In short
A garden wall gets weather on both faces and on the top, which is why it deteriorates faster than the house it belongs to. Most of them fail at the coping, because once water gets into the top of a wall it works down through it and freezing does the rest.
Signs you need boundary and garden walls
- Coping stones or bricks loose, cracked or missing from the top
- A wall that leans, bulges or has come away from a pier
- Mortar joints washed out on the weather face
- Cracks stepping diagonally through the brickwork
- Vegetation or ivy rooted into the joints
- A previous repair in hard cement now spalling the brick around it
What the job involves
Find out whether it is the wall or the ground
A leaning wall is often a foundation problem or a tree root rather than a masonry one, and rebuilding it without dealing with that just resets the clock.
Take it down to sound work
Rebuilding from a course that is still solid rather than propping up something that is not.
Match brick or stone
Reclaimed where it suits, so a rebuilt section does not stand out against the rest.
Get the coping right
The top is what protects everything below it. Properly bedded coping with a drip or an overhang so water is thrown clear of the face.
Point to suit the wall
Lime on older walls, a cement based mix on modern ones, finished to match what is there.
Want someone to take a look?
Send a photograph of the problem and you will get a straight answer on what it needs, at no cost.
Boundary and Garden Walls near you
Frequently asked questions
Do I need permission to rebuild a boundary wall?
Usually not for a like for like repair, but height limits and listed or conservation status can change that. If the wall is shared, the Party Wall Act may apply and that is worth checking before work starts.
Can you match the existing bricks?
Usually, with reclaimed brick. Matching is about size, colour and how weathered they are, and a new brick next to a hundred year old one always shows.
Why does the top of my wall keep failing?
Because it is the only horizontal surface. Water sits on it, gets in, and freezing pushes the masonry apart. Good coping is the best thing you can spend money on for a garden wall.
Can you build a new wall as well as repair one?
Yes, in brick or stone, with proper foundations and coping.
My wall is leaning. Does it all have to come down?
Not always. Sometimes a section can be taken down and rebuilt. If it is leaning because of a foundation or a tree, that has to be dealt with either way.