Building A Stone Wall That Lasts

[beowulf]

Every spring I must take out about five hundred stones from our paddocks — it’s usually four or five wheelbarrow loads before I get sick of the project. Most are the size of large grapefruits, others can be larger but rarely so big I can’t pick them up.

Every year, I stack them along the corner fence. I’ve gotten a nice little line going now. And yet every spring, that wall is collapsed again.

We have two hundred year old stone walls marking our property line that haven’t budged in the twenty something years I’ve seen them. WHAT is the secret?! Is it because these early farmers didn’t have pesky TBs to dismantle the rocks? Is it how I’m stacking?

I’ve done light reading and even asked landscaping friends about this topic. They all have different opinions but seem to be in agreement that you take the largest pieces as the base and then top with the small. When I do this, they don’t stay for longer than a few months. Part of it must be finding the right placement for the particular rock in hand - but how did these people make immortal rock walls some two hundred years ago with no mud, cement, or sticking agent? Anyone have any tips for a rock stacker that doesn’t seem to be too good at stacking?

[Xanthoria]

It’s an art for sure. This is a great description of through stones, hearting and other essential techniques: https://thestonetrust.org/resource-information/how-to/

[frugalannie]

New England stone farmers unite! We “grow” them too.

Early in our home ownership days, Mr Frugal decided to start building stone walls. This may have been an expression of his Irish genes, but he really enjoyed it and got better and better at it. We got to where we needed stones, and I’d scout out construction sites to ask if we could take those that were dug up. The answer was usually yes . He built over 1800 feet of stone wall, and lots of it is still in great shape 20 years later.

The reference listed above is a terrific source. Mr F learned more by trial and error but came to the same conclusion. The stone wall in cross section should be shaped like the cross section of a coop jump (if that makes sense). Larger to smaller stones create the faces of the wall, small stones fill the middle and the flattest stones you can find go on the top. Fitting the stones takes patience and an eye for spatial puzzles. It can be quite addictive!

We used them to border a couple of paddocks and would put split rail fence “inboard” but only posts and a top rail to keep our creative beasts from leaning on the walls or climbing over. Saved on rails for sure.

PM me if I can provide any more info.

[trubandloki]

@frugalannie

New England stone farmers unite! We “grow” them too.

< raises hand and waves it around >

Here too. I swear they reproduce like crazy? Why is this not a marketable crop?

Can you please share some photos of Mr. Frugal’s wall building masterpiece?

[Simkie]

The stone trust is a great site. Grapefruit sized rocks, though, aren’t going to turn into a wall. Look at your old walls–those rocks are large. Grapefruit rocks go inside, or fill the gaps between larger rocks.

I’m building a wall along our property line. It’s bigger rocks, and in the two years since I started, none has fallen. It’s also not within reach of horses!

[clanter]

@beowulf

Is it because these early farmers didn’t have pesky TBs to dismantle the rocks?

we have Morgans who all look under the rocks that have been picked up from the pastures then used to build either a water control berm or jump (since we had one who thought cross rails were not worthy of his abilities) … the rocks are sort of neatly stacked up until which ever Morgan wants to see what is being hidden

[beowulf]

Thanks all! I knew it had to be an art that I was sorely missing. I’m off to check out that link. Frugalannie, can I borrow Mr F for a day??

They really do grow overnight here. Every spring after the snowpack melts, it looks like I’ve never rock picked at all. This segment of land is named after all the rocks and ledge that made farming difficult here ~200 years ago.

Simkie, most of the rocks of the 200 y/o rock wall are also this size. There are occasionally larger segments of ledge but the majority of the rocks are grapefruit to soccer ball sized. Think your typical New England field stone wall - not very high, not very big. Most of the stones are rounder and oblong,

Historically this piece of land was called Scratch Flat in reference to how difficult it was to make a living there with all the ledge and stone. I just call it Ledgewood as a private joke to myself.

