First question: Can I get some bricks and build a raised bed like pic related? Taking advantage from the preexisting walls to need less bricks? After I fill them with soil and the plants develop roots I believe the moisturizer level raises, will this give me infiltration problem in the walls or it is too little water for such a thing? Should I give a little space between the wall and the beds?
Second: Can I make a pond the same way? Maybe using a plastic sheet inside?
>>917500
One of the standard ways to prevent something like this messing up your drainage is to dig 1-2 feet down, put down plastic sheeting on tamped earth at an angle, with the part against the wall attached a few inches higher than the start of the ramp, then fill with soil.
As long as the soil has good drainage (which it should, since nothing grows in clay anyway) then it'll be fine.
moisture against exterior walls is fine, it's water pooling against them (both on the surface and underground) that causes foundation issues.
Doing a pond that way is just asking for trouble, though. since usually ponds are dug (since the weight of the water would shift bricks like that anyway), it wouldn't be any more work to put it several feet from the house anyway.
>>917513
>As long as the soil has good drainage (which it should, since nothing grows in clay anyway)
Maybe I am missing something here, but clay does not have good drainage.
>>917500
just leave a brick out, or put a drainline in a hole in the brick wall. Dig out all your shit soil like clay/ heavy rocks. Fill the bottom with 4 inches of 3/4 process or gravel. If it's small don't worry about infiltration/moisture levels unless it's mold tier. Get plants that are fucking hearty. Also with pond, take a shitload of news papers, wet them down, and paper mache the liner for your pond and put very thick black plastic over it. You need 4- 6inches of newspaper.
>>917500
Water becomes an issue to foundations only when it's standing. Throwing a couple inches of compost against it will not be a problem.
Soil rich in organic matter is very good at holding significant quantities of water compared to infill dirt, but it is draining meaning that it does not pool or stand.
How deep do you plan on making this bed? If it's only one or two feet deep then its as simple as ripping out the sod, leveling the brick path, laying the brick, then in filling with good rich soil.
Any taller and you want to put 8-12 inch thickness of gravel behind the retainer blocks, fill in with dirt, and top off the top one foot with rich soil.
Either way you'll have no infiltration problems if you have none now.
