Retaining Walls Using Stacked Stone

A stone retaining wall is a good way to landscape.

You can walk into just about any home improvement store and find several varieties of stackable, manufactured paving stones designed for building a permanent stone wall. You do not have to be a stonemason to build small retaining walls in your yard. However, due to varying local building codes, check with your city inspector to determine whether you need a permit to build stone walls.

Things You'll Need

• Stakes
• Strings
• Shovel
• Bubble level
• Rock
• Concrete
• Mortar
• Water
• Paintbrush

Instructions

1. Place a set of stakes in the ground that mark the back of the stone wall you want to build. Place one stake at the far left and place one at the far right. Tie a string between the two stakes. Place a stone on the ground just to the right of the left stake and line up the back of the stone against the string. Place a second stone just to the left of the right stake. Place a stake in front of each stone and secure a string between the two stakes. This gives you a clear line of the width of the wall. Remove the two stones and place them back with the others.

2. Dig an 8-inch-deep trench the width of the two strings. Use a shovel or a trencher. Use a bubble level to ensure the floor of the trench is level.

3. Fill the hole with 4 inches of gravel. Tamp the gravel down with a tamper and check the surface of the gravel with a bubble level to ensure it is level.

4. Mix concrete and fill the remainder of the trench with concrete. Level it with a trowel and check for level with the bubble level. Allow it to dry for at least 24 hours. To ensure the concrete is not visible, leave ½-inch between the top of the ground and the top of the concrete. If the ground you dug into is on a grade, fill the trench with concrete up to the lowest point of the grade.

5. Apply a ¼-inch scratch coat of mortar to the top of the concrete with the trowel. Wet the bottom of the stone with water and a paintbrush and apply ¼ inch of mortar to the bottom of a stone. Lay the stone on the far left of the concrete in the trench. Repeat until you complete the first course of stone. A "course" is a single row of stones.

6. Wet the top of the first course of stones with the water and paintbrush. Apply ¼ inch of mortar to the top of the stones. Wet the bottom of the stone you will use to start the second course and apply ¼ inch of mortar to the stone. Place the stone on top of the first course. To add rigidity to the wall, stagger the stones for each row. This will create an interlocking stone pattern. Complete all additional courses like this.

References

• Irwin Stone: Build Your Own Stone Wall