Retaining walls: natural stone, laying in different ways

Making the retaining wall by the "drywall" and "cement" with users FORUMHOUSE

Natural stone is one of the preferred materials in the landscape design. It looks nice, solid, and, as a natural material is combined with the plants in the garden. This material is expensive, but the owners of suburban areas often it is possible to obtain stone practically free. In this article we will explain what types of stones used in the landscape for the construction of a decorative retaining wall, on their merits and demerits.

Content

• From a stone made retaining wall
• Retaining wall by "dry laying"
• Retaining Wall "cement"

From a stone made retaining wall

The most common stones used to create borders, paths and flowerbeds alpine landscape designers - a granite, basalt, limestone and sandstone.

Sandstone - in the composition of the rock it comes mainly quartzite in conjunction with carbonate. Because of the iron ore impurities it is not a very durable, but it is a very beautiful stone.

White sandstone used in architecture for the construction of columns, cornices and other decorative elements. Yellow sandstone paving track (it carries the severe frosts without loss of quality and decorative properties). Red sandstone is stronger than the other, and it is resistant to large temperature changes - it is made fountains, garden ponds they make out, used in the lining of fences and buildings. Pink sandstone used only for cladding.

There are several types of sandstone. Popular in the construction of a shell rock (composed of shells) - is also one of the varieties of sandstone. There is also a sandstone include oolite, sandstone pisolite and lithography.

Sandstone - the most suitable material for retaining walls. Colorful, warm-looking stones become a real decoration of the garden

Granite - a rock of volcanic origin, which is composed of quartz, mica and feldspar; rugged, durable, shiny stone that withstands about 300 cycles of freezing and thawing. It can withstand a variety of mechanical stress, moisture-resistant, environmentally friendly.

Fine-grained granite (grain size less than 2 mm) may be 500 years and is valued more than the coarse (grain diameter of up to 5 mm).

In landscape design granite valued for its highest aesthetic quality. The most common coloring - gray, but also found a black, red, pink, green, rarely - yellow.

Important: about 3% of granite has an increased radiation background.

Karavanbashi

Member FORUMHOUSE

Check the dosimeter. Often granite, especially red, fonit.

The disadvantages of granite can be attributed to the high cost, but by creating a garden, professionals always have a home in mind; so if facing facade of the house a granite, It should be used and in the lining of the retaining wall.

Basalt - like granite, stone is of volcanic origin, and it is no less durable; but its porous structure and colors poorer. Basalt stone can be black, smoky gray and black green in color.

slate - another stone from which often make the retaining walls. It can be whatever color, from bright green to black, and found both monochrome and colored stones with inclusions and bizarre divorce. Each stone looks like a compressed layers of thin plates - they eventually crumble, peel, but do not lose the wild, "rocky" type, for which designers are so valued.

Baba Galya

Participant FORUMHOUSE

My retaining wall made of natural slate red. I was lucky, next to the quarry with beautiful flat stones. I use it with pleasure.

Retaining wall by «drywall»

Here is an example of a retaining wall made of natural stone, made a party FORUMHOUSE Kaleriya17 "Dry method".

The optimum height of the retaining wall of stone, made by "dry" method - 50 cm. Above 80 cm it is not recommended. Solution fasten only the top, the smallest stones. Heavy, massive lower stones are not fastened. Drainage for such a wall is not necessary. But it will be stable and will last you for years to come. However, it will have to adhere to the following conditions:

• through the wall must not undergo appreciable water flows (including rain, snow melting on abundant, etc...);
• the stones are arranged in the wall on the principle of the smaller, the better; the biggest boulders must lie at the base;
• necessary to provide a small bias "backwards": the wall has to prop a bed, a bed, lawn, etc .;.

Kaleriya17

Participant FORUMHOUSE

With this method, the "dry laying" stones in the gap can be planted various stonecrops et al. alpine plants.

The more grass naroslo around the wall, the stronger it will be because of the roots.

Andreic

Member FORUMHOUSE

This type of masonry itself profess more than a dozen years. The highest wall I - 1.2 m Slope -. Appropriate. All winter pass without any problems.

Cons of a retaining wall made by "dry laying" are as follows:

• it can only be decorative; this wall do to keep from sliding down the upper terrace;
• dangerous to do such a wall, if a family has young children;
• it is more difficult to spread than the solution: it is necessary to carefully select the stones to the wall is not swayed and looked beautiful.

Retaining wall "in solution"

Terms masonry retaining wall for the solution require that the use of such structural elements as a foundation, drainage and sewage. For sandstone wall and rubble drainage is not required, but then the wall is recommended to pour a large thick layer of gravel.

Santolia

Participant FORUMHOUSE

Crushed stone (sandstone and) has properties to absorb and release moisture, so the concentrations of water will not.

For foundation wall is one meter in height by 40 cm in depth and width of about 40-60 cm. This is especially important for heaving soils.

Santolia

I would not risk it and would make a foundation of reinforced concrete strip, but there are people who make a compacted bed of gravel or sand.

That is, the trench is filled with sand or gravel well tamped, and then spread the stone. The higher the retaining wall, the more thoroughly and more serious foundation for it to be.

Wall made with a small bias towards the terrace. To masonry looked "dry", the solution is placed so that it does not creep out on the front side. Shall remain gaps, which are then better to fill with peat, clay or mixed with hydrogel sphagnum. Plant in a crack young, sedum, "infect" them with moss. Plants in stone retaining walls or recommended planted in early spring or early autumn.

In the first year the soil under the wall visibly settle, and in spite of sand or crushed stone cushion, large rocks at the base can vary bury. wall service life depends on the quality of the stone, and if the construction starts to crumble or flake off in a couple of years, it's just there.

On FORUMHOUSE detail tells you how to make retaining walls - gabions. Be sure to check our article about terracing and improvement of recreation areasWatch the video on how to properly make retaining walls.

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