Fortunately the rain was delayed. I was able to pull some weeds and cut down some perennials I did not have the heart to kill. Maybe I'll transplant them. Then I blew out all the leaves that had accumulated. I like working in a clean environment.
After sprucing up the loose rocks on the top of the lower wall, I started stacking rocks on the upper wall. The left side is now basically done. Then I ran out of rocks. Great. Now I have to go fetch rocks again.
I used up every last rock that I had stockpiled on the basement patio. I had a lot of rocks piled up there and it wasn't quite enough. I'm close to finished though. One more day of work may get the wall done.
At some point this winter I need to spread a load of gravel as a base for the future stone floor. I still have a little time to save the good weeds that came up on the patio if I want.
After all these years the lower wall is still standing. It hasn't budged an inch. There were some internet critics who questioned my walls stability. I suppose when you are using the roundish, raggedy rocks you have and not fancy store bought flat rocks, the lack of uniformity of appearance might look a bit less stable. Well, it's still standing.
The very top rocks were the only ones that had shifted or moved. More than anything that was from the cats constantly running across it. I still may mortar the top course, but first I want to lay in the gravel. That will raise the base by six inches on the back side of the lower wall and help give the upper coarse more stability.
I've been making all kinds of progress on my list of winter projects at both houses and winter hasn't even settled in. By next June I'll have this place in tip top shape. At least there will be less stuff I have to ignore.
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7 comments:
I love your wall. So much more authentic than those flat store-bought rocks. You can tell where they came from.
I asked a friend to drive by and take some photos of the house I owned two moves ago. The three-foot high wall of rock and rubble I had set up to restrain the slope that threatened to bury the underground transformer is still doing a fine job, even though the current owners have totally neglected the ground cover I had tucked around it. Your walls remind me of the fun of stacking it up as my neighbor chided me about not "engineering" it.
Bev my walls do look more like the old walls you find in the forest around here. I like the upper wall better. I slowed down and spent more time with it.
Barry my walls are engineered sort of. It was a local stone mason who suggested I dry stack instead of mortar the wall. Then I followed the directions in his book with a gravel footing, landscape fabric on the slope to keep the dirt out of the wall and filling in the smaller spaces with gravel as I built it. I also made sure it had the proper batter - lean into the slope.
The last sentence cracked me up ... it resonates with me!
Cindy let's just say it is a good thing I have had 7 years now to work on things I have had to ignore for extended periods of time.
The walls have sort of an archaeological look to them, but in a good way.
Yes they do Les and I really like that about them. It gives then a sense of ancient mystery. That's what you get I suppose when you work with the rocks you have and no knowledge or staff to dress the stone first.
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