Brick or block for a garden wall, what's your go to?

I'm starting a garden wall next week for a client in Portland and I keep going back and forth on material. I usually use clay brick for smaller projects like this because it looks clean and ages nice. But the client wants it about 4 feet tall and 20 feet long, so I'm thinking concrete block might hold up better against the wet ground here. My last garden wall with brick had some frost heave issues after two winters, and I had to go back and repoint a bunch of joints. On the flip side, block looks clunky unless you spend extra on a textured finish or stucco it. What do you guys usually pick for retaining walls that are more cosmetic than structural? Does the local climate swing your choice one way or the other?

2 comments

2 Comments

henry_palmer2412d ago

Man, I used to swear by brick too but switched to block after dealing with frost heave myself.

terry_bailey3512d ago

Brick is fine for looks, but nobody talks about how block handles freeze-thaw cycles way better because the cores let water drain instead of getting trapped.