Page 342 - Masonry and Concrete

Masonry Garden Walls

341
MASONRY GARDEN WALLS

require considerable cutting and shaping to
make a good interlocking fit. Easily work- ORIGINAL GRADE
able stones like bluestone, sandstone, or
limestone will usually be the best.
Dry-stack walls without a concrete foot- LEVELING TRENCH
FOR FIRST COURSE
ing are limited to a height of 3 ft. At the
base, a 3-ft. high wall should be 2 ft. thick.
Each end and face of a dry-stack wall must STONES INCLINED
1
be “battered” or sloped inward 2 in. for TOWARD CENTER
every foot of height (Figure 9-32). The wall
should sit in a 6 to 12-in.-deep trenched
TRENCH FILL WITH SOIL
excavation. If necessary, 4 in. of gravel can LINE
be placed in the bottom of the trench to
improve drainage. If the ground slopes, the FIGURE 9-32
trench may be dug in a series of flat ter-
Dry-stack stone wall. (from S. Blackwell Duncan, The
races. To help assure that the wall slopes Complete Book of Outdoor Masonry, TAB Books, Blue
evenly from bottom to top, build a slope Ridge Summit, PA, 1978).
gauge by nailing two 1 2s together as
shown (Figure 9-33).

3 1 /2"

36"

2"

BATTER 1/2" FOR EVERY FOOT IN HEIGHT FOR DRY-STACK STONE WALLS
FIGURE 9-33

1
Slope gauge for battering dry stack stone walls 2 in. for every foot of height.
Downloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibrary.com)
Copyright © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved.
Any use is subject to the Terms of Use as given at the website.