Just a word to newbies doing this...the stones you see in this video look very flat and easy to work with. In a typical fieldstone pallet (I also used PA fieldstone and bought 3 pallets), the face of the stones will need significant work to use in the wall. Don't think that stones that you buy will be flat like this...they won't. I'm not knocking this guy because he is a pro who does beautiful work and this video was incredibly helpful to me. For those of you doing this for the first time I am just speaking one amateur to another....don't think that you are going to be stacking flat stones on top of one another. It is a LOT of work. But these walls are so beautiful, so classy...it is worth the effort. Good luck!
As a kid I was constantly rambling around in the woods, one day I came across a old home place and only thing that remained of the entire place was the (maybe 10x10 foot) root cellar made from dry stack stone, the inside walls were still perfectly straight, plumb, tight and square, no way of knowing when or who it was that built but those walls, fantastic craftsman back then, at that very point I knew I wanted to learn how do dry stack work, that was 40+ years ago and hoping this year to get into it, dig me some work that stands the test of time. Big thanks for the video, lots of food for thought.
@@thebackyardexpert Thank you for the detailed explanations and the potential pitfalls. This is hands down the best video I could find regarding building dry stacked retaining walls.
This is great information, thank you! We have been looking for guidance on replacing some planter beds around our house that were walled with old railroad ties and were rotted to garbage. We opted for field stone but had very little understanding on how to properly construct the walls. This was an invaluable lesson. Thank you again!
Really great instruction. Thank you for sharing! I wish you’d gone up another one or two courses to position the top of the wall higher than the stairs though. It would have looked better aesthetically. But if what you built is what the homeowner wanted, you definitely knocked it out of the park. Well done!
Nice tutorial! I'm building a home and the company providing the stone went out of business. I've always wanted to build a stone wall around the front of the home and maybe even around the back to give some the new house some old school charm. Bottom line is I decided to skip the stone on the house and do a retaining wall instead (saved a ton by doing this). I have shake shingle on the house and the stacked stone will be lovely. Thanks so much for the great info! My uncle did gorgeous masonry work and I can't wait to show him my results :)
I just started a landscaping company this year and have just gotten into hardscaping (did it in high school for other people). I watched this today to prepare for my first fieldstone wall build in Vernon. I was very surprised to see you're right in Newton NJ. I'm in Lafayette! Your portfolio, website, and all around presentation is awesome. Best I've seen so far while researching the competition. Haha, I'm moving out of NJ and I'm several years behind you anyhow, so I don't think you have anything to worry about from me as far as competition. Thanks very much for all the ideas haha
Hey that’s great. We don’t concern ourselves much with other companies because we know what we offer appeals to our clients. Not many people have the desire to do what is required to make it. Feel free to come visit for a day. Good luck.
Hello Robert M., Congratulations for taking the time to become DSWA-GB Level 1 Certified! Good job... along with making time to help others understand Proper Dry Laid Stone Construction. Double wall love it! Along with all your sorted pallets of stone. O' wait I shouldn't forget about all the Trow and Holden tools. Man I love my carbide bushing hammer for PA bluestone. A few things to think about. The gravel topic is clearly never endless. LOL. I don't use it for foundtion course nor behind any of my walls. Unless I'm building a patio on top. Looking at your soil type you can skip the gravel completely and just set your foundation stone directly on compacted soil after removing all your organic material (as you have done) along with using it for your backfill. You won't have any issues with dirt coming threw a double wall. If you did its OK! After all its a flexible - free draining living wall. This NPS Historic Wall Project in PA shows a great deal of issues of failures after 50 years as seen on this video I did: th-cam.com/video/Mxrip_vr6wE/w-d-xo.html Keep on Rockin' Hope when the dust settles with our current climate you go for your Level 2. (Maybe come down to my training site you'll like my stone better then VT) Just practice, practice and practice. In the mean time stay safe and healthy. Mark Jurus Specializing in the Craft of Dry Laid Stone Construction! Certified: DSWA Instructor, Dry Stone Professional Waller Level 2 Journeyman DSC - Dry Stone Conservancy US Level 3 Advanced DSWA - Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain BFA - Visual Communication Graphic Design MICA - Maryland Institute College of Art RW Training Center - Workshops & DSWA Certification.