[beowulf]

You know what my TBs do? I made a small rock wall extending out into the paddock as a cute jump. It’s about 5 feet long and 2 feet high. Those jerks play over it. I also see them sometimes hanging out by it - I know small animals like rock walls, I wonder if the horses hear them and get curious.

[Simkie]

@beowulf

Simkie, most of the rocks of the 200 y/o rock wall are also this size. There are occasionally larger segments of ledge but the majority of the rocks are grapefruit to soccer ball sized. Think your typical New England field stone wall - not very high, not very big.

Are you placing your rocks, or just piling them? There’s definitely an art to fitting them. It’s kind of like puzzle pieces, right? They lock into place. When you place a rock, you shouldn’t be able to move it, and it shouldn’t rock. If it does, it’s the wrong rock for that spot, or it needs better support with chink rocks.

Also, rocks that are long in one direction should be placed with the long axis perpendicular to the length of the wall. If you place them parallel to the length, there’s no stability.

But if your horses are taking apart whatever you’re putting together, there’s probably no way to build it so they can’t do that with rocks that size

[beowulf]

I’m placing, but definitely not doing it correctly after reading the link up thread. I do enjoy the challenge of finding pieces that fit, but yeah, with each rock being more rounded than irregular, wonder if it might also be my lack of expertise showing.

And the TBs don’t help, but I can’t blame them entirely for my naivete.

[Equibrit]

Information; https://www.dswa.org.uk/leaflets/

There are classes ! https://thestonetrust.org/

[frugalannie]

Yep. The number of rock farmers is near the number of glass farmers. I swear the old guys thought that is you chucked broken glass out in a field, bottles would grow from the shards. Lovely diagrams Equibrit.

Beowulf, Mr F is no longer available for hire ;). When he was working on a wall near the road one summer, every weekend someone would stop by and ask for his card so he could build a wall for them. We would have a great chuckle about that, but I truly think his efforts resulted in a revival of stone walls in our general area.

BTW, one day Mr F was weed whacking near a stone wall jump he built for me and hornets started to boil out. He ran for the barn with the dogs right behind but the horses some distance away got nailed a few times. Plenty of bucking and running ensued.

[clanter]

@frugalannie

The number of rock farmers is near the number of glass farmers.

my step father bought a farm in Kentucky that had over a mile of creeks all full of rock. The local farmer who knew what he bought laughed at the fool. He sold all that rock to stone masons to build fireplaces,made over three times the cost of the farm

[PeteyPie]

@beowulf, do you have severe winters in your area? Make sure you are digging a footing for your rock wall which is below the frost line. Of course an actual concrete footing would do the trick, but I think you would do fine with the first course of large rocks acting as a footing. If you are not doing that, the heaving of the soil as it freezes and thaws will mess up your wall.

A footing works like an anchor, with the mass of it below the frost line where the soil is stable.

Another thing to keep in mind is to avoid tamping organic soils, which are called Frost Susceptible (FS) soils, around the base of your wall. Back fill with non-frost susceptible (NFS) soils to avoid having a frozen dirt berm messing with your rocks. NFS soils would generally include sand, gravel and small amounts of clay, but not organic soils.

Also, when you look at the illustration posted by @Equibrit, you can see that the coping at the top can work like a little roof to keep water out of the middle of the wall if it is done right. That is important when you think about the fact that the freezing process can be so powerful that a bit of water inside of a rock can explode it when it freezes. The dryer you can keep the wall, the less movement you will have that can damage it.

This might sound like overkill, but I think it will result in a wall which will endure.

[Simkie]

@PeteyPie

Make sure you are digging a footing for your rock wall which is below the frost line.

In CT the frost line is in the neighborhood of 36." I can guarantee than none of the thousands of miles of stone walls around here are that deep, unless they’re actually old foundations.

Digging out any loose dirt, making sure there’s a level surface for your wall? Yeah, definitely. Digging out so you’re below the frost line? You might as well build a house with that!