Block Walling

Introduction

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Although seen by some as a cheap, unfinished method of construction, the humbly ubiquitous 4" concrete block wall has become a staple of British vernacular architecture. If you have ever travelled throughout Europe, you’ll know that nowhere screams ’this is a British town’ quite like a place built with this technique. In the UK, we use these 100 x 215 x 440mm chunks of concrete for almost every aspect of wall building. Today’s post is simple: it’s a showcase of some of the block walling I have done.

Olden-days Blockwork.

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Let’s start back in pre-history.. I call this pre-history, because the pictures were taken so long ago that ice ages have passed.

Cavity wall work with lintel.

A blockwork corner with decorative blocks along the right-hand edge.

A Chimney built by me.

A Wall-plate laid on intricate blockwork.

A budget retaining wall.

Mixed Trades.

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Here’s a blockwork wall with Concrete ‘Apex Cappings’ on top and a custom designed z-frame gate. All of this work is my own. Note the gate hinged onto the old concrete post. this was exceptionally hard to accomplish.

Bloackwork with gate.

Premium block walling.

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This was an entire fence replacement. I even made custom fence panels, rendered the walls, and finished the wall with render.

Here’s a boundry wall I finished.

The wall has a dogltg in it. This means it bends at a angle that’s not 90 degrees.

The wall is built on a stepped foundation. to follow the lay of the land.

The wall has custom built fence panels specially crafted for it.

Finishes

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The garden wall was finished by adding cement based render, paint and trellis to the piers.

I hope you liked these photos, I am really glad about how the last wall turned out. The client was really happy with the results. There is nothing better than bringing a client’s high standards to life and seeing the flawless finished results. This makes me happy too.