How about a low wall with hedge shrubs planted in the top?

A few years ago I did some outdoor courses at a horse stud and didn't even know there was a busy by-pass only about 50 yards away thanks to some retaining banks and thick hedges - but was told it's sometimes loud in winter after leaf fall. Bearing that in mind, evergreens seem sensible, at least in part.

We built our own stable yard from scratch, so I've learned that brickwork is a doddle. There's only three main rules. First is footings must be right for the soil type, wall height and any surrounding planting. A local builder will offer advice on those fronts. The second is that piers must be built in at distances capable of strengthening the wall depending on it's height. Putting piers at both sides is a good idea. The third is really important, but often forgotten - mortar strength is vital. It must be weaker than the bricks, partly so that if frost damages the wall the mortar will give before the bricks (it's easier to fix, after all!) and partly so that when the bricks come to be re-used they are almost self cleaning.

We had a builder come and give us quotes for our yard and while he was there picked his brains about pier distance and so on, then cheekily built it all ourselves! A gardening book gave mortar mixes and I think we've pretty much cracked the whole thing now just by practice and a bit more practice. To make the stables cheap we used concrete blocks, seconds from the housing trade, and rendered it all. Looks great painted, but will need repainting in places within 5 years. Coloured render would have been more sensible, but you live and learn! Most of the walls are rendered block for the first course, then old bricks from anything knocked down locally. The old bricks are weak but utterly gorgous! They look fantastic once up and really set the place off within the countryside. Being odd sizes and shapes means they are easy to use because any bits I've built off level are soon hidden anyway!

Having said all that, if I were you I would be tempted to plant a nice hedge with maybe some wall to grow things against. The wind filtering of a hedge is better and you won't get the nasty eddies that walls make on their leeward side, nor frost pockets.

Hope it all works out well.

"martin" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 30 Nov 2003 15:58:18 +0000, Kay Easton
wrote:


But a hedge is fairly rubbish at cutting out noise. Though you'll need a
very tall wall to cut out the traffic sound. A bank with a hedge on top
might do quite well if you have the room - no experience of that, but
it's what they seem to be doing alongside new bypasses nowadays.

It doesn't mean that it is effective.

The Dutch installed hundreds of kilometers of sound barriers along
urban parts of their motorways, before somebody made some independent
sound measurements and proved that the stuff was not effective.

Locally somebody did some tests that demonstrated that in a gale the
whole lot my blow over, so they made lots of really big holes in it.

To provide a good path to let the sound get back to the side from which it
came?

Franz

On Sun, 30 Nov 2003 18:30:29 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote:


Locally somebody did some tests that demonstrated that in a gale the
whole lot my blow over, so they made lots of really big holes in it.

To provide a good path to let the sound get back to the side from which it
came?

I think it was rather than admit how much money they had wasted :-(
--
Martin

In article m,
(Hazell B) wrote:

Having said all that, if I were you I would be tempted to plant a nice
hedge with maybe some wall to grow things against

You'd want the hedge to grow higher than the wall pretty quick.
Leylandii? :-)

Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com

"...........Thing is, said acre is currently rather exposed to wind and
traffic noise ............"
Now this sounds like a good place for a 40ft leylandii hedge

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk
***2004 catalogue now available***

I
Is this industrial traffic (might be quieter at weekends)? Sports or
tourist-attraction traffic, could be worse at weekends? You're seeing it
in winter; is it likely to be quieter now than in summer? Visit the area
during rush hours. Do people chug past in a slow tail of traffic at 30
mph, or race past at 70? Can you get in and out of the gate safely at
busy times? Is the traffic mostly cars, or huge reverberating trucks?
Shut yourself in the bedrooms, listen to the noise, and ask yourself if
you'll be able to sleep with a window open.

But where, exactly, can I find a village house with no traffic noise in
the southeast? Frankly, it's unrealistic, or it is with my budget. The
other houses I looked at recently were a. on the Brize Norton flightpath
as well as an A-road b. within earshot of the M40. Maybe I've been
unlucky, but the only house I saw in a 'quiet' location had a garden
smaller than a pocket handkerchief.

Of course I'd like rural tranquillity, but I don't think complete peace
is obtainable in my part of England. What I do strongly dislike is not
traffic noise but people noise. Radios, nice little barbecues. Little
dears on skateboards. Little dears bouncing their lovely balls against
a wall. This house is at the end of the village, so at least there
should be less of that than in my current terrace.

Having said that, the traffic seems modest rather than constant.

--
Jane Lumley

Jane Lumley wrote:

Hello Jane

JL Thing is, said acre is currently rather exposed to wind and
JL traffic noise, so dh and I are eager to make a walled garden
JL by building brick walls around at least part of it. Are we
JL mad? I've looked at several websites and the art of
JL bricklaying seems very jargon laden. Does anyone know of a
JL site in plain English? And has anyone ever done one
JL of those night-school bricklaying courses?

uk.d-i-y is the "better place" for this kind of thing, but the reason
it seems complicated is because it can be - especially if you plan on
building walls above a certain height; they need buttressing and
reinforcement at specific places to make sure they don't fall over and
squash someone.

