Stone Walls/Terraces

[Uesugi Kenshin]

So my dad and I are making a stone terrace, to do that we apparently need to build two small retaining walls, level an area, put gravel down, put down sure pack (a special type of stone/sand), and of course lay our stone. We've already dug our trenches and started putting in the retaining walls today. Any advice you guys have on this sort of thing?

Neither of us has ever done anything like this, but we have looked at some books and spoken to some "experts" so I think we have a fairly good idea of what we're doing, and we definitely have enough supplies. I'd just love to hear if you guys have any tricks of the trade to share with us.

Oh yeah and I'm fairly sure we're working with field stone of some sort for the walls and I know we're working with blue stone for the terrace.

[Beirut]

Haven't done many retaining walls, but lots of foundation and cement post work.

I would have poured a slab to put the retaining wall on, but it's not life and death.

If you are using cement, make sure your stones are very clean and wet when you lay them. Make sure your cement does not get contaminated with any dirt. Try to arrange for good drainage around your wall. If you can get a few inches of gravel next to your wall (vertically), it will help drain the water away quickly. This is much more important if you live in an area that freezes in the winter. You'll want a materiall barrier that will keep the dirt from infiltrating into your gravel next to the wall.

Also, because I do cement work with the anal retentive care usually reserved for brain surgery, I coat every square inch of below ground cement with thick plastic cement. I think we used P-20, it comes in one and five-gallon containers. It's thick like peanut butter. Don't use the stuff that goes on like paint, it's not good enough. Wait until your wall is very dry and very clean, preferably on a hot day, and spread that stuff like it's butter on toast. Never, ever, put a plastic sheet against underground cement to keep it dry, it will just turn into a swimming pool against the cement.

When laying your stone, keep a few strings set up between stakes in the ground to guide your stone level. Step back every once in a while and take in what you're doing. Good to lose the tunnel vision that comes with jobs like that.

Drainage! Drainage! Drainage! :yes:

[lars573]

Beirut, you sound like my dad. :laugh4: Can't imagine him saying much different. And he's been a professional contracter/carpenter for 35 years.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Haven't done many retaining walls, but lots of foundation and cement post work.

I would have poured a slab to put the retaining wall on, but it's not life and death.

If you are using cement, make sure your stones are very clean and wet when you lay them. Make sure your cement does not get contaminated with any dirt. Try to arrange for good drainage around your wall. If you can get a few inches of gravel next to your wall (vertically), it will help drain the water away quickly. This is much more important if you live in an area that freezes in the winter. You'll want a materiall barrier that will keep the dirt from infiltrating into your gravel next to the wall.

Also, because I do cement work with the anal retentive care usually reserved for brain surgery, I coat every square inch of below ground cement with thick plastic cement. I think we used P-20, it comes in one and five-gallon containers. It's thick like peanut butter. Don't use the stuff that goes on like paint, it's not good enough. Wait until your wall is very dry and very clean, preferably on a hot day, and spread that stuff like it's butter on toast. Never, ever, put a plastic sheet against underground cement to keep it dry, it will just turn into a swimming pool against the cement.

When laying your stone, keep a few strings set up between stakes in the ground to guide your stone level. Step back every once in a while and take in what you're doing. Good to lose the tunnel vision that comes with jobs like that.

Drainage! Drainage! Drainage! :yes:

Okay so we won't be doing anything with cement, but we do get some pretty good winters in Vermont, and we are planning to back-fill with gravel, so I'm relieved to hear that we're on the right track. What type of barrier do we want around the gravel exactly? We have put down some of this funky black fabric like stuff, but we definitely didn't put down enough to prevent dirt from mixing with the gravel.

That's an interesting tip about the cement, I'll have to remember that if I ever do any cement work.

We've been trying to use the steak+string method, but we haven't kept them set up during the whole job. Does that ever get in the way? I'll suggest to him that we try setting the string up so we won't trip on it, but it may be kind of tricky.

As far as drainage goes we are hopefully covered. We are doing a very small area, which means we shouldn't need a very heavy slope, but we're going to try to slope it about 3 inches downhill over a distance of approximately 16 feet, does that sound good? We're also making a triangular shaped terrace/pathway so that could get a tiny bit tricky, but I think we can handle it.

Anyone else with handy tips please post them! I'd rather our first attempt at stonework went well than have to help my dad replace it in a few years!