I appreciate the fact that you're not "fussy" with your instructions. I haven't started a wall yet, but it seems to me that it's a good idea to take it slowly and let the stones "tell" me where they want to go!
awesome! I have been thinking a lot about building rock walls lately - feels so familiar - and basic. I'll be in heaven building rock walls and rock cisterns and gardens to the sound of bag pipes and drums. Yeah!
To be sure there David, you are a man of many talents. I am near 60 now, i enjoy my Gardening, and taking a very keen interest in Dry stone walling, for some gardening ideas i have.
Your accent is awesome :'D one moment your completely German and within the same sentence you transform into pure West cork. I love it. Keep up the good work man.
I'm totally inspired to build my keyhole garden with dry stone after seeing this video! I have lots of rocks on my land...and I can't wait for my next free day to get started. Thank you so much for this YT video! Your work is beautiful.
I'm doing this project tomorrow !!! Thanks for the tips ! I always thought you needed to build it at an angle. I'm actually REDOING an existing wall that construction men had quickly done while doing my drains. They had used whatever rocks and it's now tumbling down... I'll follow your guidelines.
I can speak German and English. But now my English is better then my German ;) I lost my Welch and it takes about 6 weeks for me to be fluent in German again. Funny how it goes :) David.
This is lovely, I am blessed with thousands of potato size rocks, I suppose I would have to use some sort of cement product, or wire fencing to give structure.
For customers I usually do not have the time. I just try and get good stone and use that. Mostly different sizes of square stone. Picking out the best capping stones for last. In this video I had to make do with really bad bits and bobs. But it still worked out real fine. The main point is that the wall was not higher than 50 cm. Otherwise if more than that height, I would have had to build two walls and concrete to insure a stable wall. Bad stone means mostly more concrete. Which I don't like.
Cant figure out this guys accent. !!!!! Love facing old out of control boundary walls with stone, and planting perennials. Keeps weeds under control. Nice video, well done.
Hey cheers sorry for the late reply was busy. I would not put the soil all the way through. The weeds will just grow. You would need concrete if the wall is very high and your stones are not square. It is always stronger to use cement as backing. But I like to avoid it when I can. David.
Thank you for your video! I recently moved into a house that has beautiful rock walls all around it. But, they are falling apart. The good news is the missing rocks are still here. I guess they just got knocked off. I wasn't sure how to add them back in, but now I'm going to give it a go. :-) I'm in Colorado.
Ok thanks for that, that's good to know ;) How old would these walls be. But in this case as the wall is only 60 cm high it should be totally fine ;) If you do build it taller, then as I said, you need to have a proper footer and place it on subsoil. A quick note here for everyone. Make sure that all gap fill is wedged in by the wight of the stones placed above it. This keeps it from dislodging. Cheers David.
Very nice. Thanks for sharing your expertise. I love loose stone walls vs. the ones with mortar. One thing though: Be careful not to pile soil up around the base of your trees because they will eventually die. Once the bark rots off and is eaten away by soil organisms, the tree will die. It may take a few years, but it will happen.
Hey no prob, I would get half a ton of stones and pick 7 cap stones out wherever you will buy them. A weal barrow of filler stones should do. Hope it works out for you alright. let me know how you get on ;) Best wishes David.
Thanks a lot ! - a a descendant of the builders of Blarney Castle, I feel a certain obligation to make a good and lasting job of the dry stone wall in question - I've picked up a some pointers from your video. Cheers - from New Zealand.
This is how I make my own walls.... the only difference being, my front faces are not totally vertical and lean back slightly into the bank...for extra stability. I'm totally self-taught....so it's great to see someone else with the same approach. Also, I find the more varied the shapes and sizes of stone...the more pleasing it looks. Having said that....you also need heaps of patience ( & stones)!
Invest in 3 sledge hammers small medium and big one and 2 chisels flat and pointy. If you are going to have corners start with them. They are the most critical part of the stone wall. Take big flat stones chisel them to rectangular shapes and build them as they were cinder blocks. Tie straight strings from one corner to the other helps build your wall vertical and straight. Take your time placing the stones chose ones that fit or chisel to fit.