Helpful video, but I wish you didn’t cut out most of the work. A little more content of you actually building the wall have been great. If nothing else, a time lapse would have been nice. This is good content though. Keep it up!
Your step by step video is the best. So good to watch and learn from someone who knows what they are talking about. You covered all the technical steps in an easy to understand video. Thank you so much.
i would clarify that this is a how to dry stack a retaining wall with flat stone, some rules can be broken that you mentioned in this a lot, old spanish and british styles allow for crazy things, like collumns stacked side by side atop flat heavies, with heavies on top of the side-by-side collumns to tie them all in and push them down, so many different ways and they each carry their own requirements. From slopes to flatlands even the flat stone dry stacks are done differently, the soil/ground type must be taken into account too for which direction to take
Ive noticed in many of these instructional videos that the stones used are flat. It's easy to build a wall with flat and smooth stones. Fieldstones are much different; they are usually incongruent and rocky! Very difficult to build a wall with rocky edges and surfaces without mortar.
Well if you read the title it said *how to build to build a dry stack* what you describing literally has nothing to do with this technique and it no where near as simple as you think to make it look as well as he did . I do hardscaping and this is a very well built dry stack
Great video - very helpful. 2 questions. Do you ever add left pipe in the gravel to assist with drainage? Do you ever add landscape fabric behind the gravel to keep the dirt from getting to the gravel? Thanks in advance.
Apparently there's a controversy in dry stone walling. Europeans tend to dig down to firm dirt and place their base stones directly on it, while Americans tend to dig down and use a gravel base to limit the effect of frost heave. Europeans defend their methods with, "Our walls have stood the test of time" (and they have!). I'm building a very small (9" high) decorative (not a true retaining wall) field stone (blue stone) wall to define the edge of a planting area. I want it to stand the test of time. Coastal Virginia soil freezes, depending on the severity of the Winter (and no, I'm not digging down 18" to avoid the freeze line of our coldest winters ever). Do you recommend digging down about 4" and using a gravel base (per your video), or can I dig down the same depth and build directly on the soil if it's firm? Thank you in advance for your advice and VERY helpful video!
Excellent tutorial. If I was building this in order to create some elevation in an other wise flat yard (creating flower beds) do I still back fill with a layer of gravel before soil and mulch?
Nice presentation but I must point out that what you want to avoid is a "stack bond" which technically is where all the vertical joints align. You want to achieve a "running bond" where the stones overlap the joint below and horizontally lock together.
Great video! quick question. If all the stones are slightly different thickness, how do you build a dry stack wall to meet an existing height? I want to build a wall that will match the height/grade of my driveway. Thanks!
Great video. I appreciate the simple instructions and straightforward guidance. Question - I’ve read a lot about the use of drain tile behind natural stone dry stack walls. I noticed you only used gravel backfill. Drain tile seems like it would be more effective behind concrete, wood, or prefabricated blocks given they don’t allow water to pass through as easily as natural stone. What are your thoughts on drain tile? Is it necessary? My thoughts are that heavy stone when stacked and back filled correctly wouldn’t require drain tile to channel water away from the wall. I appreciate the insight. Thanks again!
Great question. Thanks for asking this. By drain tile you are referring to a plastic or similar piping system to evacuate water from behind the wall. This particular wall did not include it for the following reasons. 1. The wall height of 1 - 1.5' would not see such a load that would require such a system. 2. The design of the wall and method of stone work would allow water to leach out if ever required. 3. We know this area very well and this wall is near the highest part of the property so ground water is not ever likely going to be an issue. On any other installation however I would recommend that a drain tile is at least considered. Here is why. - The drain tile acts as cheap insurance, and in some instances could even be required by manufactures or local authorities. - Ideally, there should not be water behind the wall anyways, but the drain tile would act as a relief method to ensure hydro-static water pressure does not build up behind the water causing excessive pressure. - We would typically not use for walls with large voids such as boulder walls and certain styles of dry stack field-stone like shown here. We would use it on walls with tighter void spaces and manufactured or masonry walls where water might not easily escape if needed. - All our walls would have gravel in the back regardless which also does 2 things. It placed the location of potential pressure further back from the face of the wall, and it also allows water to travel laterally to a point of relief. A pipe would expedite water travel. Thank you for asking. Have I answered your question?
