How to cover a brick retaining wall/garden bed in blue board or similar?

[nat789]

Hello, 

We have a brick retaining wall which is a garden bed- approx 1.1m tall and 30m long in an L shape. We want to cover it with blue board or similar and either render or do a textured paint finish. My question is- do we need to build out a little frame and attach the blue board to that (if so what are recommended dimensions of battens, distance between etc) or can we attach the blue board directly to the bricks (if so, with what fixing?). The retaining wall is not waterproofed and some dampness does come through the bricks.
Any advice welcome. Thanks

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @nat789. It's marvellous to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about covering a brick wall.

If moisture is penetrating the brick wall, then a cement sheet fixed directly to it would likely wick the moisture off it and allow it to seep through to the front. So, if you'd like to avoid staining on the finished cement sheet then I would advise waterproofing the front face of the bricks, or at least where the battens will be placed and installing battens. The battens don't need to be particularly thick, just enough to hold the cement sheet off the wall. Something like a 70 x 35mm Outdoor Framing H3 Treated Pine should be fine.

The distance between your battens and fixing points are shown in the installation guide. 600mm between batons is what would be typically used.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell