Planning a garden wall and wondering about height, brick and permits? We build brick walls with full joints and a cap that sheds rain.
C&D Santa Barbara Concrete & Masonry builds brick garden walls in Santa Barbara, CA. That means brick and mortar laid on a solid footing and topped with a cap that keeps rain off the face, so the wall holds up out in the weather.
Most people call us with a spot already picked out, along a property line, around a patio or out by the driveway, and a rough height in mind. Where the wall goes and how tall it stands matter more than most expect, because they decide whether the city wants a permit and which height rules apply, and that can move the start date.
The price mostly follows the wall's length and height, the footing it needs, the brick you pick and how easy it is to get materials to the spot. I'll go over all of that with you on site and give you your own figure. If a stone wall suits your house better, our stone masonry work covers that too.
Call (805) 456-2871 or use the form, and tell us roughly where the wall will go. We get back to you and set a time for me to come out.
I meet you at the house, look at the ground, the slope and where the wall will run, and we talk through brick and cap choices. You get an estimate for that wall, and I tell you whether it looks like the city will want a permit.
We find out which office covers your address, and if the wall needs a permit we file it, meet the inspector and tell you up front how the review fits the schedule. Then we dig the footing and lay the wall, with me working beside our crew.
Before we pack up, we walk the wall with you and look over the joints, the cap and the cleanup. If anything isn't right, you tell me right there.
It starts below ground. National brick trade guidance sets a garden wall's footing in undisturbed earth below the frost line, so we dig past the loose, disturbed soil before the first course of brick goes down. The footing can be brick or concrete, reinforced where the wall needs it, and everything above depends on it sitting firm.
Up top, we finish with a coping, the cap course that sits over the last row of brick. It sticks out past the face on both sides with a drip, a small groove under the edge, so rain falls off clear instead of running down the brick and into the joints.
What a brick wall job covers:
If your old wall stands straight and the bricks are sound but the mortar is crumbling out of the joints, brick pointing is usually all it needs, and I'll tell you if even that can wait. When a wall leans, has cracked through at the footing or the bricks themselves are breaking up, patching only buys time, so we take it down and build a new one on a proper footing.
Length and height decide how much brick and mortar go in, and a taller wall needs a bigger footing that may need reinforcing. Sloped ground means more digging and stepping the footing down the hill. Salvaged brick carries its own cost in sorting and checking. The cap style, how far materials have to be carried, taking out an old wall and any permit work all add to the total too.
I grew up on a farm where you fixed a fence or a barn wall so it stayed fixed, and I've run this business in Santa Barbara that way since 2017. I come out to look at your wall myself, explain what it needs in plain words, and work on it alongside our crew.
We keep your yard and driveway clear, protect the plants near the work and clean up as we go. We're licensed and fully insured, and I'd rather tell you a job can wait than sell you one you don't need. Your satisfaction, guaranteed.
We take calls seven days a week, so call (805) 456-2871 whenever it suits you and tell us what wall you picture.
Tell us the wall's planned height, how the ground slopes and whether it sits near a driveway. We reply within one business day, then I come out for a free estimate, no obligation.
Yes, if the wall stands over four feet from the bottom of the footing to the top, or sits on a slope of twenty percent or more, the City of Santa Barbara requires a permit for a residential masonry wall. Work outside the building permit can still come under other city divisions, so the city's Permit Center counter staff are a good first call. We'll know which way your wall falls once I've measured it on site.
The city bars any wall over three and one-half feet inside the sightline on either side of a driveway, the triangle a driver needs clear to see the street when pulling out. So when a wall runs toward a driveway, we plan where it drops to that height before it reaches the sightline.
The city measures from the lowest ground on either side of the wall up to its highest point. If the brick wall sits on top of a retaining wall, the part of the retaining wall above finished grade counts toward the total, which catches a lot of people on sloped lots. The wall's material, color, width and style may also come under other city guidelines, such as those of the Single Family Design Board.
You can, as long as the batch meets the SW grade, the brick rating for severe weather that national brick trade guidance asks for in a garden wall. Old brick varies a lot from batch to batch. If you love the look, I'll check whether a salvaged batch is up to the job before you buy it.
Fill every joint completely with mortar, the vertical head joints, the bed joints under each row and the collar joint between the two layers of brick, which is what national brick trade guidance calls for. A garden wall takes weather on every side, so one defect can let it deteriorate and, in time, perhaps fail. Add the projecting cap and the firm footing described above, and the wall has what it needs.
There's no set price for a brick wall, because the length, height, footing, slope and the brick you choose all change the total. I give you your own figure when I come out and look at the spot.
We're based in Santa Barbara and build brick walls in Goleta, Montecito and the other cities below. Pick your area, or call if yours isn't listed.