Great tutorial, Robert! I have a question or two. I live in New Hampshire and the frostline is 4' or so. Do I need any type of footing, do I have to build this from frostline up, or Is that for mortared walls? I am planning a 40-50 ft. freestanding wall (not a retaining wall) approximately 30" tall and don't want things to heave. Keep up the nice work and best regards.
Thanks for watching. You can install over a gravel base. A dry wall is designed to move with the earth (to a degree). I suggest digging down 10". 6 for gravel and 4 for buried stones. Here are some videos of freestanding walls. th-cam.com/video/gel8xfPIex0/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/sdkspg_9COs/w-d-xo.html
This is a really great video, thank you. Looking forward to starting my dry stack project and I will use this as a reference. Do you have any advice for building a dry stack on a slope? One end will be higher than the other, the high end will be approx 1ft high and the lower end will be approx 3 ft high if you see what I mean? Any advice appreciated 😃
I plan to use river rocks from our property in KY to landscape around my gazebo. This looks perfect for what I want to achieve. Is there anything I should do differently than you did because I am sure all of my rocks will not be as uniform as yours are. I will attend to all the tips you shared here, just wondering if there are other factors I need to know about. TY
Building with different stones can be exciting and also allow for more creativity. Just follow the rules of structure and interlock and enjoy the learning experience.
Can u do a video or explain how best to fix a collapsed portion of a dry stone wall… is it the same should I take it all down and redo or is it possible to just fix the problem area
I would love to do an explainer video. If you can get me pics or a video I will put together a recommendation video. Follow the link: www.sierralandscapemanagement.com/get-a-quote
Just a word to newbies doing this...the stones you see in this video look very flat and easy to work with. In a typical fieldstone pallet (I also used PA fieldstone and bought 3 pallets), the face of the stones will need significant work to use in the wall. Don't think that stones that you buy will be flat like this...they won't. I'm not knocking this guy because he is a pro who does beautiful work and this video was incredibly helpful to me. For those of you doing this for the first time I am just speaking one amateur to another....don't think that you are going to be stacking flat stones on top of one another. It is a LOT of work. But these walls are so beautiful, so classy...it is worth the effort. Good luck!
Very nice work sir but most of 5 stars for doing an honest job..
As a kid I was constantly rambling around in the woods, one day I came across a old home place and only thing that remained of the entire place was the (maybe 10x10 foot) root cellar made from dry stack stone, the inside walls were still perfectly straight, plumb, tight and square, no way of knowing when or who it was that built but those walls, fantastic craftsman back then, at that very point I knew I wanted to learn how do dry stack work, that was 40+ years ago and hoping this year to get into it, dig me some work that stands the test of time.
Big thanks for the video, lots of food for thought.
That was ridiculously helpful!! Thank you for all the tips you included!
Thanks for watching!
@@thebackyardexpert Thank you for the detailed explanations and the potential pitfalls. This is hands down the best video I could find regarding building dry stacked retaining walls.
I finally found a video to show me how to repair my wall!! Thank you so much!!!
Very welcome
Thank you for sharing your knowledge in a clear concise and direct manner!
This is great information, thank you! We have been looking for guidance on replacing some planter beds around our house that were walled with old railroad ties and were rotted to garbage. We opted for field stone but had very little understanding on how to properly construct the walls. This was an invaluable lesson. Thank you again!
Thanks for watching
This was an excellent class very professional, what a great teacher. I am going to try for 10 feet per day!
This is a Good Stoney and Teacher👍
Great information!
Great video
Thanks for watching
this realy helped as i just about to start my project you answered all my questions
great to hear!
Thank you so much! This was very helpful, you are a good teacher too!
Thank you for watching!
Exceptionally helpful video with clear instruction. Thanks very much!
Thanks man, you really simplified this and made easy to understand.
th-cam.com/video/gzaUpoQPNsY/w-d-xo.html ..
Really great instruction. Thank you for sharing! I wish you’d gone up another one or two courses to position the top of the wall higher than the stairs though. It would have looked better aesthetically. But if what you built is what the homeowner wanted, you definitely knocked it out of the park. Well done!
Excellent commentary on how to do it right. Thank you! CSM
So extremely helpful. Starting is the hardest part. Your tips answer a lot of my questions. Tomorrow's project!
