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Tips for Stacking Wall Stone by Vicky Smith
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Tips for Stacking Wall Stone |
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Business
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The way you stack the stone will determine a stone wall's stability. Mortar-stacked stone walls have some added stability, but seasonal frost threatens its long-term stability. A dry-stack stone wall--built for retention or otherwise--is less expensive and, depending on the length, you can do it on your own. Freestanding dry-stack stonewalls are considered stable up to a height of three feet. Taller than three feet, and they should be built into a hillside. Instructions as follows: Firstly, measure and outline the wall, using wooden stakes and string. Secondly, choose easy-to work-with, angular, flat-stacking cobblestone. Set aside the flattest stones to serve as capstones on the top of the wall. Thirdly, cut a foundation trench into the native soil (rather than bedding soil) with your shovel. The trench should be about six inches deep and as wide as your widest stones. If you wish, you can fill the trench up to the soil line with crushed stone to create a level foundation, but you can achieve pretty much the same results by laying the largest of the flat stones at the bottom of the trench. Fourthly, lay your courses (layers of stone), working from one end to the other. Avoid continuous horizontal and vertical joints, or large vertical spaces in the wall, by breaking up your design scheme with larger and smaller sandstone and filling in the gaps with crushed stone or dirt. Fifthly, place stones so that they fit tightly together for strength and appearance. Use crushed stone or small chiseled pieces of rock to fill gaps and help secure the stones. Sixthly, backfill the wall as you lay the courses. Force dirt into all crevices under and between rocks to stabilize the wall as you go. Pack down the dirt, using your shovel and your hands. This will prevent water from seeping through the cracks in your wall and ultimately ruining it. Seventhly, batter the wall as you stack. Battering is only necessary for a wall built into a hillside, and involves sloping the wall back toward the high ground. Do this by stacking each layer 1/2 inch back from the previous layer, or two inches for every foot of height (a four-foot wall, for example, would have an eight-inch batter). Backfill and compact the dirt as you go. Eighthly, measure your batter by standing your level on end next to the wall and measuring the distance between it and your wall. You will end up with a wall that is wider at the bottom than the top. Ninthly, turn a long limestone into the hillside every now and then to act as an anchor. This is also called a “bond stone”. Tenthly, top off your wall with the stones you set aside before you began stacking. Tips & Warnings Leave decorative gaps here and there to add character. Cover your wall with a tarp when you aren’t working on it. Take your time. Step back often to watch your progress and see where you can make changes while changes are still easy to make. You may have to chisel off some portions of rock to make them fit as snugly as you would like. Save the chiseled-off bits to use as filler. In short, as a well-known business E-platform of promoting stone industry, we want to match global supply and demand resources and promoting the mutual prosperity and development for worldwide stone industry trade. If you are eager to consult us freely, you can also see square or become a loyal follower of us by @ https://twitter.com/stonebtb.
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