Seat Wall & Counter Construction Outdoor Kitchen Design Discuss Seat Wall & Counter Construction in the Outdoor Kitchens and Living Rooms forums; What CMU blocks should I be looking at to use to construct a seating wall? The stone tops I am ...

[hardwired]

What CMU blocks should I be looking at to use to construct a seating wall? The stone tops I am considering come in 12" or 14" depth typical of stair treads. An 8" thick block seems like their will be too much overhang. The tile siding will take up about 1/2" on each side. The 14" top probably makes for a better seat area.

I will also be using CMUs for the countertop. What size CMUs are best to build up the counter and what is the recommended height? Should I leave open areas underneath or block it all in?

[SteveP]

I'm not sure about MA, but in FL, we have standard sizes of 8", 12" and 16" CMU's. The 12" block is actually 11-5/8" wide x7-5/8" height x15-5/8" length. Obviously, you would lay these blocks so that the wall would be 12" thick. You can also get 10" wide blocks if you are considering using 12" caps.

[Modthyrth]

I used 12x12 caps on my raised garden bed, with walls made from 8x8x816 plus veneer, and it makes great overflow seating.



However, if I were building an actual seating wall, I'd want the bench to be deeper. Standard around here seems to be using 8x8x16 blocks and making the bench 16" deep.

Like this, from when we had professionals build a courtyard at our old house: