modern masonry blocks ceased long ago to serve only as a means of bordering property or for stabilizing embankments. Highly diverse in form, they open up numerous design options, totally to individual taste.
Modern style and great variety of possibilities
In terms of architecture, the garden wall blocks from Christoph Betonwaren offer professional and ambitious do-it-yourselfers virtually unlimited design possibilities. Whether placed in a classic row, used playfully with pillars, or offset against each other and filled with ornamental blocks or plants – much is possible. A combination with various fence elements is also simple to realize. The matching cover plates do not protrude and can therefore be used both for brickwork and for pillars. Placed between two rows of blocks as edging, they moreoverpleasantly break up an otherwise more monotonous pattern. The choice is open to all: only individual elements, or the entire wall. Suitable fillings are materials permeable to water such as gravel, crushed stone, or lava. The exterior color spectrum ranges from timelessly elegant anthracite to white, including traditional gray, toscana, sandstone, and brown.
Simple laying
Installation couldn’t be easier: for garden walls up to a height of 1.2 m, a simple substructure, as described in the following, is sufficient. The base is a trench approximately 40 cm wide and 40 cm deep. The do-it-yourselfer installs 14 cm of coarse gravel into the trench as frost protection layer, compacts it, and installs an additional 10‑cm concrete layer. The first row of blocks is then laid onto the fresh concrete, aligned flush and at the correct height using a cord and a spirit level. The blocks must be fixed in horizontal and vertical directions with appropriate glue, beginning already with the first layer. Construction adhesives approved for use outdoors, or frostproof tile cements, are suitable for this purpose. To match the wall to the existing terrain, the gardener can use soil, chips, or gravel.
For privacy walls higher than 1.2 m, pillars with larger foundations and steel reinforcement are necessary to resist the suction and pressure of wind. Calculations and pictures are available at //www.christoph-betonwaren.de" target="_blank" >www.christoph-betonwaren.de:www.christoph-betonwaren.de for use here.
