How to render concrete sleepers?

[Cy20]

Hi community 

long time viewer first time poster…

we’re building a new house and we cut and filled the block and decided to go with concrete sleepers rather than block walls due to price. Just wondering what the best way could be to minimise the look of these walls, both in the front and back? I’m thinking for the front garden bed section, putting in large hedges that would cover the first bays and wrap that around and maybe paint the sleepers white to not attract attention to them…

however for the rear, which will be our backyard with hopefully a pool, as you can see the pics below we have a tiered wall from 2200 high down to 1000… 

I’ve also read here and elsewhere about framing up blueboard so you can attach them either directly into the concrete sleeper or into the steel posts with an air gap allowing you to have a rendered look but with a sleeper wall behind it.

any thoughts or advice on either of those would be greatly appreciated 

cheers

Cy

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @Cy20. It's marvellous to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about rendering concrete sleepers.

Adding greening to screen the wall would certainly help break up the look of the sleepers.

If you were to consider rendering, you would most certainly need to install blue board on a frame over the retaining wall. You won't be able to render directly onto the sleepers as the gaps between them will cause cracks due to movement. You could achieve a render look by using Dulux 10L Texture Full Cover Exterior Paint, but those gaps between the sleepers will still be quite noticeable. There are plenty of other options that could work really well, like Duragroove. That would look amazing around your pool painted in white.

Screening panels could really come in handy to break up the wall, even between groupings of plants. There are heaps of designs to choose from, so I'm sure you'll find something to suit your tastes.

Check out one of my favourite pool fence projects: Feature fences by @ProjectPete. He's achieved a really stunning effect by combining textures that I feel could work very well with your project too.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell
 

[Cy20]

Thanks mate for the advice. On the front we’ll have to re do some stuff so it will end up as a rendered block wall, so fine there. 

For the rear, I think the idea of blueboard drilled into the steel posts might not be a goer (lots of people don’t agree with it!) but greening it has come up many other times. do you mean putting one of those fake green walls over them or like planting in the space above the wall or planting in front?

cheers.

[Jason]

Hi @Cy20,

Just wanted to let you know that @MitchellMc won't be back on the site for at least a few days. Let me tag @EricL to share his thoughts in the meantime.

Jason

[EricL]

Hello @Cy20 

In regards to your back wall there is always the option of putting in a raised garden bed and grow some climbers to cover the retaining wall. You can also cover the wall with Matrix panels in combination with Merbau timber. Have a look at this discussion - Feature wall fence with Matrix screen panels by @diy_hausdesigns.

Here is one of my favourite fence cover projects - Merbau panel screening by @Wendy_L. It all depends on what your backyard will look like and if you will be putting in a swimming pool. There are a great many options on how to cover and disguise your retaining wall.

Here is a link for ideas and inspiration: 7 ways to add privacy to your outdoor area.

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

Eric