HOW TO BUILD Garden Walls Frestanding & Landscape Walls 10 Cambridge Wall Book
Garden walls This layout depicts a common application of landscape and freestanding designs together in one wall with Columns an Kitchen built into the wall. Landscape/Retaining Walls with Planter and Steps Raised Patio with steps Landscape Retaining Wall Freestanding double sided wall that can be used as a sitting wall when entertaining this is the domino style placement of Olde English Freestanding double sided wall that can be used as a sitting wall when entertaining Each type of wall arrangement can be combined to make your area truly unique. Cambridge Wall Book 11
Garden Wall Acessories Projects: We have various outdoor living projects and kits that will compliment your garden or living space. Water and Fire are great features to relax the mood and create an oasis from the cares of the day. We offer waterfall & fire kits. Sitting Walls and benches create conversation spaces. This bench is a project with plans available free. The Cambridge Classic Garden Gate can create privacy and signal a special entrance to your outdoor home Kitchens, Fireplaces, Pizza Ovens, pergolas are just of a few of the kits available to match our walls and Pavers. 12 Cambridge Wall Book
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This chapter will cover the building of three types of walls: The first Freestanding (double sided) Walls used for Privacy, Outdoor Living boundaries, places to sit and are complimented by our extensive collections of kits and outdoor Living accessories as well as Columns. Landscape walls which are normally below three feet and serving the purpose of Planting beds, leveling slopes and Creating raised patios and living spaces outdoors. These type of walls are also called Garden Walls and the stones available for this purpose Maytrx, Olde English, Ledgestone and Pyzique offer a large variety of textures, sizes and colors along with complimenting Cambridge Paving stones. We will also show a Combination Landscape and Freestanding Wall that is popular choice when building a raised Patio or outdoor living space. Freestanding walls can get pressure to fail from wind, water, height, length, foundation, people sitting or leaning and the size of the Wall stones used. Features such as Corners, curves, Columns and Pilasters will strengthen a freestanding wall and will be illustrated in this chapter. Freestanding Walls add Character and a sitting place in any Outdoor Living space. Landscape Walls are usually below the height that normally call for engineering but they should be built observing the techniques for building a Retaining wall in this book. We encourage as a first rule that a foundation, drainage, piping and stone behind the wall should be incorporated on most walls, if retaining any load consider geogrid as a low cost insurance. The Maytrx and Olde English Wall Grid tables will help for that Configuration. We also recommend a free service for our customers to fill out the SRW questioner and submit your plan to SRW for a free calculation of the recommended grid, number of stones, Caps and Glue as well as the amount of Geogrid and the strength recommended. Note: Sigma can also be used for Landscape walls and matches the texture of our Maytrx System Freestanding Wall Landscape Wall Combination: Retaining Wall with Freestanding wall above This type of wall has a Load or surcharge that is equal to the weight of the wall, amount of people in the area retained and Outdoor living accessories such as Paving Stones and base, Kitchens, Grills, Pizza Ovens, fireplaces etc. The weight of these products should be known. The soil you are using will make a difference. You must find a way to keep water from the raised patio and the house roof from building up behind the wall. The Freestanding wall above can also have wind Load, depending on design there might be a water load from rainwater and any load from people sitting or pushing against the wall. It is suggested the retaining section along with any details on the freestanding section, weight above the wall and drainage be sent to our SRW service for a free design and if need be required from the local municipality, an extra cost stamped engineering plan. See the reference for the SRW form. Cambridge Wall Book 15
Landscape infill Walls Trench Trench & compactable rock foundation Landscape, also called Infilled short walls (under 36 ) are built using the following techniques. Walls over 36 or having loads (weight) on top or bad soils should refer to the Retaining Wall Chapter of this book. Maytrx, Pyzique, Olde English and Ledgestone landscape retaining walls (setback) have a 7 degree batter. When constructing a landscape retaining wall, excavate a trench approximately 16 inches wide, bury 1 for every ft. of wall height and place 6 of QP as a foundation below the stone. We recommend Fabric XXXX used under the foundation for stabilization. Recap: Depth is 6 +1 for every ft. of wall height. Dig to virgin soil or compact the soil below your footing to high density. Next, compact and level your footing material. If you are building on unlevelled areas you can prepare step ups or step downs in increments of the thickness of the stone. Also, it is critical that your wall project be designed to flow surface water, rain or lawn watering, away from the retaining wall. Swale to direct water away from the wall Undisturbed or compacted Retained Soil Setback Wall: Pyzique, Maytrx & Olde English Radius have alignment groves for setback, for Olde English and Ledgestone use a piece of 3/8 rebar 3/4 Clean stone or Granular Fill Foundation Layer Perforated drain Pipe Place the first layer of stones on the prepared foundation. Use a carpenter s level in all directions and use a string line to verify straightness. Serpentine walls may be built consider using the radius stones if available. Be certain the base course