Plan for good drainage proper width height ratio and distance between tiers.
Dry stone retaining wall construction.
You don t have to be a stonemason to build a wall fred flintstone would be proud of.
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.
Building a retaining wall is suitable for diyers as long as the wall is a maximum of 3 feet tall in most areas.
Lay high quality stones and use a geotextile backing to ensure the wall lasts a long time.
If the ground is level above and the footing is stable below the simplest form of retaining wall is appropriate.
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.
Use a hand or power tamper to level the base.
Dry stone construction is best known in the context of stone walls traditionally used for the boundaries of fields and churchyards or as retaining walls for terracing but dry stone sculptures buildings bridges and other structures also exist.
Keep the largest ones nearest the wall to aid building.
Dry stone walls are almost always built with a batter which is the inward slope of the front face of the wall.
For dry stack walls the base should be as wide as the wall is tall.
Hands on techniques for building a dry stone wall stripping out.
Sort out the coping stones from the collapsed wall first and place them two to three metres from the wall.
To build a natural dry stone retaining wall prepare the site.
Retaining walls convert sloping ground into usable level spaces.
Building a dry stone retaining wall is hard work but it s also fun.
For this 18 inch high wall the footing should be at least 18 inches wide.
Higher walls should be engineered for stability.
Take out the main stones and put the top ones furthest from the wall.
Dry stone retaining wall construction method instructions tips.
Leave a gap of about 60cm alongside the wall for.
Anything taller should be handled by professionals.
The dry stone method of building retaining walls to hold back soil when terracing a slope has been used for thousands of years.
Almost all early retaining walls were built this way using stacked stone without any mortar to hold the retaining wall together.