
	Intro: Before you begin Step 1: Design the wall Step 2: Calculate your materials Step 3: Gather and sort your materials Step 4: Dig and line the base Step 5: Lay the base stones Step 6: Build the courses Step 7: Build a retaining wall (optional)








	When laying out the base stones, let them drop from your hand from about 6 inches (15.2 centimeters) above the aggregate--this will "seat" them, tamping down the base further for added stability. Use this technique when setting the rest of the stone as well, so the wall settles as you go. To create chink stone, place a larger stone on the ground and break it into pieces with your sledgehammer. Always use protective glasses when doing this, and try to use stone that isn't useful in its current form. If the top of a set stone doesn't cant enough toward the wall's center, don't worry. You can lay chink stone on the top to make the next stacked stone cant correctly. You can shape a stone by chipping off its thinner edges. Hit it hard with your brick hammer's sharp end until you have a score line around the area you want to break off. If the piece doesn't break, keeping hitting along the score. Don't expect a perfect break every time.

2torial #0741:
Learn2 Build a Dry Stone Wall (continued)

Lay the base stones

As you start your stone-laying extravaganza, don't forget to stretch those muscles first, lift with your legs, not your back, and keep these guidelines in mind:

Start at one end of the wall, laying the cornerstone in the trench first. If possible, try to find a cornerstone that "ties" the corner--that is, lays across the full width of the wall.
Lay down the base stones, one after the other, by butting them together in two parallel rows on either side of the wall. Leave space between the rows where aggregate filler will go. Try to lay a tie stone every yard or so for strength.

When you pick the base stones, don't worry if they match in height. The most important criterion is that each stone has two fairly flat faces--one to sit on the aggregate drainage layer (usually the larger face), and one to point out from the wall (hopefully, the better-looking face). For the top face (onto which the next course will be laid), the one key requirement is that it doesn't slant away from the wall's center. If anything, it should slant toward the center, since you want your successive courses to "cant," or slope slightly inward. This allows the wall to stabilize itself.
Stone walls look best when the joints (the spaces between the butted stones) are tight and complement each other, so try to pick base stones that will butt together in this way. If you can't find a good match, don't worry. You can always add "chink" stone--small, broken pieces of larger stone used to fill in larger joint gaps, or to help correctly cant the stone.
Once you've finished laying the base stone (with another nice cornerstone or two at the opposite end), shovel in the aggregate filler, enough so it crests the tops of the shorter stones.

As you build, you'll notice that laying wall stone is a little like solving a giant puzzle. What you put in early on can have a big effect on what you set on top of it later, so don't rush the work.

Step 6