--
Simon Avery, Dartmoor, UK Ý http://www.digdilem.org/

In article ,
Simon Avery wrote:
Jane Lumley wrote:

JL Thing is, said acre is currently rather exposed to wind and
JL traffic noise, so dh and I are eager to make a walled garden
JL by building brick walls around at least part of it. Are we
JL mad? I've looked at several websites and the art of
JL bricklaying seems very jargon laden. Does anyone know of a
JL site in plain English? And has anyone ever done one
JL of those night-school bricklaying courses?

uk.d-i-y is the "better place" for this kind of thing, but the reason
it seems complicated is because it can be - especially if you plan on
building walls above a certain height; they need buttressing and
reinforcement at specific places to make sure they don't fall over and
squash someone.

No, it's not complicated - that's not the same as needing to be got
right. I am thinking of doing the same, though I would probably
get someone to do the building (lack of time). But I have designed
it myself - you don't need advanced mathematics. The reference
pamphlet is "design of Free Standing Walls" by J.O.A. Korff,
published by the Brick Development Association. It covers all you
need to know.

If you are doing anything unusual or pushing the limits, such as I
plan to, it is probably worth paying a bit to get it vetted by an
architect. You may also find it a lot cheaper to get a builder
to do it than you think if you are prepared to schedule the time
according to their convenience. But you MUST contract a finishing
date, or it will never be finished!


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Jane Lumley wrote:

JL Thing is, said acre is currently rather exposed to wind and
JL traffic noise,

I replied

Is this industrial traffic (might be quieter at weekends)? Sports or
tourist-attraction traffic, could be worse at weekends? You're seeing it
in winter; is it likely to be quieter now than in summer? Visit the area
during rush hours. Do people chug past in a slow tail of traffic at 30
mph, or race past at 70? Can you get in and out of the gate safely at
busy times? Is the traffic mostly cars, or huge reverberating trucks?
Shut yourself in the bedrooms, listen to the noise, and ask yourself if
you'll be able to sleep with a window open.

But where, exactly, can I find a village house with no traffic noise in
the southeast? Frankly, it's unrealistic, or it is with my budget. (snip

First, you have not previously informed us of your geographical search
area, village location requirements or budget. You can't REALISTICALLY
expect replies tailored to what you haven't mentioned.

Second, you raised the issue of noise. I did not suggest you find a
house with "no traffic noise"; only that you very carefully evaluate the
nature and level of traffic noise at your "find" (which only yesterday
was sufficiently concerning that you were wondering how to reduce it).

I learn from experience. Consequently I shan't waste any more of my
time offering advice to you.

Janet

Hi All

Subject: Jane finds her garden:brick wall question
From: Jaques d'Alltrades
Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2003 22:50:17 GMT

The message
from Jane Lumley contains these words:

Thanks so much to all for your help - we've found a house with an acre
of land.... but I'm not saying any more in case one of you gazumps me!
.
Good luck with the new garden.
I've looked at several
websites and the art of bricklaying seems very jargon laden. Does
anyone know of a site in plain English? And has anyone ever done one of
those night-school bricklaying courses?

I did. Found it very useful, although I have not practiced the skill very
much. There are 2 types of course. The full blown C & G type, and a simple
bricklaying. I went on the latter. Not really jargaon laden and when you
understand the relationship betwen bricks and bonds it is beatifully simple.

Oops! Got a bit ahead of myself there! Old Bob taught me properly, using
matured lime mortar and having the frogs in the bricks on the underside
so water doesn't seep into them and freeze during the winter. Nowadays,
because it's easier and quicker, brickies tend to lay courses with the
frogs upwards. "Oh, that's all right as long as you point them
well....." Pah!

I was taught that it is 'fogs up'. This is in the text books. It allows more
mortar/brick. 'Frogs down' is the economy method - les mortar.

Peter Bridge

On 02 Dec 2003 09:00:03 GMT, (BridgeP) wrote:


I was taught that it is 'fogs up'. This is in the text books. It allows more
mortar/brick. 'Frogs down' is the economy method - les mortar.

What's a frog in this context?
--
Martin

In article ,
martin writes:
| On 02 Dec 2003 09:00:03 GMT, (BridgeP) wrote:
|
| I was taught that it is 'fogs up'. This is in the text books. It allows more
| mortar/brick. 'Frogs down' is the economy method - les mortar.
|
| What's a frog in this context?

Much the same as on a horse, though nothing to do with frogging.

[ The indentation on the top or bottom or both. ]


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 2 Dec 2003 10:08:52 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:


In article ,
martin writes:
| On 02 Dec 2003 09:00:03 GMT, (BridgeP) wrote:
|
| I was taught that it is 'fogs up'. This is in the text books. It allows more
| mortar/brick. 'Frogs down' is the economy method - les mortar.
|
| What's a frog in this context?

Much the same as on a horse, though nothing to do with frogging.

[ The indentation on the top or bottom or both. ]

duh! I always thought that the profile of the top and bottom of a
brick were the same.
--
Martin

On 2 Dec 2003 10:08:52 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:


In article ,
martin writes:
| On 02 Dec 2003 09:00:03 GMT, (BridgeP) wrote:
|
| I was taught that it is 'fogs up'. This is in the text books. It allows more
| mortar/brick. 'Frogs down' is the economy method - les mortar.
|
| What's a frog in this context?

Much the same as on a horse, though nothing to do with frogging.

[ The indentation on the top or bottom or both. ]

duh! I always thought that the profile of the top and bottom of a
brick were the same.
--
Martin

In article ,
martin writes:
|
| duh! I always thought that the profile of the top and bottom of a
| brick were the same.

With older bricks, that is usually the case. About 150 years
back (I think), bricks started to be made with a frog. Modern
(ordinary) bricks almost always are.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.