Build a Stone Wall

Tools Needed for Stone Wall Installation:

1. Level

2. String

3. Wooden stakes

4. Flat shovel

5. Hand tamp

6. Rock hammer and sledge hammer

7. Chisel

8. Wheelbarrow

1. Lay out the wall area and direction. You may be cutting away a bank, or building the wall and backfilling as you go to create a terrace effect. Pull a string line the length of the wall to define the front of the wall about 8" off the ground level.

2. Dig a ditch the length of the wall that is about a foot wide and 8" to 12" below the ground level. This ditch will act as the wall's footing and prevent the rocks from sliding forward from the pressure of the earth behind. Fill the trench with crushed stone up to the soil line to create a level foundation, and after compaction, spread granite dust or sand to provide a level surface.

3. If drainage may be an issue, a french drain should be installed prior to the first layer of stone.

4. Stack the larger rocks in the ditch, with a flat side facing forward, and slanted back about 8 degrees. The rock should just miss touching the string line, and should be supported by dirt filled in behind it. Do this for the length of the wall with each large rock touching the one next to it.

5. Fill dirt behind the large rocks and tamp the earth firmly, while letting the 8-degree slant hold the rock in place by gravity.

6. Find complementary rocks to fill in the spaces between the large rocks. These rocks may be smaller but need to be a shape that fills the void between the large rocks. Lay the rock flat side out and support it with earth filled in behind it. These rocks should also lay back by 8 degrees.

7. Continue placing the second layer of rocks so that spaces between the first layer of large rocks are filled. You can add water to the fill to make it settle.

8. You can overfill the void with dirt and then tap the rock into place with a small hand-held sledgehammer.

9. Reserve an amount of large, very flat stones to use as capstones to top off the wall and give it a nice, straight, flat appearance.

Tips:

• The choice of rock is very important. Angular, flat stacking stones are much easier to work with than round field stones.
• For long-term stability, cut your foundation trench into native soil rather than loose bedding soil. The native soil is less likely to move around or settle.
• For walls that are above 3' tall, you want to create a 3" to 4" lean back into the soil. Do this by stacking each progressive layer about ½" back. This will prevent the soil pressure behind the wall from pushing the stones out over time.