DIY Natural stone wall

W123-80's

Hello all,

Per title I'm thinking of facing a long straight wall at the back of my house with limestone.
The wall is completely straight and about 50m long. Pillars are built to the rear so its totally straight at the front.

Anyway, I have ample local building stone on my site. All limestone. All suitable for building. When the wall was built I left a foundation in front to allow for facing so its basically ready to go.

I have no experience of block laying or stone building, but I'm thinking with a little time and patience I can do it!

Is there any websites or youtube videos you would recommend to get me started?

dok_golf

Good book here. https://www.obrien.ie/irish-stone-walls If you are really keen, the Irish Seedsavers Assoc in Clare do a weekend course ( or at least they did) in how to construct a dry stone wall. It was 120 euro about 6 or 7 years ago, but well well worth it.

Lumen

I know a small amount about walls and I'd say facing a block wall is a very different job to traditional lime mortar construction or dry walling.

W123-80's

Lumen wrote: »

I know a small amount about walls and I'd say facing a block wall is a very different job to traditional lime mortar construction or dry walling.

Hi,
Thanks! When you say different do you mean more difficult, more straightforward or just different!

W123-80's

dok_golf wrote: »

Good book here. https://www.obrien.ie/irish-stone-walls If you are really keen, the Irish Seedsavers Assoc in Clare do a weekend course ( or at least they did) in how to construct a dry stone wall. It was 120 euro about 6 or 7 years ago, but well well worth it.

Great,
Thanks. I'll certainly check that book out.

Lumen

W123-80's wrote: »

Hi,
Thanks! When you say different do you mean more difficult, more straightforward or just different!

Well, you're applying quite a large additional load to (presumably) one side of a block wall, and the stone is presumably non-structural, just for aesthetics. So it's a completely different job from a (lime or Portland cement) mortared or dry stone wall where the stone is load-bearing. Different stone, different job, and you need to think about capping/coping otherwise water may get driven down behind the facing and degrade the mortar.

Personally, I think stone facing for aesthetics of a freestanding wall is a bit weird. It's done quite a lot round where I live, and I get why you'd do it if you wanted a very high wall (i.e. >6ft), but for a regular garden wall a much nicer looking result comes from using blocks and poured cement below grade and then stone above grade.

But that's not much use since your block wall is up already.

W123-80's

Lumen wrote: »

Well, you're applying quite a large additional load to (presumably) one side of a block wall, and the stone is presumably non-structural, just for aesthetics. So it's a completely different job from a (lime or Portland cement) mortared or dry stone wall where the stone is load-bearing. Different stone, different job, and you need to think about capping/coping otherwise water may get driven down behind the facing and degrade the mortar.

Personally, I think stone facing for aesthetics of a freestanding wall is a bit weird. It's done quite a lot round where I live, and I get why you'd do it if you wanted a very high wall (i.e. >6ft), but for a regular garden wall a much nicer looking result comes from using blocks and poured cement below grade and then stone above grade.

But that's not much use since your block wall is up already.

I'm just facing it as its a very long and straight wall and I have a load of limestone on site!

What does this mean?
"using blocks and poured cement below grade and then stone above grade"

I don't understand the reference to grade?
I'm clueless when it comes to construction!

Rows Grower

The best tip I got for doing stone walls is to use a stick the length of which will be however far out from the blocks you want the stone to finish. Usually 8-9 inches.

Use the stick as a guide every time you lay a stone. Also before you lay a stone make sure it is placed so that if water comes from above it will be directed away from the mortar jointing. I found using a fairly dry mortar mix a lot easier to work with, also cover your top stones in case it rains overnight.

Stone work is really slow even when you are experienced, but it's worth it in the end.

Lumen

W123-80's wrote: »

I don't understand the reference to grade? I'm clueless when it comes to construction!

Sorry! It just means ground level.