The wall

Embellishment of a whole garden section …

Again, I could benefit from the garden of my family, in which you find always some DIY-projects. This time I went for a masonry project after some wood carving in the beginning of 2020. Next to the main part of the stonewall, I gave the surrounded area a fresh coat of paint and had to adapt the floor area next to the new wall as well changed the backyard.

• 

• 

All in all it cost me around 60 hours for the major and minor works, in which the wall itself was done within 40h. The wall is made out of sandstones which are quite good to deal with. First I tried to prebuilt the entire wall without joints even though I knew I have to adjust it later on. In this process I split the stones so they fit better to the neighbor once and had to flatten the front and back side. The stones, I used, had a highly individual shape. This made this project way more creative compared to an even wall out of consistent rows.

I felt like doing a jigsaw by looking for the right stone and editing it. Splitting the stones is an intersting quest. Your control of the breakage is quite good with sandstones but there is still a factor of unexpected breaks as there might be defects inside, you learn about once you bring the stone under stress. The preparation of the wall took its time and like the wood carving it is a physical work which makes you tired.

After the wall was prebuilt I took pictures to remember the order, than I cleaned each stone with a high-pressure cleaner and prepared the underground. During the proper masonry work I had to fill some gaps with small stones to bring the wall on an even height by avoiding too wide joints. Important during this process is to keep the wall all the time in level on each sides as well as at the top end, to fill the joints fully with mortar, and to create a neat transition between joints and stones. Helpful for the last point is a brush and a bucket of fresh water.

Tools and materials for the whole wall project: hammer, chisel, protection glasses (flying stone parts), level, high-pressure cleaner, brush, fresh water, trowels, mixer unit, rubber hammer, buckets, gloves, sandstones, water, mortar

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Once the wall was done, I still had to adapt the floor area in front. That means again lifting stones, leveling them with grit, and fill the gaps. In the beginning I was thinking: Alright Tobi, just a few stones to edit! But than I opened up more and more the old floor as I could not make a succesful jigsaw with the present stones.

Now it is done and I am happy about the result. I have to say to be always impressed how a few working hours can change a place so extremely in its appearance. Through this finished project the chicken pen project is now included in a good looking garden spot. A spot fully prepared for the next garden season to sit and enjoy the sun and peaceful nature.

The insect hotel, you can see on the pictures, is also a DIY-project but not made by myself. A friend of my father built it and I have to say it is also a beautiful idea! As I had so many small stone parts left, I created a stone bed around the insect hotel, so the rainy days keep the mud away from the wood.

If you have any questions about this project, or you want to know if there is other facts which are good to know before building a wall, drop a comment or contact me!

Thanks,

YourStyleOfLife