How to move garden bed away from wall?

[BigBuilder]

We've recently moved into a home where the garden bed has been built right up against the wall, meaning dirt is sitting directly against the brick possibly damaging it. What is the best way to fix this? Should we dig out the dirt and add a backing to the garden bed? (This could be complex as the decking would need to adjusted and the soil is solid clay). Or should we cut out loss and remove the whole thing and come up with a different solution? 

PS ignore the bamboo, another little gift from the previous owner 😆

 

  

[JacobZ]

Hi @BigBuilder,

Thank you for your question about moving your garden bed.

I have a few questions I'd like to ask before I provide guidance on what I think is best.

Can you take a photo showing where the garden bed sits in relation to the concrete foundation of the house?

Can you see any damp course material in the horizontal mortar lines of your house? It would usually appear around 1-2 courses of brick above the foundation. You're looking for a thin aluminium or plastic material running along one of the horizontal mortar beds.

Are there any visible weep holes in the brick around your house? There will be gaps in the vertical mortar joins that are fairly low to the ground. If you can find them, count how many courses up from the foundation they are.

If these things are covered, then your garden will likely cause issues if it stays there, and I'd suggest removing it and starting again.

If the garden bed doesn't block weepholes or touch bricks above the damp course, then it may be fine. It all depends on where the top of the soil sits in relation to these important things.

If you can do some investigation and let me know what you find, I'm happy to assist further and make recommendations.

Jacob

[BigBuilder]

Hi Jacob,

We've dug down to see where the foundation is, the dirt covers around 6 rows of bricks before it hits the concrete foundation, meaning dirt is most likely above the damp course.

(the concrete base is about level with the bottom sleeper of the retaining wall.)

I cannot see any visible weep holes at all in any part of the house (it's a late 70s home, doesn't mean they're not there I just can't spot them).

It looks like it may be best to add a backing to the garden bed and protect the wall? Not sure how this works with drainage though.

 

[EricL]

Hello @BigBuilder 

I agree with your suggestion; I would even go as far as installing a set of sleepers behind the garden and leaving a gap between them. This is to make sure that water will not touch or pass through your unsealed brick wall. Worst case scenario is that you'll get condensation on the other side of the brick wall due to hydrostatic pressure which will then lift the paint and cause damage. 

Let me call on our experienced members @Dave-1 and @Nailbag for their recommendations.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

[Dave-1]

Good Evening @BigBuilder 

You excavation took me back to my stormwater fix lol The style of bricks and the colour certainly match my place. I had water traveling through the soil, then throgh the mortar and fine cracks into the garage. I ended up digging it out down to below the concrete slab of the garage to guarentee the water didnt have a path through.

With your garden beds my vote is to remove them sad to say 😕 You could go the route suggested by @EricL  but im not sure how it would look. I kimnd of like a water proof barrier against the bricks to stop moisture traveling through and yes now I think of it bitumen paint could do the job. Tho once on it would be a pain in the neck to remove if you ever take out the garden beds. Gabion Wall to stop water ingress to garage is the project where I dug out a chunk of soil to keep the brickwork dry and also used bitument paint to waterproof the bottom couple of courses of bricks. You could use that same paint on the whole wall to waterproof it. Only issue will be if you find the air vent holes along the wall that @JacobZ has mentioned.

Dave

[Nailbag]

Hi @BigBuilder 

As @JacobZ eluded to, have you been under the house to double check that the garden bed isn't actually level with the brick footings? You may be concerned over nothing. Plus I can see there is a vent under a window. Is there more like this around the house? Vents were more common than weep hole gaps in the courses for that era home.

Otherwise pulling the soil away and then applying a waterproof coating to the brick could save installing sleepers and builders plastic. Dropping in some blue board between this and the garden bed, would add an extra layer if you felt inclined. I helped a mate with this same process to stop water seeping in to his semi underground home gym.

Nailbag