is level and stones lay flat. For micro leveling and to help the stones lay flat, keep a bag of sand handy and use small handfuls to level and stabilize the first layer. Setback walls are much stronger than vertical walls. Maintain setback or alignment visually or with a tool to insure all stones are setback the proper amount. x X Factor: The height of the first wall x 2 = the distance apart needed to build the second wall without putting a load on the first wall Hint: Curved walls are much stronger than straight walls. Contractors are now gluing this type of wall to insure Kids playing on the wall are in no danger. We normally recommend gluing the Cap row but glue seems to add strength. Tiered Walls: For tall slopes, a series of tiered walls is a good substitute for a single tall wall. Note: an upper tier can apply pressure to a lower tier unless it s spaced the proper distance behind the failure point. The rule of thumb is to set back the upper wall twice the height of the lower wall we call this the X Factor (see Illustration above). 16 Cambridge Wall Book
FREESTANDING WALL UNDER 36 This Chapter starts at the foundation in this page we show the correct Freestanding wall base that can be used with Maytrx, Olde English, Pyzique and Ledgestone Radius double sided walls in this configuration. The illustrations used shows Maytrx but can be applied to the other systems as well. Base Preparation: To start your layout, place stakes to represent the location of the front of the wall. Using a string line or paint, mark out the entire length. A garden hose is an excellent tool to use when laying out curved walls. Excavate the area by removing all surface vegetation and organic materials from the area. Starting at the lowest point, dig a base trench the length of the wall. Dig a base trench as wide as the stone and at least 12 wide and Deep of at least 6 plus at least 1 for every foot of finished wall height the length of the wall. Note: if you over-excavate you must compact any disturbed soil that must be reinstalled. Leveling pad: Level surface consisting of either well compacted Stone or unreinforced low strength concrete (flow-able fill) used to distribute the weight of the dry stacked column of Wall Stone units over a wider area and to provide a working surface during construction. (see illustration on right). Note: Flow able fill is a flexible base material delivered in a concrete truck if you use conventional concrete you must start below the frost line. The leveling pad typically extends a minimum of 6 in. from the front and back of the lower-most Wall unit and is at least 6 in. thick, be sure to bury the first course (layer) a minimum of 1 for every foot of height of the finished wall including the height of the caps, with 6 of (see illustration on right). Cambridge Wall Book 17
FREESTANDING WALL OVER 36 All Walls over 36 require the review of an Architect or Engineer by most towns. The height, width of stones, weight, soil, water and wind load can have an effect on the stability of Maytrx, Olde English, Pyzique and Ledgestone Radius double sided walls in this configuration. The illustrations used show Maytrx but they can be applied to the other systems as well. Discussing these configurations with design professionals we have garnered some tips that can be used for preliminary costing of a job. Straight Walls are more prone to fall over, better to have corners, curves or integrated Columns and Pilasters if possible. Depending on the Height and the other variables a buried depth of the wall should be 2 to 4 inches per foot of exposed wall height. A minimum Base of 8 of compacted stone or Flow able Fill should be used depending on soil conditions. Place a soil stabilizing woven fabric below the foundation Base that should be 24 + the with of the wall being used. Example: Maytrx is 10 so foundation width should be 34. Soil in the front and back of the wall should be compacted as the wall is built using the same stone as used on the foundation for everything below finished grade. The Wall should be glued for interlock and strength Once the wall is reviewed by a design professional these guidelines might change. Check with local code requirements before building or designing. Note you might be required to build from below the frost line. Maytrx 6&3 combination with Integrated Columns Note: Consult the Chapters on Engineered walls, double-sided chapters related to the Cambridge wall you are building as well foundation basics all found in the Designscape guide attached to this book 18 Cambridge Wall Book
LANDSCAPE RETAINING with SITTING WALL Paving Stone Drain Impermeable Fabric Pervious Fabric Drain Surface Water Fabric Wall Drain Hybrid Wall: Retaining Wall with Sitting Wall above This is a popular application for a raised patio. We recommend you use the instructions for building a retaining wall because this wall will have a load built into the top of the wall equal to the weight of the sitting wall could be 100 to 150 lbs. per sq. ft. plus the weight on the raised patio from Paving stones, people, wind, etc. We suggest you send a sketch and fill out a questioner for a SRW/HTS takeoff that will give you grid placement for the lower wall, this is a free service there is a form in this book. You can then build the wall above as per your initial design. We suggest you look at the illustration above if you will be creating a raised patio. Water on the patio, from downspouts, rain or runoff should not be connected to the Retaining wall drainage system. We have noted some fabric that will help you build a wall system that will last for many decades, Illustration above outlines the specifics of Retaining walls. Consult that chapter for the base wall, we will need toad the load of the wall above to any calculations. When designing the freestanding wall above review the outline an pictures for that type of wall. Cambridge Wall Book 19