Block Walls and Masonry Fence Walls in Reno

Why people choose block

• Noise and privacy along a busy road such as McCarran Boulevard or the Mount Rose Highway.
• Noncombustible, which matters in Washoe County's wildland-urban interface zones, where any fence within 5 feet of a building must be noncombustible or as fire-resistive as the exterior walls.
• Wind: a properly reinforced and footed wall does not rack in the Washoe Zephyr the way a tall board fence can.
• Durability: no stain, no rot; split-face or stucco finishes.

Structure: footings, steel and seismic

A block wall sits on a continuous concrete footing, with vertical rebar grouted into the cells at intervals and horizontal reinforcement in bond beams. Footings go below the 24-inch frost depth Washoe County uses. The Reno area is in a high seismic design category (D2 in the county's design criteria) and had a magnitude-4.9 earthquake swarm centered near Somersett in 2008, so tall or retaining walls are engineered rather than built by rule of thumb.

Washoe County requires fence and wall plans to be drawn by a Nevada-licensed design professional, a contractor within their license, or an owner-builder with an affidavit, and contractor-drawn plans carry the license number, class and limit. Ask the contractor which NSCB classification covers masonry walls and confirm it at nvcontractorsboard.com.

Height rules for walls

Walls follow the same height limits as fences: in Reno, 6 feet on side and rear lot lines and 4 feet in the required front yard; in unincorporated Washoe County, 6 feet outside the front setback and 4½ feet within it. Inside the City of Reno a permit is required for fences and walls.

When a fence or wall sits on top of a retaining wall, Reno measures its height from the top of the retaining wall. Washoe County caps a combined fence and retaining wall at 6 feet within side and rear setbacks, lets terraced retaining walls be separated by the height of the lower wall if the space between is landscaped, and never allows retaining walls in or across County water, sewer or reclaimed-water easements.

Block and fence combinations

A short block wall with wood, steel or vinyl fence above it gives some of block's solidity at a lower price, and suits a lot that steps down to a neighbor. The fence portion is attached to embedded anchors or posts set in the grouted cells. The total height counts against the same 6-foot limit, measured as the city or county specifies.

Cost

We found no reliable published per-foot figure for block walls, and prices depend heavily on height, footing size, reinforcement, finish and access for a concrete truck or pump. Get a written quote that breaks out footing, block, steel, grout, cap and finish.