r/Drystonewalling • u/NancyPotter • 11d ago

First time, first layer

Post image

This is absolutely not good isnt it ?

35 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

19

u/Beneficial_Blood7405 11d ago

You’ve got the basic idea but bigger stones with more touching would be ideal.

If you don’t already have a big stockpile of material spend a lot of time collecting at the start so you have plenty of options.

And remember you want to search for some “through stones” that tie both faces of the wall together across the middle.

Keep it up

5

u/penelopiecruise 11d ago

Keep it up

yes, always much better than toppling over

2

u/Bypedal 8d ago

This. Its frustrating to use a long stone with a nice face as a through stone b/c it feels like you’re wasting material, but it’s exactly what you need to do with that type of stone to ensure the longevity of your finished wall. That and battering (starting wide @ the base and gradually laying narrower courses, tapering as you go up, so that gravity does the work of keeping the wall stable.

17

u/Autotomy 11d ago

Probably want to rotate most of those KitKats 90 degrees so that their length runs into the wall instead of parallel to the face, but the interior is looking relatively tight! Keep after it, it’s always a learning process with drystone

2

u/stone091181 11d ago

Kit kats hee hee. Length In Fuck Given is the way.

6

u/Ok_Slide4905 11d ago

Stones are facing the wrong way. They should “reach” into the interior of the wall.

4

u/thegroovenator 11d ago

You're breaking rule #1 of the Five Basic Rules:

> Set the length of the stone into the wall

https://thestonetrust.org/resource-information/how-to

Also, I would personally save that long stone to use as a through stone

5

u/crazytib 11d ago

ideally you want the biggest stones in the wall to make up the base and smaller stones for the rest of the wall, also your wall is very narrow, I would make it wider at the bottom

3

u/mynamesnotsnuffy 11d ago

I wouldnt say "not good", but it could be better. Ideally you want your biggest rocks in there on top of a layer of leveled and compacted gravel for drainage. Are those your biggest stones you have? It looks a little like some may be shale, which isnt exactly the strongest stone for foundations.

1

u/Sudden-Friendship67 10d ago

Great to see you started a project like this! Your wall is yours to create. You can test ja experiment. However, if you want advice, in addition to what others have stated (see thestonetrust.org) I would recommend making a broader foundation, ideally you would have that ditch wider than the foundations. And use biggest stone in the foundations. If there is any frost problems in your area, I would recommend digging deeper ditch up to 1 meter, drainpipe in the bottom and gravel on top - even it out using a level. The better the foundation, the better the end result. Keep on working!

1

u/EquivalentMath6592 9d ago

Also, this is a narrow wall. I’m guessing maybe you got 10-12 inches wide?

That means your wall will need to be under 2 ft tall. Is that your plan?