- 1). Choose a native stone. Important to the colonial look is a dedication to recapturing the materials available during the period. Buying your stone locally will ensure that the rocks look like a more natural part of the landscape. Typical choices include limestone and fieldstone.
- 2). Determine the volume of stones you will require. Typically, about one ton of stones equals fifteen square feet of wall. If you were to build a wall three feet high and one hundred feet long, you would need twenty tons of stone.
- 3). Purchase stones with a flat bottom for easy stacking. Most stones, whether limestone or sandstone, will have one flat surface that can be used as a reference in stacking.
- 4). Ensure your build site is fully compacted. Walls, particularly of the colonial variety, should be built to last. There are a few methods by which you can ensure that your location will provide a good foundation. The easiest way is to simply observe the site for a year. The weight of snow and frost should further compact the ground. If you observe any substantial changes from fall to spring, then the area may not be ideal for your wall. A more efficient way to ensure that your build site is fully compacted is to water the wall site every day for a month. Water the site enough to leave standing water everyday. This will allow liquid to seep down into the soil, more fully compacting it.
- 5). Lay out the full curvature of the wall on the ground. Marking with either rope or paint, trace the exact path of the wall's intended base. This is particularly important for walls designed to follow the natural landscape.
- 6). Dig a six-inch trench along the wall's entire length. This will provide an adequate foundation for the first layer of stone. If the wall is intended to be load-bearing in any way, perhaps as a retaining wall, then the initial trench should be a foot deep, then lined with gravel. This gravel should then be compacted with a vibrating compactor. If the wall is intended to mark a boundary or for decoration, then a six-inch trench, about a foot wide, will serve as an adequate base.
- 7). Begin stacking your wall. This process should be a combination of shaping stones and finding a natural place for them. Since the goal of wall-making in colonial times was to set land-boundaries as simply and sturdily as possible, elaborate shaping with hammer and chisel would be antithetical to their intent. Instead, look for natural places where each stone can fit, shaping with hammer and chisel only to achieve a tighter fit. Most important in this process is to try and stack each stone on top of two other stones. This will prevent weak vertical seams from appearing in the wall and strengthens the friction and weight, forcing the wall to hold together.
- 8). Use leftover rubble as infill. A well-stacked wall should not require any mortar. However, carefully inserting leftover rocks into chinks in the wall can only add strength. A good use of rubble is as a wedge immediately under the face of larger stones. This process will help lock large-faced stones into position.
- 9). Place capstones. Your capstones should be as wide as the wall to prevent water from seeping into the wall from the top. These should be your largest, flattest stones. If the stones purchased in bulk are inadequate, then consider purchasing flagstones separately to be used as capstones on your wall.
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