How to Build a Dry Stone Brick Wall

Building a stone wall without mortar is a fun project, producing a durable and attractive landscape feature. A well-constructed wall will stand for many years--just look at all the Roman walls and aqueducts built without mortar that are still standing 2,000 years later! Your wall may not be so grand, but it can serve as a strong retaining wall, or beautiful border to your yard.

Things You'll Need

• Building stone
• Shovel
• Bucket
• Stakes
• String
• Line level
• Level
• Sturdy gloves
• Marker

Instructions

Prepare Your Site

1. Decide on the type of stone you want to use. If you have a lot of rocks lying around, consider yourself lucky, because buying stone is expensive. You will need a good mixture of large, small and medium-sized stones to tie your wall together, preferably with at least one flat side.

2. Stake out the line of your proposed wall. A meandering line adds interest, but a straight line is perfectly acceptable for marking borders or creating zones in your landscape.

3. At a minimum, place stakes at either end of the line, and run a string between them. Stretch it tight at the height you want to your wall to be (for our purposes, 3 feet or less) and use a line level to make sure the string is level from end to end.

4. Dig a trench to foot your wall, a minimum of 6 inches deep for a 3-foot wall, deeper if your wall will be higher. You will need a good solid base to keep your foundation stones in place.

5. Make the width of your trench one-half to two-thirds the height of the wall. You will use the excavated dirt in the wall itself, so don't scatter it or haul it away.

Lay Your Stones

1. Start at the lowest end and work upward if your wall runs over uneven ground.

2. Lay your biggest rocks at the corners, and then every 4 or 5 feet in between to serve as anchors. If you have large, long stones, use them at intervals with the long side dug into the slope behind the wall, if there is one, to anchor your wall even more firmly. Settle your bottom layer of rocks firmly, because they must hold all the other rocks.

3. If your stones are very uneven in size and shape, fill your bucket with some of the excavated dirt, and layer it along the top of the stones you just laid to help fill in the cracks and level it up for the next layer. Use smaller rocks to fill large gaps, and fill in behind your wall with dirt and small rocks to keep the stones from shifting around.

4. 

   Place your next layer of stones, fitting each new rock over two of the bottom stones to create a more structurally sound wall. This imitates bricklaying, and laces your wall together.

5. Bed each layer in dirt if desired, to fill in cracks and keep stones from shifting as you work. Keep filling any gaps with smaller stones.

6. If your stone wall turns a corner, make sure to anchor it with a large foundation stone, and then lace your upper layers together. Place one stone over the foundation from the left side, then the next layer from the right side.The corner stones will be alternately anchored to the other half of the wall, as when you lace your fingers together at right angles.

7. Lay your flattest stones on the top course to give it a nice, even appearance.

Cutting Stones to Fit

1. If you are building a wall with a straight front, rather than a rustic appearance of natural stone, use your pencil to mark a straight line along any stone you want to shape.

2. Use your sledgehammer and chisel to score along the line (score flagstones on both sides).

3. Place the chisel in the scored line, and tap it sharply with the sledgehammer to break the stone along your mark.

4. With time, imagination, a good eye for fit, and some sweat, you will get your wall built and have a useful thing of beauty to take pride in for years to come.

Tips & Warnings

• Wear gloves when working with stones. Pinched fingers are common.