Spring Walling Workshop

Last Weekend we had eight participants at our Spring workshop.

I usually spend the first hour discussing safety and how to use various hammers, chisels etc.

Then we set the A frames and lines.

 The build was a continuation of the section built at the Fall 2018 workshop.

With the added difficulty of a cheekend. 

On Sunday they had the confidence to tackle a right angled corner.

 Carefully chosen face stones require little or no hearting. What hearting is required is tightly packed.

Vertical, or as seen here, horizontal capstones complete a wall and give it a finished look.

 A section of wall that a professional would be proud of, let alone complete stone novices. Well done Lady and Gents.

It is worth repeating that while this stone is angular, it is not regular like bricks and careful choice of each stone is needed to keep the joints tight. Once learned, one can build with almost any stone.

Our next workshop is on the 28th and 29th of Sept 2019

contact Andrew Pighills 860-575-0526

andrewpighills@englishgardensandlandscaping.com

When is a wall not a wall?

I am often asked "How do you know when a wall is well built" The four walls photographed below, have all been called nice walls. Nice is defined as "Giving pleasure or satisfaction, pleasant or attractive." A definition that fits all four, but only two are well built.

There are a few basic principles to building a sound, structurally integral dry stone wall, which can be seen here

 https://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/07/07/garden/20110707-STONEWALL/s/20110707-STONEWALL-slide-VJYH.html

and here.

When we review the first four photos. All the joints are crossed in this wall. No small pinning stones placed in the face, or outside of the wall

Whereas, with this wall. The blue lines indicate where the joints are not crossed (running joints) Numerous small stones pushed into the face, which compromises the integrity of the wall.

Here the length of the two stones circled in blue are along the face of the wall and not into the center of the wall. The heart of the wall is filled with gravel which has little to no structural integrity. The red circle indicates the area of the next photo.

This large stone has been placed on its edge, the inside face is convex, so any weight against that face will push the stone out

The same wall but a different place, the large white stone also placed on its edge has fallen over resulting in this collapse. Notice all the gravel pouring from the middle.

 Once again with this wall (below) every joint is crossed, no silly little stones in the face. This wall is also aesthetically pleasing, large foundation stones grading to smaller stones at the top.

 Believe me, the sadness of viewing your collapsing poorly built wall, will long outlast the perceived euphoria of its inexpensive build.

 To recap. the first two photos show walls that have been built with pride for the craft of Dry Stone Walling

 

 

These two are built with nothing more than the thought of profit for the contractor.

Remember, it is not just the Wild West that is full of cowboys.

The Susan McDaniel Lecture.

This coming Thursday, July 12th at 6.30pm at The New Canaan Library. I will be presenting The Susan McDaniel Memorial Lecture.

This lecture will draw comparisons both similar and dissimilar in geology,

  building styles and techniques,

 and follow the development and evolution of stone walls and structures In England and New England  from colonial times to the present day,

and explain how they fit into the garden and wider landscape past and present.

 

Walling Workshop

 Just a reminder that our Spring walling workshop weekend is coming up at the end of the month

Participants will learn safety first, including clothing, footwear, eye protection. Safe use of tools, lifting and working in a safe environment.

 Preparing the base on which the wall will be built and laying the foundations

The use of "A" frames and lines and how to build a curved wall

and all aspects of wall building through to the finished wall.

On the Saturday evening we light the on site wood fired oven

and cook pizza

for all the participants and significant others

which we serve on the patio, along with beer and wine

as you can see, there is one chair only, so don't be late.

We usually finishing the evening sitting around the fire pit, discussing stonework in a more relaxed atmosphere.