Thinking a bit outside the box...
I have a garage driveway to the basement that looks absolutely dreadful. It's round stones of various sizes cast together in a block. The stones also serve as a retaining wall against the lawn on both sides. At its highest point, the wall is about 1.5m. The wall leans outwards, thicker at the bottom.
I'm considering renewing it and making it really simple for myself. I'm thinking I could frame it with treated wood on the outside of the wall and then screw frost-resistant tile slabs onto the framework. By drilling 6 holes in each slab and using some nice screws and plastic/rubber washers, it should be able to hold.
The alternative is to find some kind of outdoor gypsum board and glue the tiles on, but I don't really believe in gypsum and glue outdoors.
I suppose I can also use metal studs or aluminum profiles to screw the slabs onto to get a material that doesn't move.
I'm too stingy to build a form and bring a concrete truck here; I estimate the cost for that would be around 50,000 since I live in Stockholm and everything is overpriced here.
Bad idea?
I have a garage driveway to the basement that looks absolutely dreadful. It's round stones of various sizes cast together in a block. The stones also serve as a retaining wall against the lawn on both sides. At its highest point, the wall is about 1.5m. The wall leans outwards, thicker at the bottom.
I'm considering renewing it and making it really simple for myself. I'm thinking I could frame it with treated wood on the outside of the wall and then screw frost-resistant tile slabs onto the framework. By drilling 6 holes in each slab and using some nice screws and plastic/rubber washers, it should be able to hold.
The alternative is to find some kind of outdoor gypsum board and glue the tiles on, but I don't really believe in gypsum and glue outdoors.
I suppose I can also use metal studs or aluminum profiles to screw the slabs onto to get a material that doesn't move.
I'm too stingy to build a form and bring a concrete truck here; I estimate the cost for that would be around 50,000 since I live in Stockholm and everything is overpriced here.
Bad idea?
If the tiles have no bottom surface and only 4 small contact points, I don't think they will be particularly durable. If you hit them with a wheelbarrow or kick a hard football, they will likely crack quite easily. How long is the wall?
Drilling holes in tiles can be a real hell if they are hard tiles (which frost-resistant ones tend to be). Drilling 500+ holes becomes expensive and very, very time-consuming.
So attaching them with adhesive to a board that can handle it is probably the best option.
So attaching them with adhesive to a board that can handle it is probably the best option.
Make the wall straight and then lay the tiles as usual.
Then you should put something that functions a bit like a roof to keep the water away as much as possible, to avoid frost cracking in the winter.
Then you should put something that functions a bit like a roof to keep the water away as much as possible, to avoid frost cracking in the winter.