Great job, thank you from Chicago!
10/10 teaching skills!
Thank you!
Excellent video very insightful but I would have like to have had more discussion on the base and gravel set up.
Thanks for sharing your expertise. Instruction was extremely helpful and your content was perfect!
Thanks for watching!
Nice tutorial! I'm building a home and the company providing the stone went out of business. I've always wanted to build a stone wall around the front of the home and maybe even around the back to give some the new house some old school charm. Bottom line is I decided to skip the stone on the house and do a retaining wall instead (saved a ton by doing this). I have shake shingle on the house and the stacked stone will be lovely. Thanks so much for the great info! My uncle did gorgeous masonry work and I can't wait to show him my results :)
Thanks for this information, given so clearly. Now I know what I have been doing wrong!
Really would like more tutorial videos. This was awesome!
Thank you! Coming right up.
th-cam.com/video/gzaUpoQPNsY/w-d-xo.html ..
Man, fantastic video. You’re a very good instructor. Thank you.
th-cam.com/video/gzaUpoQPNsY/w-d-xo.html ..
Nice work! This was very helpful and I'm stoked to get started on my project. Thank you.
Awesome. Keep us posted!
thank you sir
This is awesome! Keep up the work!
GREAT instruction. I have been looking for a vid like this for awhile now. You earned a subscriber!
th-cam.com/video/gzaUpoQPNsY/w-d-xo.html ..
Good tips for an amateur like myself. Thanks.
Pro, start to finish.
Well done my friend!
Good work! Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Great info. I love stacked stone walls.
th-cam.com/video/gzaUpoQPNsY/w-d-xo.html. .
Well done !!
Thank you!
I just started a landscaping company this year and have just gotten into hardscaping (did it in high school for other people). I watched this today to prepare for my first fieldstone wall build in Vernon. I was very surprised to see you're right in Newton NJ. I'm in Lafayette! Your portfolio, website, and all around presentation is awesome. Best I've seen so far while researching the competition. Haha, I'm moving out of NJ and I'm several years behind you anyhow, so I don't think you have anything to worry about from me as far as competition. Thanks very much for all the ideas haha
Hey that’s great. We don’t concern ourselves much with other companies because we know what we offer appeals to our clients. Not many people have the desire to do what is required to make it. Feel free to come visit for a day. Good luck.
Highly informative!
Great video!
Thank you!
Excellent video!! 😎
Bravo. Great video and explanation.
Hello Robert M., Congratulations for taking the time to become DSWA-GB Level 1 Certified! Good job... along with making time to help others understand Proper Dry Laid Stone Construction. Double wall love it! Along with all your sorted pallets of stone. O' wait I shouldn't forget about all the Trow and Holden tools. Man I love my carbide bushing hammer for PA bluestone.
A few things to think about. The gravel topic is clearly never endless. LOL. I don't use it for foundtion course nor behind any of my walls. Unless I'm building a patio on top. Looking at your soil type you can skip the gravel completely and just set your foundation stone directly on compacted soil after removing all your organic material (as you have done) along with using it for your backfill. You won't have any issues with dirt coming threw a double wall. If you did its OK! After all its a flexible - free draining living wall.
This NPS Historic Wall Project in PA shows a great deal of issues of failures after 50 years as seen on this video I did:
th-cam.com/video/Mxrip_vr6wE/w-d-xo.html
Keep on Rockin'
Hope when the dust settles with our current climate you go for your Level 2. (Maybe come down to my training site you'll like my stone better then VT) Just practice, practice and practice.
In the mean time stay safe and healthy.
Mark Jurus
Specializing in the Craft of Dry Laid Stone Construction!
Certified:
DSWA Instructor, Dry Stone Professional Waller
Level 2 Journeyman DSC - Dry Stone Conservancy US
Level 3 Advanced DSWA - Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain
BFA - Visual Communication Graphic Design MICA - Maryland Institute College of Art
RW Training Center - Workshops & DSWA Certification.
th-cam.com/video/gzaUpoQPNsY/w-d-xo.html ..
Helpful video, but I wish you didn’t cut out most of the work. A little more content of you actually building the wall have been great. If nothing else, a time lapse would have been nice. This is good content though. Keep it up!
