Rebuilding a Fallen Stone Wall

Old stone walls are found all over the country. They once were used to mark property lines, but today often are kept for their looks. Stone retaining walls used to prevent erosion on hilly properties often were built using dry wall methods. Because dry walls do not use mortar, sections tumble down over the years. If this happens, you easily can rebuild your fallen stone wall, even without special training or experience.

Level

Instructions

- 1
  Remove any stones that are hanging over gaps. Each gap in the wall should be as long or longer than the one below it. This allows you to easily add in new stones without trying to wedge them under others.
- 2
  Lay a new row of stones over the old layer at the bottom of the gap in the wall. Try to reuse the original stones where possible. Use the widest stones at the lowest parts of your repair, making each row narrower as you go up. This will eliminate the danger of the new rows overbalancing and falling down. Set the stones so that the joints between stones in the new row do not line up with the joints in the row below it. Staggering joints will make the wall stronger. Use the level as you go to make sure that each row is as near straight as possible.
- 3
  Lay additional rows on top of each other using the same procedure until the gap in the wall is filled entirely. You may need to remove additional stones from the edges of the gap as you build to fit in the stones you have chosen for your repair job.
- 4
  Fit smaller rocks into gaps between larger stones.

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