How is a front garden wall attached to the house?

[Lambstales]

The old wall has fallen down, but was about 5 feet high at the house end, between the bay windows then dropping down to 3 feet (ish).

A builder is having a look tomorrow morning.

I don't want to be fobbed off, nor do I want the house bricks touched.

I don't understand how the old one survived for nearly 90 years with no footings either.

I'm pretty sure that a garden wall wouldn't actually be attached to the house, just butted up to it.

It's not attatched

How does it stay up, is it just the mortar?

And fairies*

*might be a fib.

It has a foundation and stands up in its own right. If its built properly it should never fall down. No wall should ever stand up by leaning on another wall.

We had one built that was about 6 inches shy of touching the front wall of the house. Had to be that way to avoid damp. Didn't really notice that it didn't go full way really.

ours had 'pillars' of brick every 8 feet or so, there is an inch gap between the garden wall and the garden.

The builder has been to look and we all agree that the wall needs footings. That were never there previously!

The 6" and 1" gaps are interesting as the old wall did touch the house (can see the mortar marks). There will only be one be one pillar at the end (I think :s).

Thank you everyone who's replied, it is a great help even if I don't know what is 'correct'.

If they were never there previously that's why it fell! Your lovely new wall should be there indefinately, unless you reverse your car into it (which my neighbour did at his previous house) ??

there should be a gap between the end of the garden wall and the house wall to avoid penetrating damp. In old houses this is often a problem.

House is 1920s. The date explains a lot of dubious building

Burnished, into a new wall? How unfortunate....
Just after I passed my test, I backed into a lamppost whilst waving to the neighbour

I strongly suggest you look at www.brick.org.uk for comprehensive guidance on designing freestanding walls. This covers the height of the wall, recommended foundations, piers needed for length of wall, width of wall (1 brick, 1.5 brick etc) and movement joints. This is a structure that needs careful design and, unfortunately, an expensive one!

Thank you for the link. I will have a good look tomorrow.