Building A Stacked Stone Retaining Wall

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.

Building a stacked stone retaining wall.

This helps reduce hydrostatic pressure imposed by wet soil behind the wall which is the most common cause of retaining wall failure. Using your stakes string and line level mark the height of the capstone. How high do you want the. The depth and amount of base material has a lot to do with the type of soil and size of 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. So in my case the stone was cut to 12 wide making the base 24 wide. Dry stack walls also drain well allowing water to pass through the wall itself. An average step.

How to build a dry stack stone retaining wall step 1. Choose the location to build the dry stacked stone wall and use landscape marking spray paint to outline the location and shape of the rock wall. Survey the area where you want to build the wall and draw out a plan. Take the measurements to a stone supply yard.

Step 2 use a shovel a square tipped spade works best to edge around the painted line. Mark the area where your wall s base will be. How to build a good base for front or backyard landscaping dry stacked stone retaining wall the base should be dug out at least twice as wide as the width of the stone. Backfilling the wall with rock promotes drainage through the wall and prevents soil from pushing.

Preparing the base for the wall. Establish the face of the retaining wall by hammering a piece of rebar into the ground at both ends. You ll then want to dig a trench. Higher walls should be engineered for stability.