Hi David I like your channel very much. Very nice video and wall too. A few tips that I picked up by helping a professional stone mason working in a friends house. Sorry for my English. Lay your stones next to where the wall is going to be build. Close really big ones as foundation further flat ones as top (as you mentioned) in between mix sizes and colors for an aesthetic look . If you are 2 friends working is more productive if one is chiseling the stones a bit and the other is placing them.
Beautiful walls! I didn't know you could use soil as a sort of mortar substitute/fill. I'm making my first dry stone wall as a low bench (about 40cm tall). It's double wall and it's been going well so far. However, I've just got to the top of the wall and looking to cap it off with large stone slabs which will make the bench top. The problem I have is that, since the slabs span maybe 8 stones on that second last level just below, it is really hard to get the weight of that top slab to transfer evenly down into each of the stones in that second last layer. So they are essentially sitting loose. I've been spending a lot of time trying to shim stones in and chip other stones so they're less tall to get the top stone to touch and hold all of the other stones and it feels like I'm not getting anywhere! Could I use soil to create that friction and transfer of weight down? Or would it be too loose to hold...?
I'm wondering if you have any suggestions for working with very large stones that are already in place? I've often built stone walls around very large stones on my property but they are often rounded and not easy to build on/around.
This was exactly what I was looking for! One question- I saw that this was installed around an existing tree. Doesn't the weight of the rock hurt the tree roots? Someone told me I may have that problem with using rock in my garden underneath existing trees.
+Sandra Maria Tree roots will not be damaged or affected by this activity. What is more likely in this video is the tree will grow and move the wall (because he chose to build so close to the tree).
This is a retaining wall only, as it is a single wall and only 60 cm high. Double walls up to around 1.5 m high do not need any mortar. They were build to keep livestock in. Traditionally for instance house walls were made with two walls with the base being quite wide and tapering down to around 60 cm under the roof. These were two story houses and many were made with lime and sand as a way of holding them together. They are still around and some are 500 years old. Today we would use cement and not lime as it is way stronger and load bearing in a wall like that is excellent.
i am wanting to build a 3-4ft dry stone wall to frame and hold back some earth. i was initially going to use a foundation of crushed 3/4" rock and bury my base course in that. my friend who is a structural engineer suggested i use concrete for foundation instead. is there any reason why you wouldnt use concrete?
I was always wondering when I saw them by the roadside how they were built. (Didn't some English ruler give Irish workers something similar to the dole if they did work? I think I remember that from
Hi David, Thanks so much for this video. I am trying to build a small stone wall in my front yard, probably the same size as the one you have in this video. I am planning to buy square stones for this and I was wondering if you could tell me what kind of a mix of stones I should purchase depending on the length of the wall. For example, like how many capstones, fillers and so on for about a 7 ft long 2ft tall wall. Thanks in advance.
Is there anything wrong with setting the stones in mortar? I'm planning on doing a small wall along a sidewalk with a bunch of river stone that we salvaged from an old koi pond. Since most are round in shape, I figured using some mortar to set the stone would better...but I've never done this before, so I could be totally wrong?
Nothing wrong with using mortar. You just may get a very rounded wall that may look funny with all the very round shapes. The reason is there will be bigger gaps. If you have enough flat rounded stones then that would look good. You could also build a temporary flat supporting wall from straight plywood in front where the face of the wall is to be and mortar them in standing on edge that looks very well too.
helpful video, i just collected lots of big stone today because i watched your video last night and i started my raised stone bed.It's looking great already but unfortunately i'm going to need a hell of a lot more stones and male help because i can't lift all those stones been a petite woman. poor me lol
Most of these walls date back to the 18th and 19th centuries when New England was first settled. The land was so rocky the next generations left for literally greener pastures in the Mid-West. The walls remain and many are now used by suburbanites to mark boundary lines. Most walls are about 3 feet (1 metre?) but can be as large as 5 feet. We have considerable heaving during the winter and early spring.
