DIY Network

Tiered Garden Walls Dean and Derek create a stone garden feature in the style of traditional country farm walls. Check out more Rock Solid home improvement projects. From "Rock Solid" episode DROC-406

These stone retaining walls, attractively planted, create a natural tiered look for this steep slope at the head of a driveway.

A steeply graded portion of yard can be tough to maintain, not to mention unsightly. For this Rock Solid project, hosts Derek Stearns and Dean Marsico use natural stone to build three tiered walls into a slope, and create retaining walls inspired by old dry-stack farm walls. To build the walls, they incorporate a mixture of indigenous stones set in concrete, and they joint the stonework in such a way to allow for proper drainage of rainwater. And of course, they give their stone creation color and beauty with decorative landscaping.

Tips from our two pros include how to build proper footings, how to build and cap a wall with natural stones and how you can incorporate stones found on your property into the design.

Below is a summary of the steps as seen in this project, as well as some installation tips and a list of materials and tools used.

advertisement

Tools:

mortar mixer (for larger jobs)
jointer
carbide chisel
stone hammer
chipping hammer
string
line level
square
shovel
trowel
paintbrush
steel bars or wood stakes
mixing hoe
wheelbarrow
5-gallon bucket
face mask
safety glasses

Materials:

1/2 inch rebar
pre-mixed concrete
stones (Dean and Derek used a mixture of local fieldstones)
type-S mortar
masonry sand
water
loam

Note: The quantities needed for these materials vary with application. For your specific project, Dean and Derek suggest taking your dimensions to a local quarry or distributor where the amount of each product needed can be calculated.

Figure A

Clearing the Area

The first step of the project is to clear the area where you'll be building your tiered wall. For this project, there was a preexisting stone wall, which Dean and Derek had to break up to make room for the new tiered walls (figure A). If your project has a preexisting stone wall, then you can save on your budget by reusing some old stones in your new project. Either way, the old wall will need to go to clear way for the new one.

If you have a lot of stones on your property, you can mix them into your wall. You'll want stones with color and character for the wall face, and flat, level stones for the cap. For their project, Dean and Derek mix stones from the house's property with Connecticut green, a local stone, to create rustic New England walls.

Dean and Derek also remove the Hosta plants covering the slope. They put the plants aside so they could later be replanted behind the new garden walls.

Dig Footings

Next, dig the footings for the new tiers. Each tier will be 20 inches high, and will need a footing that is 12-inches deep. (A 12-inch footing can support a wall that is up to 3 feet high.) A wall 20 inches tall should be 14 to16 inches thick. Anything wider would look out of proportion.

If you find some rocks in your footing that you can't move, don't panic. They can be incorporated into the footing. If the rock looks good enough, you can use it in the face of the wall. Otherwise, you can pour concrete around the rock and above it, and incorporate it into the wall. For each footing, follow the same procedure: let the earth tell you where to go.

	Figure B
	Figure C

Add Concrete to Footings

Next you'll add pre-mixed concrete to the footings. (Pre-mixed concrete is concrete mixed with sand, and also contains small pebbles for strength.)

• Pour the concrete into a wheelbarrow and add in water, then use a hoe to mix the concrete to a consistency of peanut butter.

  Safety Alert: Remember to always wear a safety mask while mixing and concrete or mortar to avoid breathing concrete dust particles (figure B).

• Once your concrete is ready, pour it into the 12-inch deep row for the footing. For reinforcement, place half-inch rebar along each footing (figure C). Lay the rebar into the wet concrete like railroad tracks, and then push them into the concrete until they're about halfway down. (The rebar will keep the footing from breaking and will prevent frost heaves in the winter time.)

• Wait until the concrete has set up (usually in about 12 hours,) before beginning to set the stone.

Page  1 | 2