Building Stone Walls Do It Yourself

This ditch will act as the wall s footing and prevent the rocks from sliding forward due to pressure from the earth behind.

Building stone walls do it yourself.

My introduction to building a stone wall like beginnings in so many homesteading skills came unexpectedly urgently and at the wrong time. If you want to divide your lawn from your garden mark the border of your property or slow the advance of an invading hoard building a stone wall by hand is a practical and even beautiful solution. Dig a ditch the length of the wall that is about a foot wide and 8 to 12 inches 20 5 cm 30 5 cm below the ground level. Building stone walls is gratifying and the product will last into future generations.

Building a retaining wall is suitable for diyers as long as the wall is a maximum of 3 feet tall in most areas. So here s how to go out and build a really permanent monument to yourself. Use a spirit level to ensure the quoins are vertical. Move the line up the wall as you build using it as a guide until you reach the finished wall height which must be.

After spreading the mortar but before laying the next stone use the trowel edge to cut the mortar even with wall face. It was a rare clear morning during a rainy spring in. Before you actually get started building the wall you need to decide on the location and layout. If the wall is wide and is using two lines of stones on each layer you should have stones across both lines to tie them together.

Next stretch a level line from one end of the wall to the other 300mm 400mm above the footing. Remove the stone spread a trowelful of mortar on the wall and tamp the stone into it with a mallet. This prevents mortar from running down the face of the wall. Build up the wall photo by russell kaye.

Dry fit each stone first to see that the vertical joints are staggered and the outside faces just touch the line. Build up the corners and ends first as you would if you were laying bricks. Building a stacked stone wall is like doing a jig saw puzzle without a picture. Try to cut the ditch into native soil rather than loose added soil as the former provides a more stable foundation for the wall.

The easiest way to build a stone retaining wall is to use the dry stack method that requires no mortar between stones and does not need a concrete footing like mortared walls do. Anything taller should be handled by professionals. Reposition the line higher up the stakes and start the second course from a corner. Nothing is more basic than building with rocks and there are simple stone walls still standing after thousands of years.

Step 1 plan the wall.