Awesome video. Thanks. Were you putting soil between the rocks all the way through or just at the back where the bank was? You mentioned cement at one point...Would you recommend cement at all for a bit more stability? Thanks! ~Ontario, Canada
I have a pile of rocks/rubble/stone bits in my back garden. Was thinking of what to do and now EUREKA! Will this hold once built? I noticed that these are obviously loose. What holds it together??
Here in New England I guess it is more of a problem because of the wide temperature swings between deep freezes of winter and hot, humid weather of summer. Every spring you can ride the roads and see collapsed portions of walls all along the way.
Look at the profile of El Racó del Bosc, they are artisans working with natural stone, it is an area with more than a thousand years of history, they have gastrotourism experiences.
Usually you make a double stone wall with the bottom being wider than the top of the wall. You also need to put in a lot of tie stones across. You can use cut sand stone that have the same thickness to clad onto a block wall using cement.
@@workwithnature - thank you for your reply. there are many people that would like to build their own stone house themselves. that would make a great video series. thanks again.
I need serious help. How far back do I need to dig to get a level front face for my wall? my wall falls every winter. How do I get it to stay up. I would add the picture, but I'm not that great with social media.
Work With Nature every winter my wall falls down. if I could send you a picture I would. I want to make sure that when I restack it, it stays up. How far back should I dig out to get the brick to sit up straight?
OK so is it a wall that is free standing or is it a retaining wall. You might consider having it lean inwards or if it is free standing wall then build two walls that lean against each other. You will also need to have lots of perpend stones also known as tie stone or bond stones in your walls to hold the wall together. To be honest I do not fully understand your question but am willing to help if I can. David.
This is my favorite style of retaining walls. Using natural stone; instead of manufactured. Thanks for the tutorial!
Thanks,
for your support :) It is always good to get feedback.
David.
I appreciate the fact that you're not "fussy" with your instructions. I haven't started a wall yet, but it seems to me that it's a good idea to take it slowly and let the stones "tell" me where they want to go!
awesome!
I have been thinking a lot about building rock walls lately - feels so familiar - and basic. I'll be in heaven building rock walls and rock cisterns and gardens to the sound of bag pipes and drums. Yeah!
Just what I needed to know. Many thanks.
To be sure there David, you are a man of many talents.
I am near 60 now, i enjoy my Gardening, and taking a very keen interest in Dry stone walling, for some gardening ideas i have.
Your accent is awesome :'D one moment your completely German and within the same sentence you transform into pure West cork. I love it. Keep up the good work man.
Lol, I was thinking he has a french/Irish accent. You are much more precise. Whatever it is, I like it!😊
I love these type of walls I am just glad I have a better understanding on how to build it... one love
I'm totally inspired to build my keyhole garden with dry stone after seeing this video! I have lots of rocks on my land...and I can't wait for my next free day to get started. Thank you so much for this YT video! Your work is beautiful.
I’ve always wanted a stone wall around my garden after watching the secret garden 🪴
Great explaining ! the foundation rules..., The positioning of each stone, very easy to understand. I think you're right ;). Lio.
Thanks for this video. I have had a few small stone walls I have wanted to build and now I have a better idea of how to do it.
Thank you so much. I'm going to have a good time I can tell, building my first little dry stacked stone retaining wall. You did a beautiful job!
I'm doing this project tomorrow !!! Thanks for the tips ! I always thought you needed to build it at an angle. I'm actually REDOING an existing wall that construction men had quickly done while doing my drains. They had used whatever rocks and it's now tumbling down... I'll follow your guidelines.
It's my most favorite garden wall of them all ! Almost a lost art now a days. You do an amazing job !
Wow thanks :)
David
+Kim chisholm - Agreed! The skill, information, music and art of it were awesome. I wish you could put those in all over my yard!
Thank you. Exactly what I was looking for. Greetings from Germany
That's one handsome stone wall. It's so pleasing to the eye, and will last forever. Thank you for sharing the rules of constructing it, Mrs. Tc
I can speak German and English. But now my English is better then my German ;) I lost my Welch and it takes about 6 weeks for me to be fluent in German again. Funny how it goes :)
David.