Awesome. A pro mason-landscaper could do a killer business here in Southern Oregon, where there are pitifully few dependable, sober contractors.
That is really good info, and great step by step video, thank you!
Your step by step video is the best. So good to watch and learn from someone who knows what they are talking about. You covered all the technical steps in an easy to understand video. Thank you so much.
Great straightforward tips, easy to understand. Thanks.
Beautiful.
Great
I love it brother! Thank you 🙏 great info!
😮 perfect
That's beautiful
Very nice, thank you!
Great tutorial video!!
Thanks!
Great info for DIY.
Really nice job, and very helpful information.
Those stones here in North Florida are ridiculous amounts of money. It’s insane
I love this
Great video man
Thanks!
Excellent video. Thank you!
Brilliant video. Thanks for great guidance.
extremely helpful thank you!
Thank you. Great work.
Thank you, this was super helpful!
i would clarify that this is a how to dry stack a retaining wall with flat stone, some rules can be broken that you mentioned in this a lot, old spanish and british styles allow for crazy things, like collumns stacked side by side atop flat heavies, with heavies on top of the side-by-side collumns to tie them all in and push them down, so many different ways and they each carry their own requirements. From slopes to flatlands even the flat stone dry stacks are done differently, the soil/ground type must be taken into account too for which direction to take
Well done and very helpful
excellent explanation mate!
This was awesome. Thank you!
Great info!
Thank you!
I wish you could come to Washington state and build that for us....
Muy bonito trabajo I like it
Thanks for the content!
Great video, thanks for the clear explanations
Thanks bud👍
Love this!!
Thank you!
great vid
fantastic thankyou
nice work . do you have another video showing us how to do the base?
nice
Thanks for watching!
Thanks that helped a lot!
Ive noticed in many of these instructional videos that the stones used are flat. It's easy to build a wall with flat and smooth stones. Fieldstones are much different; they are usually incongruent and rocky! Very difficult to build a wall with rocky edges and surfaces without mortar.
Yes, these are the cut stones, and shouldn't he be using packing? Keep in mind, though, he's just trying to promote.
Well if you read the title it said *how to build to build a dry stack* what you describing literally has nothing to do with this technique and it no where near as simple as you think to make it look as well as he did . I do hardscaping and this is a very well built dry stack
Great video - very helpful. 2 questions. Do you ever add left pipe in the gravel to assist with drainage? Do you ever add landscape fabric behind the gravel to keep the dirt from getting to the gravel? Thanks in advance.
Clear and useful information. Do you have advice on setting pavers?
Im reaearching how to conatruct a dry wal,garden bed , 300mm or 400mm high with rounded cobbles. Perhaps a good video
Run'n bond is a staggered joint, just to let you know before next video
Apparently there's a controversy in dry stone walling. Europeans tend to dig down to firm dirt and place their base stones directly on it, while Americans tend to dig down and use a gravel base to limit the effect of frost heave. Europeans defend their methods with, "Our walls have stood the test of time" (and they have!). I'm building a very small (9" high) decorative (not a true retaining wall) field stone (blue stone) wall to define the edge of a planting area. I want it to stand the test of time. Coastal Virginia soil freezes, depending on the severity of the Winter (and no, I'm not digging down 18" to avoid the freeze line of our coldest winters ever). Do you recommend digging down about 4" and using a gravel base (per your video), or can I dig down the same depth and build directly on the soil if it's firm? Thank you in advance for your advice and VERY helpful video!
Excellent tutorial. If I was building this in order to create some elevation in an other wise flat yard (creating flower beds) do I still back fill with a layer of gravel before soil and mulch?
Yes, the backfill will help to keep the soil from pushing on the stone.
@@ShivahnK21 We agree with this! It will help filter the soil and keep the wall structure strong over time. Thanks for watching.
th-cam.com/video/gzaUpoQPNsY/w-d-xo.html ..
Nice presentation but I must point out that what you want to avoid is a "stack bond" which technically is where all the vertical joints align. You want to achieve a "running bond" where the stones overlap the joint below and horizontally lock together.
Thanks for watching!
Great video. Thanks for all the advice and info. Anyway you could list the tools you used and where you purchased them. Thanks.
