Brick & Block Walls in Louisville, KY

Brick and block walls cover the new masonry around a house: a low garden wall along the front walk, a privacy wall around a patio, brick columns at a driveway entrance, a brick or stone mailbox, or block walls for a shed, garage or grill station. Brick suits Louisville. So much of the city is red brick that a new wall built in a matching brick and bond looks like it has always been there.

Brick or block

Brick is fired clay, laid in courses with mortar joints. It weathers well and looks finished on both faces. A freestanding brick garden wall is often two layers thick (a double wythe) so both sides show brick.

Concrete block (CMU) is larger and faster to lay. It is strong, especially with steel and grout in the cores, and it is the usual core for privacy walls, piers and outdoor kitchens. Block can be left plain, painted, stuccoed or faced with brick or stone.

Many walls combine the two: a block core for strength and cost, with brick or stone on the faces people see.

A wall is only as good as its footing

A freestanding wall needs a concrete footing wider than the wall, set deep enough that freezing ground does not lift it. Brick walls that crack in a stair-step pattern a few years after they are built almost always have a shallow or missing footing. We also:

• Add steel reinforcement and grout in block cores on taller walls and piers
• Leave control joints in long walls so they can move without cracking
• Finish the top with a cap or rowlock course that sheds water
• Keep soil and mulch off the face so the bottom courses do not stay wet

Matching existing brick

When a new wall or column sits next to the house, we match the brick as closely as we can: size, color, texture and the bond pattern. For newer houses we look for a close modern equivalent. For pre-war houses we look for salvaged brick. We bring samples and lay them against the house before ordering.

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Mailboxes and columns

A brick or stone mailbox is a small project that gets a lot of attention. HomeGuide's mailbox guide lists brick mailboxes at about $600 to $1,500 installed. Driveway and gate columns follow the same method on a larger scale: a footing, a block or brick core with steel, a brick or stone face, and a cap. Before digging near the street we have underground utilities marked, and we set the mailbox height and distance from the curb with you before the footing goes in.

Walls and permits

In Louisville Metro, fences over 7 feet tall need a building permit, and retaining walls over 4 feet do too. Freestanding garden walls are usually lower than that, but neighborhood rules, deed restrictions and preservation districts can add requirements. We check before we build.