Getting rid of CA lawn, hardscape ?s

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homegirl

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I'm in the process of getting rid of my front lawn to install drought tolerant plants with drip irrigation. Before the garden part comes the tricky part, the new hardscape. I'm hoping to do as much as I can myself and using a professional for the tricky stuff. I'm planning to erect a low wall around the front lawn and finish it with a faux stone veneer. First question I can't find an answer to is, what is the easiest/cheapest way to do the footing? It never freezes here and it'll be made of cmu with two and a half courses above ground and half a block submerged. How deep must I go with concrete? Is 4-6 inches enough? Can I do it without forms? I've read of earth forms, but how do you level the top of the concrete without wood forms? Does it need to be twice as wide as the blocks? On the side of the yard I'd like it to butt up to the property line, but I can't put my footing in the neighbor's yard. It's not retaining anything, the yard is flat.

The second issue has arisen because I'm getting rid of the brick stairs and sidewalk, I've never liked them and one of the steps is a trip hazard. I'm planning to have cement pads form a sidewalk in it's place. The problem is the brick porch will clash with the stone on the perimeter wall. If I want to have a matching flagstone porch, can I lay it over the brick or do I need to remove the brick? The metal threshold under the front door is three inches from the top of the brick. Two of the inches is a custom wooden threshold and there is a one inch gap under it and then the brick. Would that be enough space to lay the flagstone and mortar? Then there is metal flashing along the rest of the porch beneath the siding and resting on the mortared edge of the brick porch. Can I just lay the flagstone right up against the flashing?

Any input would be appreciated.

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The size of the footing depends on the weight of the load and the quallity of the soil below. When we do footing we use 2x6 for forms and stake them in place last while lifting them 2" off the ground and leveling them. To do it with out forms, just place stakes in the trench at the height you want, Level the concrete to the stakes. If the foax stone has some thickness like 2 or 3 inches the wall will want to be back from the line but the footing could be right at the line. If you are putting in rebar you should have at least 6" deep footing
I would want the brick removed but , that's just me.
When you re-do the stairs, it is important to get all the risers the same height.
 
I'm not sure that you need a footer on a garden wall that is not supporting anything. Just a compacted stone/gravel bed. The buried course is there to keep the wall from moving. Of course, we are talking about California, so who knows? I guess it's time for an internet search.
 
Thanks for the input.
With the help of an air hammer and a saw, alll the brick is now gone. On top of the original concrete porch is a 2 inch layer of cement that must have been put down as a bed to the brick. It doesn't go all the way to the edge of the porch though, kind of leaves a ledge around the front and side edges. Can I leave it there, it's super hard and seems to be in good shape? I'd have to fill in around the edge of it with something to square off the edge, like maybe pour in more concrete? Ideas?

As for the wall footing, our city only has requirements for walls 3 feet or higher, so they don't seem to care about my super short wall. I haven't found anything specific, but I have seen other examples on the internet where people have just used a gravel footing on a wall of this size.
 
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