The depth and amount of base material has a lot to do with the type of soil and size of the wall.
Building a stacked stone retaining wall.
The easiest way to build a stone retaining wall is to use the dry stack method that requires no mortar between stones and does not need a concrete footing like mortared walls do.
How to build a good base for front or backyard landscaping dry stacked stone retaining wall the base should be dug out at least twice as wide as the width of the stone.
Backfilling the wall with rock promotes drainage through the wall and prevents soil from pushing.
You ll then want to dig a trench.
How high do you want the.
Using your stakes string and line level mark the height of the capstone.
Preparing the base for the wall.
This helps reduce hydrostatic pressure imposed by wet soil behind the wall which is the most common cause of retaining wall failure.
The ideal height for a dry stacked retaining wall is 18 to 22 inches so you can sit on it when your gardening chores are done.
So in my case the stone was cut to 12 wide making the base 24 wide.
An average step.
Step 2 use a shovel a square tipped spade works best to edge around the painted line.
How to build a dry stack stone retaining wall step 1.
Even if you don t plan to sit on your wall 3 feet is about as high as i would recommend building any dry stacked wall.
Determine the length height and location of the retaining wall.
How to build a dry stack stone retaining wall the right way 1.
Mark the area where your wall s base will be.
Take the measurements to a stone supply yard.
Survey the area where you want to build the wall and draw out a plan.
Higher walls should be engineered for stability.