Thank you for posting. The wall looks great.
This is lovely, I am blessed with thousands of potato size rocks, I suppose I would have to use some sort of cement product, or wire fencing to give structure.
For customers I usually do not have the time. I just try and get good stone and use that. Mostly different sizes of square stone. Picking out the best capping stones for last.
In this video I had to make do with really bad bits and bobs. But it still worked out real fine. The main point is that the wall was not higher than 50 cm. Otherwise if more than that height, I would have had to build two walls and concrete to insure a stable wall. Bad stone means mostly more concrete. Which I don't like.
Thank you for sharing how to do this. You did a beautiful job.
Cant figure out this guys accent. !!!!!
Love facing old out of control boundary walls with stone, and planting perennials.
Keeps weeds under control.
Nice video, well done.
I LOVE this, I have always wanted to build stone walls, especially after spending 2 weeks in Dundalk :).
You have the right stuff, my man. This is a great wall.
A lovely tutorial. Thank you! I cannot wait to get started.
Thanks Mate ;)
David.
Hey cheers sorry for the late reply was busy.
I would not put the soil all the way through. The weeds will just grow. You would need concrete if the wall is very high and your stones are not square. It is always stronger to use cement as backing. But I like to avoid it when I can.
David.
Thank you for your video! I recently moved into a house that has beautiful rock walls all around it. But, they are falling apart. The good news is the missing rocks are still here. I guess they just got knocked off. I wasn't sure how to add them back in, but now I'm going to give it a go. :-) I'm in Colorado.
Ok thanks for that, that's good to know ;) How old would these walls be.
But in this case as the wall is only 60 cm high it should be totally fine ;) If you do build it taller, then as I said, you need to have a proper footer and place it on subsoil. A quick note here for everyone. Make sure that all gap fill is wedged in by the wight of the stones placed above it. This keeps it from dislodging.
Cheers David.
Cheers :)
Glad you got something from the video :)
David
Beautiful wall.
you are very talented, young man! very beautiful work. and thank you for this demonstration video
This is art! Tnx a lot for this video!
Music wanted to make me immediately start drinking whiskey.
🤣🤣🤣
you are a very good teacher. thank you so much
Very nice. Thanks for sharing your expertise. I love loose stone walls vs. the ones with mortar.
One thing though: Be careful not to pile soil up around the base of your trees because they will eventually die. Once the bark rots off and is eaten away by soil organisms, the tree will die. It may take a few years, but it will happen.
Hey no prob at all. So I am a mix of German Welch Irish and Cherokee Indian.
David.
4:48 Looks like a nice piece of ancient riverbed. 😁
Hey no prob,
I would get half a ton of stones and pick 7 cap stones out wherever you will buy them. A weal barrow of filler stones should do. Hope it works out for you alright. let me know how you get on ;)
Best wishes David.
Great video. I’ve always enjoyed your channel.👍🏻
Solid...thanks for sharing
Thanks for sharing this information. Stone wall are so pretty. We hope to make one in the future. God bless! :)
Amazing Talent well done!!!
Thanks a lot ! - a a descendant of the builders of Blarney Castle, I feel a certain obligation to make a good and lasting job of the dry stone wall in question - I've picked up a some pointers from your video. Cheers - from New Zealand.
Wow I have been to your great greats castle many times. They did a great job of it! I never kissed the stone though :)
This is how I make my own walls.... the only difference being, my front faces are not totally vertical and lean back slightly into the bank...for extra stability. I'm totally self-taught....so it's great to see someone else with the same approach. Also, I find the more varied the shapes and sizes of stone...the more pleasing it looks. Having said that....you also need heaps of patience ( & stones)!
Thank you😊
Very nice walls. You do nice work.
Cheers thanks for the feedback.
David.
Just one word or two, Thank you
:)
You are welcome.
David.
Thank you. Very informative.
Thanks for the tips. We are about to rebuild two 15ft dry stone walls. Your video will help a bunch.
great video, very helpful thank u!
