JOIN NOW LOG IN
iVillage GardenWeb iVillage GardenWeb THE INTERNET'S GARDEN & HOME COMMUNITY ADVERTISEMENT
Blogs Forums Photo Galleries Ask The Experts Tools & Directories        
Return to the Gardening with Stone Forum | Post a Follow-Up

 o
rocks too small for dry wall?

Posted by sfischer_16 (My Page) on
Mon, Jul 3, 06 at 20:10

hi-

i am making a dry stone retaining wall in my backyard. it will be about 20 feet long and 1 foot high, and then 10 feet of six inches high.

i'm using David Reed's "Art and Craft of Stonescaping" book as my guide.

i bought a pallet of rock called "Pennsylvania dry wall rock." it should cover about 30 cubic feet, which seemed about right for my project.

it looked great from the outside. fieldstone in color, and with flat rocks about 1 to 2 inches high.

but, i feel duped: the inside of the pallet is filled with smaller rocks (and one big boulder).

here is my estimate of the contents of the pallet (most are between 1"-2" tall, with some 3":
1 rock 2' x 2' (the boulder)
25% bigger than 10" x 8"
50% about 6" x 6"
25% about 5" x 5" or smaller

my plan is to use the big rocks as foundation and capstones.

but, i seem to be running out of suitable foundation rocks, and i'm pretty sure i won't have enough nice capstones.

plus, the whole wall will be basically made of small rocks.

is this viable? or... did i get "ripped off"?

thanks,
steve


Follow-Up Postings:

 o
RE: rocks too small for dry wall?

To build this wall sensibly you need a lot more stones, this way you can pick and choose from the stock pile and find the right stone rather than trying to make the one in your hand fit.


 o
RE: rocks too small for dry wall?

Having recently completed a drystack wall after much reading and research, I can tell you that if you want to have a wall with variation and character you will need far more stone than the basic cubic footage your caclulations show. The mix you received is pretty standard. Those smaller stones can be used as center filler (rubble)or chinking stones to fill small face voids; larger stones for base and corner stones, with flat, nicely shaped ones for caps. I found that I had to pick from "open pallets" at 5 different stoneyards to achieve the farmer's wall I was trying to create. E-mail me if you'd like to see photos. Good luck!


 
 

 

 


Click here to learn more about in-text links on this page.



iVillage GardenWeb: The Internet's Garden & Home Community  
  iVillage Home & Garden Network