Install concrete block wall

Costs to prepare the worksite for Concrete Block Wall Installation, including costs to protect existing structure s , finishes, materials and components. Labor setup time, mobilization time and minimum hourly charges that are commonly included for small Concrete Block Wall Installation jobs.

The cost estimate does NOT include: Costs for removing, relocating, repairing, or modifying existing framing, surfacing, HVAC, electrical, and plumbing systems - or bringing those systems into compliance with current building codes.

Costs for testing and remediation of hazardous materials asbestos, lead, etc. General contractor overhead and markup for organizing and supervising the Concrete Block Wall Installation. Sales tax on materials and supplies. Permit or inspection fees or portion thereof required by your local building department for your overall project.

Zip Code. Item details. Block Wall Cost Non-discounted retail pricing for: Concrete masonry block wall set with mortar on existing foundation. Concrete Block Wall Installation Labor, Basic Basic labor to install concrete block wall with favorable site conditions. Concrete Block Wall Installation Job Supplies Cost of related materials and supplies typically required to install concrete block wall including: cutting and grinding consumables, mortar and reinforcement.

Concrete Block Wall Installation Equipment Allowance Job related costs of specialty equipment used for job quality and efficiency, including: V wet masonry saw, 5 cubic foot mortar box and small plate compactor. Unused Minimum Labor Balance of 2 hr s minimum labor charge that can be applied to other tasks. Some walls need large footings, which should be considered when estimating the cost. When used Always consult your local building codes to find the foundation requirements for your project.

Veneers such as stucco or plaster add a decorative look to an otherwise plain material, but they can also add significant labor and material cost to your project. Waterproofing coatings such as tar or sealing paint are an important addition for foundation walls, and should also be considered when planning the project.

Foundation and structural walls may also need to be reinforced with rebar and concrete. The residential and commercial construction industries make wide use of a form of concrete building material known officially as a concrete masonry unit CMU.

These hollow-core blocks can be made of standard concrete with traditional sand and gravel aggregate held together with Portland cement. Or, they can substitute lighter-weight industrial waste materials, such as fly ash or coal cinders, for the sand and gravel aggregate, in which case they are usually known as cinder block.

CMUs have many uses in the construction trades, from use in foundation walls to support framed construction, to exposed exterior walls for buildings, to freestanding landscape walls and retaining walls. Concrete block and cinder block come in several different sizes and shapes to fit different applications.

Common sizes and shapes of concrete block include:. Nominal sizes. This is to accommodate the thickness of mortar joints between blocks. Concrete block also comes in many shape configurations. The most common are:. Several other shapes are also available for specialty applications, such as bullnose blocks with one rounded end, jamb blocks which have an indentation where window and door jambs fit, partition blocks used to make interior partition walls, and lintel blocks used to make window and door headers.

There are also architectural masonry units , which have textured faces designed for decorative use. Virtually all walls built with CMUs share the same elements, although the application of those elements can vary considerably depending on the size, shape, and use of the wall. Most concrete block walls are single-wythe walls, which means they are constructed from single-wide rows of block stacked one over the other.

Where greater structural strength is required, you can construct double-wythe walls , in which two courses of blocks are laid together. The first step in building a concrete block wall is to lay out the foundation using stakes and masonry string. For a freestanding landscape wall, this involves creating a simple rectangular outline of the planned foundation.

For building foundations, the layout requires a rectangular outline of the entire building, carefully adjusted to be perfectly square. After leveling the layout strings with a line level, transfer the location of the foundation onto the ground before beginning excavation. The next step is to excavate earth for the foundation. The work involved here can vary considerably, depending on the required size of the foundation and the circumstances. If you are building a small landscape wall in a warm-weather climate, this can involve simple hand-digging with a shovel.

For a building foundation or in a cold-weather climate requiring deep frost footings, excavation can be a major undertaking requiring earth-moving equipment. Either way, the goal is to create a flat-bottom trench to pour a concrete foundation for supporting the cement block wall. Make sure to consult local authorities on the required depth and size of the foundation for the cement block wall you are planning. Any wall higher than 2 feet requires a frost footing that extends 8 to 12 inches below the deepest winter frost level in your region.

Generally, the foundation should be twice as wide as the wall itself. The concrete foundation needed to support a cement block wall is usually created by pouring concrete into a hollow form lining the sides of the excavation trench, but the concrete can also simply be poured into the trench—a common scenario for construction of a freestanding landscape wall.

In this case, the top of the excavation is sometimes boxed with lumber to create a finished appearance. It is common for the top of the foundation to be kept slightly below grade, so that the foundation will be hidden when the wall is finished.