Walk up any of the terraced streets in Pontypool and look over a back wall, and you will see how much of the town is held up by masonry. The houses sit on shelves cut into the valley side, and the gardens behind them climb or drop in a series of levels, each one propped up by a wall of stone, brick or block. Some of those walls are well over a hundred years old. Some were put up in a weekend and are already letting go.
Because our yard is on Conway Road, Pontypool is the town we know best. Tony and the team build new brickwork and garden walls here, rebuild tired ones and add the steps and planters that make a steep plot easier to live with. The visit and the quote are free, so tell us what is going on and we will come and look. For the bigger picture of what we do around town, see our Pontypool landscaping page.
The same six kinds of brickwork we build everywhere, looked at through the stepped gardens and old walls that are typical of Pontypool.
Boundary walls between Pontypool terraces are often shared, often stone and often doing two jobs at once, marking the line and holding up the garden next door, so we check which job a wall is really doing before we suggest anything.
Retaining walls are the most common brickwork we build in Pontypool, because turning a bank behind a terrace into flat ground you can use almost always means cutting in and holding the soil back.
A steep Pontypool garden lives or dies by its steps, and we build flights in brick, block or stone with even risers so the trip from the back door to the top level is not a scramble.
Low walls around a patio and raised beds built from brick give a small Pontypool yard some shape, and a raised bed brings in decent topsoil where the valley ground is thin and stony.
Piers matter most on the edges of Pontypool, where bigger plots have a drive or a gateway that wants a solid pair of pillars to hang the gate from.
Repointing, replacing frost-blown bricks and rebuilding leaning sections make up a good share of our Pontypool work, since so many of the town's walls are older than anyone living beside them.
Most stepped gardens in Pontypool already have levels of a sort. The trouble is that they tend to be the wrong height, the wrong width, or held up by a wall that has started to bow. Before drawing anything, we look at where the ground wants to sit, how much soil would have to come out or go in, and where the water runs when it rains hard on the hill behind.
From there we can plan fewer, wider terraces instead of lots of narrow strips, or keep the existing levels and rebuild the walls that hold them. Every retaining wall gets a footing on firm ground, free-draining stone behind it and weep holes through the face, because wet soil on a valley side pushes far harder than dry soil. The local guide to terracing a steep Pontypool back garden walks through the planning in more detail.
A lot of the older walls around Pontypool were laid in lime mortar, which is softer than modern cement and lets the wall breathe and move a little. When those walls are patched with a hard cement mix, the water that used to escape through the joints gets trapped in the stone instead, and frost does the rest. That is why you often see faces flaking off right next to a fresh-looking repair.
Where a wall is sound, we repoint it in a mortar that suits it and reset loose coping so rain runs off the top. Where it has moved too far, we take it down, dig a new footing and rebuild, reusing the original stone wherever it is still good. Our guide on retaining walls for sloping Pontypool gardens covers the warning signs to look for, and garden wall foundations explains why the part underground matters so much.
We live with the same hillsides our customers do, and it shows in how we build.
Our base is in Pontypool, so looking at a leaning wall or dropping off a few more bricks is a short trip, not a special journey.
Drainage behind retaining walls is part of every quote, because on a valley side that is what keeps a wall standing.
If a wall needs an engineer or a word with the council or the neighbour, we say so at the first visit. Read when a retaining wall needs engineering advice.
Walls set the levels for the patio, lawn and fencing in Pontypool, so we plan them together.
Plenty of Pontypool terraces have no lane at the back, so every brick, bag of cement and tonne of sand comes through the front door, and every barrow of spoil goes back out the same way. We sheet the floors, work out a route that avoids tight turns, and keep the pavement clear while materials are dropped off.
Being based in the town helps here. We can bring materials in smaller, more frequent loads rather than leaving a pile outside for days, and the old wall, surplus soil and offcuts leave with us. If the garden is overgrown before the walls can even be seen, our garden clearance in Pontypool can clear the way first.
Once the walls are in, the levels need linking. A flight of steps should have the same rise on every tread, a landing if it runs long, and a handrail where it helps, because a steep Pontypool garden is used in the wet as much as the dry. Our guide to garden steps and paths for Pontypool hillside homes looks at layouts, and garden steps in brick and stone covers getting the rise right.
Many people finish a terrace with a paved sitting area, and our patio paving in Pontypool work is often built on the level a new wall has just created. A brick planter along the edge makes a good seat and a safer edge in one, and building brick raised beds and planters explains how we keep them drained.
Real reviews from homeowners across Pontypool — rated 4.8 out of 5 on Google from 69 reviews and 10/10 on Checkatrade.
“Had my patio done by the company and could not be happier. Top quality work done and quickly too.”
“I was pleased to find Tony and his lads were absolutely great! Tony responded quickly & was very polite.”
“We were delighted with the work and materials, which were of very high quality. Tony and team helped us.”
Local and practical guides to help you plan the work.
One team for the whole garden, so a single visit can price everything you have in mind.
We cover Pontypool and the towns around it. Choose another area below.
T J Landscapes South Wales
24 Conway Road, Pontypool
Torfaen, NP4 6HL
We cover homes right across South Wales, from Cardiff and the coast up to the valleys and the Brecon Beacons.
A bulge means the soil behind is pushing harder than the wall can resist, often because water has built up. It will not always fall soon, but it should be looked at, and it is sensible to keep children and heavy loads away from the top until it has been. Ask us round for a free look and we will tell you whether repair or rebuilding makes sense.
Usually, yes. We reuse the original stone where it is sound and top up with reclaimed or new stone chosen to sit well beside it. Matching the mortar colour and joint style matters just as much as the stone itself.
The height and length of the wall, how deep the footing has to go, the drainage behind it, the material you choose, and how much soil has to be dug out and carried through the house. Access on a terraced street makes a real difference too. The quote is free, so get in touch.
Replacing a garden wall like for like often does not need planning permission, but height limits apply next to roads and footpaths, and shared walls can bring in the Party Wall Act. We are not planners, so check with Torfaen council first; we can help you work out what to ask.
Tell us your street, what the wall or steps need to do and roughly how big they are, and we will arrange a free visit from our Pontypool base.
