Concrete Block Knee Wall

To determine the width of your future wall decide how many cinder blocks you want to use for the wall width then calculate the width using the block s measurements.

Concrete block knee wall.

3 625 in x 7 625 in x 15 625 in. Getting ride of any dirt or dust on the blocks will help the primer and the paint adhere better to the concrete blocks. 4 in x 8 in x 16 in. Remember to check out the full diy construction video on our website.

Pressure wash the wall first and allow it to dry. A comfortable sitting height for a wall is 18 to 24 inches including capstones. In our example a standard concrete block wall may only be half as strong as the poured concrete wall when a gravity load is applied to it. Learn how to build a low wall from concrete breezeblocks.

Lay out the block making sure to leave a 3 8 inch gap between the blocks to allow for the vertical mortar joints i e a typical 8x8x16 block is actually 15 5 8 inches long and 7 5 8 inches high to accommodate the mortar joint. Start the concrete footing by digging the area of the wall a few inches below the frost line the maximum depth in the ground below which the soil does not freeze during the winter consult a structural engineer to design the footing including where to install the vertical reinforcement which usually is placed. This is due to the hollow voids within the wall. Most cast concrete stones are heavy enough to stay upright without help.

The poured concrete wall has more mass or interlocking cement paste. For example if your cinder blocks are 8x8 in 20x20 cm and you want to use 2 blocks to make up the wall s width your total wall width would be 16 in 40 cm. However some types of walls such as pony walls that rest on a building s foundation or an attic knee wall cannot be properly referred to by both names. When you apply a lateral load to these two walls you will achieve similar results.

While some capstones can cost as little as 95 cents apiece the average cost of a cinder block is 1 to 3 each the total cost of building a cinder block wall ranges between 9 and 12 per square foot with labor so an 8 x 15 foot wall would cost between 1 080 and 1 440. Cinder blocks don t vary much in cost regardless of the type. Prepare the concrete footing where the cinder block wall will sit. The cinder blocks are very porous and the use of an acrylic primer will fill the pores of the wall and give you a smoother finish.

The terms knee wall and pony wall are commonly used as if they were synonymous and both terms are often used to refer to the same types of wall structures. Step 3 snap a chalk line on each side of the block wall as a reference line. Step 4 mix mortar.