Project
Block landscape wall
Concrete block run along the side of a house on a poured footer, with rebar laid in the cells. Every frame we have is from the build itself, so there is no finished picture on this page.
During the work
01 The job
Trench, footer, then block
A landscape and grade wall along the side of a house, past a screen enclosure. Nothing about this kind of wall is decided above ground, which is why most of these frames are of a hole.
We dug the trench the length of the run and set a string line over it, then worked the bottom level with a hand tool until it read flat end to end. The footer went in next, poured concrete sitting in the open trench with the cut-off saw and the hand tools on the grass beside it.
The first course of block was set on that footer and bedded in mortar, with loose block staged on the spoil pile and the mortar tub kept in a wheelbarrow inside arm's reach. From there the course ran the full length of the trench and past the screen enclosure. Along the top we laid a length of rebar into the open cells and packed mortar in around the steel, cell by cell.
What went in
- Trench and string line. Dug the length of the run and worked level end to end before anything was poured.
- A poured concrete footer. The block sits on concrete, not on dirt.
- Block bedded in mortar. The first course goes down on the footer and sets the line for the rest.
- Rebar in the open cells. Steel laid in along the top of the course and mortar packed in around it.
- A string line on the face. Held the run straight while the block was being set.
02 The frames
Six pictures, in the order it happened
These run in the order the work happened, from an open trench to a course of block bedded the length of the side yard. What they show is the part of the wall that is under the grass by the end of it: the level bottom, the poured footer and the steel in the cells.
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Step 1Working the bottom of the trench flat under the string line. -
Step 2The footer poured end to end, with the first block and a bar already at the near end. -
Step 3Block going on in low sun, mortar tub in the wheelbarrow and spare block on the spoil pile. -
Step 4The course carried the whole length of the trench beside the house. -
Step 5Rebar laid along the open cells at the top of the course, following the line of the run. -
Step 6One cell packed tight around the steel, string line running along the face.
Nine frames on file from this job. These are the six that read clearly.
Tell us about the wall
Send the form with your city and the length of the run, or call and talk it through. Estimates are free, in English and Spanish.