[Lands]

Hi all,

I'm involved with some renovations in my backyard, and could use some advice.

I'm expanding my deck, and I'm trying to figure out how close to my wall to go. I'd like to have 12" or less for a planter - I was told by one person that 12" would be ok, but by another that I'd need to go at least 19" if I ever want to plant a vine or most anything because the footer of the wall (I think it's called the footer?) comes out about 12" so I'd only have 3" or so of soil for the roots.

Is this correct? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,.... Where are ya on the planet,..??

'round here, the footer is 4', 5' down, well below any roots,.....

 

[Lands]

Ayuh,.... Where are ya on the planet,..??

'round here, the footer is 4', 5' down, well below any roots,.....

Hi, and thanks. I'm in California.

To be clear, it's the wall around the perimeter of my backyard. It's about 5 foot tall, not sure of the width. I mention this because you might be thinking I meant the wall of my house.

 

[Canarywood1]

If your wall is 8 inches wide, the footing could be 16 inches wide, all depends on who built the wall.

 

[Gary in WA]

Around here we have deck setbacks in the backyard... so many feet from the property line. Check with local AHJ.

Gary

 

[Lands]

If your wall is 8 inches wide, the footing could be 16 inches wide, all depends on who built the wall.

So I'd be looking at approx 8" on each side. Any idea how deep the footer would start?

 

[mathmonger]

Drive a spike in and see where it goes in and how deep.

 

[Canarywood1]

So I'd be looking at approx 8" on each side. Any idea how deep the footer would start?

No idea, but you can drive a piece of rebar in as mathmonger suggests and see what happens.

 

[Lands]

Thanks for the advice. I was able to dig around the wall yesterday - here's what I found:

Wall is about 6" wide.
Footer seems to extend 14"-17" (I dug/poked around a 4' stretch and it varied).
Footer started only about 5" deep in the dirt.

This leads to another question or two that maybe you can help with.

As mentioned, I was told that I should go out 20" if I want to plant vines or something that needs deep roots. The interesting thing is, right where I was digging, vines are planted 8" and less from the wall. I'm guessing that's because the roots can grow horizontal to get around the footer. SO...

How deep will a concrete slab usually go? My thinking is that if I have the slab stop 16" from the wall, as long as it doesn't go deeper than 5", there will be room for the roots to grow horizontal, and then down.

Make sense?

 

[Canarywood1]

Thickness of a slab depends on what's going to be on it, but 4 inches is usually enough.