Invest in 3 sledge hammers small medium and big one and 2 chisels flat and pointy. If you are going to have corners start with them. They are the most critical part of the stone wall. Take big flat stones chisel them to rectangular shapes and build them as they were cinder blocks. Tie straight strings from one corner to the other helps build your wall vertical and straight. Take your time placing the stones chose ones that fit or chisel to fit.
Lovely! Very helpful 👍
Love the idea. I am making a vegi gargen in South Florida and this has been a pleasure to watch. Thank you ~*~
very helpful to me. lots of good tips..
i am building a stone wall around my cabin,
it will be a double wall...
Nice video. I always have like the look of stone walls. They make a great looking raised bed garden. -Mark
Very nice wall.
Hi David I like your channel very much. Very nice video and wall too. A few tips that I picked up by helping a professional stone mason working in a friends house. Sorry for my English. Lay your stones next to where the wall is going to be build. Close really big ones as foundation further flat ones as top (as you mentioned) in between mix sizes and colors for an aesthetic look . If you are 2 friends working is more productive if one is chiseling the stones a bit and the other is placing them.
Beautiful walls! I didn't know you could use soil as a sort of mortar substitute/fill. I'm making my first dry stone wall as a low bench (about 40cm tall). It's double wall and it's been going well so far. However, I've just got to the top of the wall and looking to cap it off with large stone slabs which will make the bench top. The problem I have is that, since the slabs span maybe 8 stones on that second last level just below, it is really hard to get the weight of that top slab to transfer evenly down into each of the stones in that second last layer. So they are essentially sitting loose. I've been spending a lot of time trying to shim stones in and chip other stones so they're less tall to get the top stone to touch and hold all of the other stones and it feels like I'm not getting anywhere! Could I use soil to create that friction and transfer of weight down? Or would it be too loose to hold...?
Great job!
+The Kentucky Woodsman Thanks Kentucky Woodsman ;)
👍👍
Beautiful place
These videos are awesome!
I just subed
Beautiful
I'm wondering if you have any suggestions for working with very large stones that are already in place? I've often built stone walls around very large stones on my property but they are often rounded and not easy to build on/around.
This was exactly what I was looking for! One question- I saw that this was installed around an existing tree. Doesn't the weight of the rock hurt the tree roots? Someone told me I may have that problem with using rock in my garden underneath existing trees.
+Sandra Maria Tree roots will not be damaged or affected by this activity. What is more likely in this video is the tree will grow and move the wall (because he chose to build so close to the tree).
Thank you for making the video
:)
Work With Nature how high can you build with wall like this. Can it bear some load?
This is a retaining wall only, as it is a single wall and only 60 cm high. Double walls up to around 1.5 m high do not need any mortar. They were build to keep livestock in. Traditionally for instance house walls were made with two walls with the base being quite wide and tapering down to around 60 cm under the roof. These were two story houses and many were made with lime and sand as a way of holding them together. They are still around and some are 500 years old. Today we would use cement and not lime as it is way stronger and load bearing in a wall like that is excellent.
looks great
Wish I had shale around here, just looks nicer. this should work with rounded rocks I hope. thanks for the help best wishes from Minnesota.
ps I just remembered I have a rock hammer. might just go nuts on some rocks and make my own flat rocks.
Thanks, now I just need time off work to get started. Don't know when I'll find that.
i am wanting to build a 3-4ft dry stone wall to frame and hold back some earth. i was initially going to use a foundation of crushed 3/4" rock and bury my base course in that. my friend who is a structural engineer suggested i use concrete for foundation instead. is there any reason why you wouldnt use concrete?
Great video 😊
Very hands on video. Lots of great info - love the wall.
Excellent 👍
Beautiful walls. Thanks for the lesson.
very nice. Thanks
I was always wondering when I saw them by the roadside how they were built. (Didn't some English ruler give Irish workers something similar to the dole if they did work? I think I remember that from
Hi David, Thanks so much for this video. I am trying to build a small stone wall in my front yard, probably the same size as the one you have in this video.
