Hi,

We have block wall between our house and neighbor, it is low so we plan to add wood lattice panel purchase from home Depot ontop of block wall.
I purchase concrete screws and drill bit along with some "L" bracket about 2". Will this be strong enought to hold lattice panel onto block wall top?

Thanks in advance,
Augus

 

My guess would be no. Lattice is still over 50% solid, so when the wind hits it, good by "L" brackets. I would think you will need some pipe all the way down through the wall to provide the support needed. How is the top of the block wall finished?

Bud

 

augus,

is this wall grouted solid? i.e. are all block cells filled with concrete? if it was built properly, there should be a grid of rebar, horizontal and vertical, inside the wall, and then the cells are filled with concrete. vertical rebar should be attached to the footing at a max of every 4 linear feet o.c.and continue to within 2 inches of the top of the wall. horizontal rebar should be placed every 4 vertical feet o.c. in bond beam courses and - most importantly - in the top course.

if this is the case, you don't need to insert sleeves through the full height of the wall; but bud is right: screws won't be sufficient. you'll have to mount a wood top plate on top of the wall, preferably pressure-treated lumber. you will frame the border of your lattice to this plate.

if you have a good, soild wall, you'll need: a rotohammer with an 8" long 5/8" diameter masonry bit, simpson set 22 epoxy, a wire bottle brush, 8" pieces of 1/2" all-thread, one washer (1-1/2" o.d.) and one nut per all-thread, a drill with a 5/8" wood bit, and a top plate, at least 2x4. all of these things are available at any good hardware/big-box store. big-boxes will probably rent you the rotohammer.

is the wall capped? or can you see the top of the block cells?

if you don't have a cap:

lay the top plate on top of the wall, centered. drill holes in the plate every 2 feet or so. use the holes in the plate as a guide to drill into the masonry with the rotohammer. move the plate out of the way. drill 4" - 5" into the top block course so that the holes in the plate align with the holes in the masonry. use a shop-vac or a turkey baster and the wire brush to clean the debris from the holes. fill the masonry holes with epoxy and insert the all-thread. put the plate over the all thread and bolt it down with the nuts and washers. after the epoxy sets, cut off any excess all-thread with a hack saw, angle grinder, or a good sawzall blade. file these down to remove burrs.

alternately, you could mount the all-thread to the masonry and use a hammer to indent the wood plate, giving you a guide for drilling the holes in the plate.

 

Thanks both for response.
Our block wall is top of with "XX" block. Don't know if there it was properly build with rebar and concrete fill.
Look like we will have to use wood top plate to mount our lattice frame too.

 

have you considered increasing the height of the masonry with the same or similar block? or other masonry which looks just as fancy and gives you more privacy?

or removing the courses of fancy block and going ahead with your lattice project?