[Deaner13]

Hi all,

This is my first time posting here and I was led to this thread by finding an answer to a similar question from google.

I recently bought a house and I am looking to get a fence installed along my drive way. There is a 1-1.5' tall x 80' long cement wall that goes down the length of my driveway though, and it is in pretty bad shape. I want to remove it, but it sits on my property line and in one area I only have access to one side of the wall.

There are some metal rods sticking out of it which leads me to believe that it may be difficult to remove. Do you guys have any suggestions?

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,.... Hire a Contractor who has a trackhoe, 'n dump truck...

That's a 1/2 day project, if the right equipment is used,...

It'll take a lifetime, by hand...

 

[brockmiera]

If you can post a picture you'll have the most luck.

Most concrete can be broken up with a sledgehammer or a demo hammer. It will be hard work since concrete (cement + aggregate) is very dense and heavy. The rebar sticking up wont keep you from breaking up the concrete. The questions is how far down does the concrete go. I'm sure it goes well below what you can see.

Work on posting that picture and some other more knowledgeable folks will be along shortly.

 

[Deaner13]

If I had money for a contractor I would be all over that... Trust me, this is not a project I am looking to take on :laughing:

And here's a picture... The wall is the one to the left hand side of the picture, and I only want to go down far enough to make the driveway level. It seems to sit on top of my driveway/retaining wall, but take a look for yourself.

I'll post more pics later when I get off work.

 

[joecaption]

Hard to tell from the angle of that picture but it may be simpler to fix what you have, add cap blocks and parge over the old blocks.

 

[brockmiera]

What kind of fence did you want to build? I bet you can anchor 4x4 posts to the top of that concrete wall and set pickets to the driveway level. That way you get your fence, don't go over your property line and you don't have to break your back destroying that wall. But since the pickets will between your house and the wall you wont see the wall any more. Especially if you try and match the fence in back.

It may be there to keep water from draining to your neighbors lot also.

 

[Deaner13]

I don't have any experience in fixing existing cement, but I had never thought of that. I'll post pictures of the area that is most damaged in a couple of hours to get an opinion on if it's possible to be fixed.

Also, I plan on matching the back fence. The other option that I have in mind is very similar to putting posts in the wall. I figured that putting 4x4's in the driveway (since the wall is in need of repair) wouldn't make much of a difference in terms of the width of the driveway. The concern I have with this is that the driveway is already long and narrow, so I want to try to avoid making that worse if possible.

 

[brockmiera]

Yeah I suppose you could do that. It wont look very good when it dies into your garage.

 

[Deaner13]

Yeah I suppose you could do that. It wont look very good when it dies into your garage.

Didn't even think of that... Guess it'll have to be strengthening the wall or removing it then.

You also mentioned it may be there to prevent water from getting onto my neighbors property, which makes sense, but makes this whole issue a pain.

It's incredibly ugly in it's current state.

 

[joecaption]

And if you did remove it how would you finish off the top of the drive with old rebar cut off and exposed.
Water would get in and cause the rebar to expand which can cause the concrete in the driveway to crack.

 

[brockmiera]

I think I'm with Joe. Try to repair what is there. I'd even try to stucco it the same color and texture as your house and garage.

 

[joecaption]

I'm not seeing any drains in that driveway. Looks like it would form a pond in a heavy rain.

 

[Deaner13]

I think I'm with Joe. Try to repair what is there. I'd even try to stucco it the same color and texture as your house and garage.

Not a bad idea. I'm almost off work, so I will post pictures soon to show you guys what kind of shape the wall is actually in. One question I have is, do you think I should build the wall itself up to make a fence? Or build a fence on the wall?

I'm not seeing any drains in that driveway. Looks like it would form a pond in a heavy rain.

I live in Colorado, not too much heavy rain here, but you are correct, no drain in the drive way.

Fun fact about the house: it was built in 1885 and the garage looks like it was originally a horse stable.

 

[brockmiera]

Where in Colorado? I'm in Littleton (Denver Suburb)

 

[Deaner13]

Where in Colorado? I'm in Littleton (Denver Suburb)

I'm in downtown Colorado Springs. Not too far from Littleton at all.

 

[joecaption]

If someone did not pore a proper footing and the wall is tipping then there'a no since adding more on top of it, only going to make it tip faster with more weight.

 

[Deaner13]

Okay so 1st image is of the "worst" part of the wall. Second and third pics are there to try and show how it connects to the driveway. And fourth pic shows length

 

[brockmiera]

It looks like someone built up a block wall on top of a curb. I bet its the same size curb as it is on the opposite side of the driveway.

 

[Deaner13]

After looking closer at it, it seems it would be easy enough to knock down. But then lies the issue with building some sort of water control system.

All seems like a big job. But the contractor I had quote me for a fence said $3000 so I'm looking for a DIY option haha.

 

[brockmiera]

3000 for a fence huh!?!? I built a nice one this summer in my backyard. It cost me about $12.50 / l.f.

If it were my place I'd remove the loosest parts of a small section and see how it is constructed all the way down. It looks like someone put a wall on top of the concrete curb that was likely there when the driveway was originally placed. They used those steel angles to try and reinforce the new concrete wall that they put up.

If it indeed was built in two stages I'd remove all of the top courses, leaving the bottom 4" of concrete there for not only water retention but also to anchor your fence posts to.