Thanks for watching. Most of our chisels are Trow and Holden. Here a video with the links
th-cam.com/video/b9xZ478eSwI/w-d-xo.html
You mentioned proper drainage is needed for the wall, do you have a video highlighting this?
Great video! quick question. If all the stones are slightly different thickness, how do you build a dry stack wall to meet an existing height? I want to build a wall that will match the height/grade of my driveway. Thanks!
Thanks. Another Wallis here, oddly.
Great video, thanks. 2 questions on base, what was the total width that you dug? And how deep, is first course below grade?
Great video. I appreciate the simple instructions and straightforward guidance. Question - I’ve read a lot about the use of drain tile behind natural stone dry stack walls. I noticed you only used gravel backfill. Drain tile seems like it would be more effective behind concrete, wood, or prefabricated blocks given they don’t allow water to pass through as easily as natural stone. What are your thoughts on drain tile? Is it necessary? My thoughts are that heavy stone when stacked and back filled correctly wouldn’t require drain tile to channel water away from the wall. I appreciate the insight. Thanks again!
Great question. Thanks for asking this. By drain tile you are referring to a plastic or similar piping system to evacuate water from behind the wall. This particular wall did not include it for the following reasons.
1. The wall height of 1 - 1.5' would not see such a load that would require such a system.
2. The design of the wall and method of stone work would allow water to leach out if ever required.
3. We know this area very well and this wall is near the highest part of the property so ground water is not ever likely going to be an issue.
On any other installation however I would recommend that a drain tile is at least considered. Here is why.
- The drain tile acts as cheap insurance, and in some instances could even be required by manufactures or local authorities.
- Ideally, there should not be water behind the wall anyways, but the drain tile would act as a relief method to ensure hydro-static water pressure does not build up behind the water causing excessive pressure.
- We would typically not use for walls with large voids such as boulder walls and certain styles of dry stack field-stone like shown here. We would use it on walls with tighter void spaces and manufactured or masonry walls where water might not easily escape if needed.
- All our walls would have gravel in the back regardless which also does 2 things. It placed the location of potential pressure further back from the face of the wall, and it also allows water to travel laterally to a point of relief. A pipe would expedite water travel.
Thank you for asking. Have I answered your question?
th-cam.com/video/gzaUpoQPNsY/w-d-xo.html ..
Great tutorial, Robert! I have a question or two. I live in New Hampshire and the frostline is 4' or so. Do I need any type of footing, do I have to build this from frostline up, or Is that for mortared walls? I am planning a 40-50 ft. freestanding wall (not a retaining wall) approximately 30" tall and don't want things to heave. Keep up the nice work and best regards.
Thanks for watching. You can install over a gravel base. A dry wall is designed to move with the earth (to a degree). I suggest digging down 10". 6 for gravel and 4 for buried stones. Here are some videos of freestanding walls. th-cam.com/video/gel8xfPIex0/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/sdkspg_9COs/w-d-xo.html
@@thebackyardexpert Thanks so much. That clears a lot up for me. I suppose a little batter would help, too.
This is super helpful! Could I build a dry wall in front of a brick retaining wall to improve the look?
Sounds really interesting
th-cam.com/video/gzaUpoQPNsY/w-d-xo.html ..
This is a really great video, thank you. Looking forward to starting my dry stack project and I will use this as a reference. Do you have any advice for building a dry stack on a slope? One end will be higher than the other, the high end will be approx 1ft high and the lower end will be approx 3 ft high if you see what I mean? Any advice appreciated 😃
Great question! Following.
th-cam.com/video/gzaUpoQPNsY/w-d-xo.html ..
I plan to use river rocks from our property in KY to landscape around my gazebo. This looks perfect for what I want to achieve. Is there anything I should do differently than you did because I am sure all of my rocks will not be as uniform as yours are. I will attend to all the tips you shared here, just wondering if there are other factors I need to know about. TY
Building with different stones can be exciting and also allow for more creativity. Just follow the rules of structure and interlock and enjoy the learning experience.
Can u do a video or explain how best to fix a collapsed portion of a dry stone wall… is it the same should I take it all down and redo or is it possible to just fix the problem area
I would love to do an explainer video. If you can get me pics or a video I will put together a recommendation video. Follow the link: www.sierralandscapemanagement.com/get-a-quote