Rock Wall Construction

thx doc - looks like sedum to me and maybe the same as i have - my pic is bad - looks similar to me. i picked up a couple different varieties last night on sale. A tri-color, red one, and i'll use the blue and variegated one with yellow flowers from above. stay tuned.

At least you got me to go and and show you a segment of our hundred and fifty foot rock retaining wall or terrace wall. We got to sweat that one out when I had built in help and some hired too. The rock came from a neighborhood quarry. Along our street four properties did this or had it done for them. It is impressive when you round the intersection and look up the street.

rock from a quarry - is that cheating??

Just kidding - its looks good.

We made out like Flynn on that wall. I submitted a bid to the township that beat the townships contractor's bid. We had a month to make it happen while they also paid us for the right to use our land for a street widening project. To make a long story short we owned the land they needed and bid our own project to capture the sidewalk, curb and wall along our entire front and returns to the driveway. It took ten or more hefty truck loads of stone. Many of the small stone you see are three feet long going back into the hillside as anchor pieces. It is three feet wide at the bottom. There was no possiblity of collecting stone as you had time to do.

Yep we cheated by using a front end loader to move some of the hundred pound pieces. It took us three weeks of pretty study work to make that one happen. We need to do a bit of maintenance about every five or so years to undo nature's plan to tilt and push it downhill.

had a chance to spend several hours on the wall last saturday

view from inside the yard

down the wall

down the driveway

here is the final one looking down the wall from where i started back in July.

Wow! Looks amazing.

The walls look amazing!
Our town won't let us put one that close to the road, though. Anna and I, mostly Gregg, would love to have one there, both for the curb appeal and to keep vehicles off the lawn. Our town says no, because they have a 33 foot from the center line rule.

Just wonderful. The last long shot looks so professional. Hats off to you for all the hard work and the result is just beautiful. I'm so glad you have let us watch all the progress you have made in such a short time and through all the hot muggies too. Congrats on the outcome so far.

If you ever get incarcerated, Bill, I know what detail I will suggest to the warden.

Candyce the long shot is a picture going down the driveway - really fun in the winter to clear! in our town there are rock walls in different states of repair/disrepair on just about every road and most were old farm roads paved over so they are close to the road. I do have one wall along the street - that this wall is now an extention of - it used to be just rocks thrown together that i rebuilt like this one. it is about 10 - 15 feet off the road. No problems.

ngram thanks - my concern now is how to attach this wall to a blue slate stone wall that wraps up to the stairs to the front door. still have a ways to go maybe 20 feet before i deal with that. i've been trying to save the blue slate like stones i've collected and will intermingle tham to get it close to ths wall of natural stone. the blue salte wall is ready to fall so i have to do something with it.

victor thanks for looking out for me

I am SO glad Victor has your back, Bill. That's what DG friends are for.
It really does look great. Unless someone has done something similar we can't really appreciate all the hard work that goes into a work of art like this.
Looking forward to the continuation of the project and how you integrate it into the blue slate.

Actually, I really wish I literally did have Bill's back. Mine is defective and limits me.

Aha! Bill!
Thanks for the 'splanation!

Victor, dear, even with your bad back you do glorious work, so there is no need to feel any competition.

Where did you get he rocks? I'm in worcester.

hi maureen - i answer that earlier in this tread on July 7th i think - all free out of the woods behind my neighbors yard. had to push them up hill in a wheel barrel to get them out. It took me all of last fall. hopefully i have enough to finish. The larger ones on the bottom are my concern. I stored them in the front section you see on the first pic. what i did not think about was this is all ferns and i have to dig around to see what is there.

Kudos, Bill! You did a great job on your wall. It looks like it has been there a hundred years! What is so amazing is the way you worked with the existing plants so that it looks "settled" in already. You should feel so proud of yourself and I know you'll enjoy seeing your wall every time you drive in or out of your driveway. Congrats!!
Louise

Bill, it is extremely impressive! Good work. Are you having a party when it's done? DH's war buddy has a house he built that he has deliberately left unfinished, I think one roof shingle or something like that. And DH has one concrete block in my stupid, small wall that's not mortared in place. i hope you don't suffer from that kind of neurosis, and are able to complete this wall. You certainly seem like you're on the path to completion!

As Louise said, it looks like it's been there for a hundred years (or more) already and will be for a hundred more.

Isn't leaving a small part of a project unfinished a part of an old superstition? I forget why it's done though. I think it's kind of a cool idea though.

Great work on the wall. It's really looking nice and it looks right at home---like it's always been there.

Thatnks, Bill. I hadn't looked as far back as july. You wall is beautiful. i especially like the native stone. There are many falling apart old stone walls in this area but i don't know who owns the land and don't want to take something that's not mine. Frustrating.

Anyone know the superstition./

I've heard of the superstition, but I have no idea why such a superstition exists.

Guess I'm superstitious then! I leave many projects undone.

Sounds like my hubby, there's always 1 little thing from every project unfinished.

well Jen mine usually have 3 or 4

:)

By leaving a bit for tomorrow a guy feels important. Never out of work! ROFLOL

Not much done this weekend and really not worth an update.

Maureen = fortunately the stone i was able to get at was not part of a wall. it was all farm land here in the past and this was were they piled the stone crop that comes up in the spring.

Get to work, Bill!!

Next week - wife through my 50th b-day Sunday and clean up was Monday. sorry to disappoint:)

Happy Birthday, Bill! Here's to at least 50 more years of gardening and 'hard labor'!!

sounds like you heard my sunday - thanks

Birthday wishes to you, Bill. You ROCK get it? wink wink. :) You are an inspiration.
jan

Happy birthday, Bill! And remember, age is only a number. ;-)

Karen

Kudos to you for your birthday! A couple days of rest = many years of projects.

Bill, Missed your big one. Hope it was a wonderful day.

I was busy watching the weather in New Orleans. Our DS lives there. He headed out late on Saturday to Mobile and then headed north to NY on Sunday. He now will be making the 20 hr drive back. I assume the traffic will be horrible going into the city. He figured he might as well do something productive while waiting out the storm. He has things in storage in NY that he now wants in New Orleans, mostly books and cooking stuff, so he is filling the car up and heading south later today.

I hope your day was great. I suspect your wall will stand up to wind and weather like I know Pepperell, MA sometimes gets. You have had a couple major storms that I drove through on RT119 over the last 15 years going from Vt to Groton Ma. Beautiful area. Hated seeing all those trees down. Patti

Thanks to everyone. just another day and good to see family - i will still be running around like a mad man. there were even a couple of my wifes cousins who really liked the wall and and the unique stones in it and the yard - go figure.

Happy 50th, Bill! Glad you got that wall done in time! I'm sure everyone who sees it will conclude that you've still got it at the ripe old age of 50! LOL I can say that in good humor, having just turned 61! :)

Lots of 50's on the forum this year.