Dry Stack Stone Wall Construction

The ideal height for a dry stacked retaining wall is 18 to 22 inches so you can sit on it when your gardening chores are done.

Dry stack stone wall construction.

Draw the wall to scale and measure the length and height. Dry stacking is a traditional form of building still popular today in many different cultures and locations. Try to cut the ditch into native soil rather than loose added soil as the former provides a more stable foundation for the wall. It sincerely breaks my heart every time i see a wall built with stone blocks courtesy of big box stores inspired by diy cable tv.

Higher walls should be engineered for stability. Building a dry stacked stone wall in your garden area is an easy way to incorporate dimension and architecture into the existing landscaping. Take out the main stones and put the top ones furthest from the wall. Rocks can be purchased at local landscape retail centers or can be collected from local creek beds.

And i love rock walls. As a result larger losses in prestressing force is probable for dry stack masonry. Dry stone sometimes called drystack or in scotland drystane is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. How to build a natural dry stacked stone free standing or retaining rock wall.

Sort out the coping stones from the collapsed wall first and place them two to three metres from the wall. How to build a dry stack stone wall. This ditch will act as the wall s footing and prevent the rocks from sliding forward due to pressure from the earth behind. Leave a gap of about 60cm alongside the wall for.

Each layer of a dry stack wall is called a course. Big small retaining free standing. The stability of dry stack stone walls comes from interlocking stones and compressional force rather than a mortar so the strength shape and size of the building stones is a key to the durability of the final product. Even if you don t plan to sit on your wall 3 feet is about as high as i would recommend building any dry stacked wall.

Make your wall siting height. Here are the basic steps involved in building a dry stack stone wall. When putting your wall together mix the stone sizes throughout the wall rather than using only large stones at the bottom and small toward the top. Dry stack walls with surface bonding develop their strength through the tensile strength of small fiberglass fibers in the 1 8 3 8mm thick troweled or surface bonded cement plaster coating astm c 887 ref.

Keep the largest ones nearest the wall to aid building.