I am planning to buy square stones for this and I was wondering if you could tell me what kind of a mix of stones I should purchase depending on the length of the wall. For example, like how many capstones, fillers and so on for about a 7 ft long 2ft tall wall. Thanks in advance.
Is there anything wrong with setting the stones in mortar? I'm planning on doing a small wall along a sidewalk with a bunch of river stone that we salvaged from an old koi pond. Since most are round in shape, I figured using some mortar to set the stone would better...but I've never done this before, so I could be totally wrong?
Nothing wrong with using mortar. You just may get a very rounded wall that may look funny with all the very round shapes. The reason is there will be bigger gaps. If you have enough flat rounded stones then that would look good. You could also build a temporary flat supporting wall from straight plywood in front where the face of the wall is to be and mortar them in standing on edge that looks very well too.
helpful video, i just collected lots of big stone today because i watched your video last night and i started my raised stone bed.It's looking great already but unfortunately i'm going to need a hell of a lot more stones and male help because i can't lift all those stones been a petite woman. poor me lol
That mr.robot ad was pretty cool
Well it was more to clear the fields of stones and make fences for sheep. But you could be right about that too ;)
Most of these walls date back to the 18th and 19th centuries when New England was first settled. The land was so rocky the next generations left for literally greener pastures in the Mid-West. The walls remain and many are now used by suburbanites to mark boundary lines. Most walls are about 3 feet (1 metre?) but can be as large as 5 feet. We have considerable heaving during the winter and early spring.
Awesome video. Thanks. Were you putting soil between the rocks all the way through or just at the back where the bank was? You mentioned cement at one point...Would you recommend cement at all for a bit more stability?
Thanks!
~Ontario, Canada
I have a pile of rocks/rubble/stone bits in my back garden. Was thinking of what to do and now EUREKA! Will this hold once built? I noticed that these are obviously loose. What holds it together??
+marlonious Hey great hope you will give it a go. Gravity and friction will hold it together for hundreds of years.
marlonious yea it's a dying art making this without something holding it together
You only need look at videos of the Irish countryside to see walls like these that have stood for hundreds of years
Here in New England I guess it is more of a problem because of the wide temperature swings between deep freezes of winter and hot, humid weather of summer. Every spring you can ride the roads and see collapsed portions of walls all along the way.
Look at the profile of El Racó del Bosc, they are artisans working with natural stone, it is an area with more than a thousand years of history, they have gastrotourism experiences.
Great job
Building a Irish stone wall 6 ft highdouble with soil I the middle is sound proof ?
Hi, and thanks for such a informative film :-)
How to cut bigger stones?
One can use an angle grinder with a dimond or stone blade ;)
Emil Shamloo C-4
what type of stone is that you are working with please?
Stone does not fit? Angle grinder.
when laid on the surface soil doesn't it heave with the frost and thaw in the winter and spring?
The Irish German accent is epic lol
you sound exactly like Bernard from black books
I would like to know how to build a stone house or how to use stone as siding on a house.
Usually you make a double stone wall with the bottom being wider than the top of the wall. You also need to put in a lot of tie stones across. You can use cut sand stone that have the same thickness to clad onto a block wall using cement.
@@workwithnature - thank you for your reply. there are many people that would like to build their own stone house themselves. that would make a great video series. thanks again.
I need serious help. How far back do I need to dig to get a level front face for my wall? my wall falls every winter. How do I get it to stay up. I would add the picture, but I'm not that great with social media.
Am happy to help you but you will need to explain a bit better :)
Work With Nature every winter my wall falls down. if I could send you a picture I would. I want to make sure that when I restack it, it stays up. How far back should I dig out to get the brick to sit up straight?
OK so is it a wall that is free standing or is it a retaining wall. You might consider having it lean inwards or if it is free standing wall then build two walls that lean against each other. You will also need to have lots of perpend stones also known as tie stone or bond stones in your walls to hold the wall together. To be honest I do not fully understand your question but am willing to help if I can.
David.
Do you spend much time shaping stones with a hammer or chisel?
Na is fine. Even if it did make an impact it would not be noticeable. Good point though.
David.
Genial!