How to create a garden bed with seating area?

[nirmal678]

I am willing to make garden bed and sitting area as shown in this picture. But have few questions :-

1) Are these beds made out of concrete and then rendered or it can also be build using timber and then attach rendered board on top of them to give them similar look ? 

2) Is the flooring next to turf is concrete ? Garden inspiration 

[EricL]

Hello @nirmal678 

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's marvellous to have you join us, and thanks for sharing your question about building a garden bed with timber seating.

Both your suggestions regarding the wall structure are actually valid. If it's made from concrete odds are they used Besser blocks or bricks and then rendered the surface. If it was made from timber, it's possible they used sleepers and built a timber frame around it and covered it with Cement cladding and rendered the surface as well.

As for the timber seat, it's possible that they used angle brackets to anchor the timber seat to the garden wall. The flooring you are looking at is probably made of a Tuscan Path 600 x 600 x 20mm Sand Porcelain Paver or a variant of it. The gazebo appears to be the Mimosa 3 x 4m Lava Portsea Louvre Semi Permanent Gazebo.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

[nirmal678]

Thanks Eric for your advice. 

Can we install these pavers without the use of concrete ? 

Another question is do I need to core fill these besser blocks with concrete as well as the height would be  than 800mm

[MitchellMc]

Hi @nirmal678,

Those porcelain pavers can be installed on a sand base. Here's a helpful guide: How to install Tuscan Path porcelain pavers on a sand base. 

At 800mm high, if they will be used as pictured to retain soil and especially if you are rendering, then you should core fill the Besser blocks and install rebar through them to ensure they don't shift. 

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

[nirmal678]

Thank you Mitchell. 

I am trying to build this wall using interlock besser blocks. Are there any instructions on building base of the wall ? I found conflicting information about that. It won’t be a retaining wall so can I just make a base with road base and compact it ? I will core fill it with gravel stone. 

[MitchellMc]

Hi @nirmal678,

We deal with abriMasonry and their Versaloc system. For a non-structural wall, I've included their recommend base below. You also have the Vesaloc walling system. It shows a structural wall, but you can use a compacted roadbase.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

[nirmal678]

Thanks Mitchell. 

I have finalized to proceed with timber lumber as per initial suggestion by @EricL . Using besser blocks seems difficult if I have to make seating area as well.I have 10 meter long fence line and would like to make garden bed along with it by following below video : 

I checked this video : https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/t5/How-To/How-to-build-a-decorative-raised-garden-bed-with-seat...

and would like to use blueboard but then render it or put cladding panels on top of that but I will decide that later. 

At this stage, I basically need a starting point if I would like to achieve below design :-

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/t5/Outdoor/How-to-use-blueboard-for-rendered-retaining-wall/td-...

As a starting point, I will build the garden bed first (10 meter long with 600mm height) and then add seating area on another side of fence, 

But is there any way to know the materials I need to build this like which timber/ lumber I should use, posts, concrete etc ? 

How far I need to put the posts ? 

What I need to put against the fence line to protect it ? Its not a retaining wall but I still want to protect the fence .

Does Bunnings service desk assist in find out materials use for this project ?

Thanks,

Nirmal Joshi 

[EricL]

Hello @nirmal678 

I suggest having a look at these guides - How To Build a Retaining Wall and How to build a retaining wall by @Adam_W. Both these guides will come in handy when you start planning your retaining wall. Having seen the guides, I propose drawing your plan on paper so that you'll have a better idea of the quantity of materials you'll be needing. 

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

[nirmal678]

Thank you @EricL , I have this design on paper and about to start with building garden bed. 

I only have two more doubts here :- 

1) How I can connect this seating bench to the walls which I will make from the sleepers ? Will sleepers be strong enough to carry the weight of the hanging bench and people sitting on top of it ? 

2) I can see inner walls of the garden bed are also rendered and its in direct contact with the soil. Will that render get spoiled overtime ? 

[MitchellMc]

Hi @nirmal678,

It would be best to install sleepers into the wall to create a floating seat like that. You'll notch out one of the retaining wall sleepers to accept them. At the rear of the wall another sleeper running along the top of the inserted sleepers is used to lock them into place and to fix into. This leaves you with very solid mounts to build your seat off. Due to the forces involved in a counter-levered seat, there are no brackets you could use. I've put together the rendering below to illustrate.

Any render in constant contact with moisture and soil will likely degrade over time. It wouldn't be worth rendering anything under the soil level.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell