Building a Dry
Stacked Retaining Wall

By Lindsay Saady, Marketing Coordinator
Luck Stone Corporation, Architectural Stone Division

The purpose of building a retaining wall is to retain a bank of soil. However, garden walls are often most effective for highlighting surrounding landscaping. So you may want to create your own soil bank if you do not have an existing one.

The easiest walls to build are two feet or less in height. We do not recommend building walls higher then three feet without further instruction from a mason or landscaping expert. Higher walls require more stabilization and much larger stones.

The Planning Process

When thinking about building a dry stacked wall, a wall built using stone and no mortar, careful planning is a must. Decide where you will put the wall, how long and how high you would like for it to be, and consider any curves, benches, or special features you may want to create. Talk to your local Luck Stone experts to decide how much stone your project will require.

Once you have decided on the design of your wall, be sure to gather all of the tools and materials you will need throughout the project before you begin. Some of the essentials include a good shovel, a small rubber mallet, tape measure, carpenter’s level, a pick or mason’s hammer, gravel, and either purchased or reserved soil.

You can lay out a garden hose along the space to guide you as you begin constructing the wall to be sure you get the shape that you desire. You could also use marking stakes and string.

Before you begin, a great way to organize yourself is to lay out the stone that you have in different piles according to size and shape. This will not only help familiarize you with the materials you have to work with, but it will make it easier to find the appropriate pieces when you need them. Be sure to save the flattest, largest stones for capstones.

Preparing the Site

You must make a cut in the soil bank before you begin, whether you are working with an existing bank or creating one. This can almost always be made by hand for low walls. The cut should angle back slightly. This angle is referred to as the wall’s batter. As you build, you will give the wall a slight backward angle to contribute to the sturdiness and to make sure that pressure from the gravel and soil behind it does not cause it to topple over. This angle should be about 5-10 degrees. The higher the wall, the larger batter that is required. If you are not familiar with angles, use a clock as a reference. At 12:01, the minute hand sits at a 6-degree angle from the top.

Next, you must dig a trench to serve as a base for the wall. Before you begin digging, keep in mind that you will build the wall a few inches in front of the soil bank. The extra room will eventually be filled in with gravel, creating a sturdier wall. Be sure to allow for this space from the beginning by digging the trench a few inches wider than your anticipated wall width. The base trench needs to be only about 6 inches deep. After the trench is completed, fill it with about 2 inches of gravel, sand, or stone dust. This will help to promote good drainage in the area.

Laying the Base Course

After having set aside the stones you would like to use for capstones, choose the largest and flattest stones for the foundation of the wall. The best stones to use here would be those that have one very flat surface and one irregular one. Bury the irregular surface in the gravel base. Unless your wall backs up to another structure, keep in mind that the first stone of each course will serve as a cornerstone. So, if it does not reach all of the way back to the soil behind it, you will need to put an additional stone behind it to fill in the space so that the gravel will not filter out from behind the wall.

Continue to set stones in the same manner until you are a few feet from the end of the wall. Lining the front ends up as well as possible is your most important task. The backside of the wall will be filled in with gravel, so larger spaces in back are not as worrisome. When you are close to the end of the course, place the end stone. Work backwards to fill in the rest of the course. This will make finding a good fit much easier than finding the perfect stone to line up on the corner of the wall.

Setting the Backfill

After completing the first course, spread gravel behind the row, filling in any gaps along the way. The gravel will serve to level the stones and lock them into place. Use a pick or the curved end of a mason’s hammer to fill spaces tightly. While this process can be time consuming, it strengthens the wall considerably. Be sure to remove any excess gravel from the tops of the stone before beginning the next course.

Building the Wall

You will repeat the process of laying each course and filling each one in with a gravel backfill at its completion. This is the time to place any plants that you would like growing throughout the wall. Instructions for incorporating plants in your stonewall are at the end of this article. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you work: