Pennsylvania stone wall project...:)

[crbr]

All around nice looking place you have. The wall is really pretty. You did indeed get a uniquely inexpensive wall.

Stone like that is about $US250 per nugget (round wire enclosure, not even the size of a pallet that I envision by your description). Labor? it's expensive here and very shoddy to say the least.

I'm not sure I'd use space like that for a gazebo... I'd have to have a full-sized cabin with a porch and some indoor ammenities...

[archerynut]

Project looks great!!! Fine looking work that was done there.

On another note, your pond looks great. How do you keep the algae under control. Having a heck of a time with the pond here in SW PA.

[VABlue]

Oustanding work! In VA that stone would be about $400/pallet. Don't even ask for the labor... That's a nice place you have, you should be proud to show it off.

[Tollster]

Thank you my friends for the kind complements. We live very rural and no family in the area so its very nice to hear.
To control the algae in the pond I use copper sulfate in the powder form. I try to give the pond a stiff shock in the early spring when the water is clear and weeds are still forming. You MUST excersise extreme care during the application as it displaces the oxygen and will kill old, and small fish, as well as the croakers that I love to hear at night. This pond is about .25-.33 acres and averages about 3'. I only use about 1 small maxwell can of sulfate. Mix it thourghly in a pale and spray into the pond SPreading the use over a couple of weeks is a good practice.
I also use aquashade available at local farm supply shops. Farm and family, agway etc... Aquashade is friendly to use and will not kill. Its a very dense form of food coloring in colors found in natural waterways. When used in high doses ( Which I would recommend if you have allot of algae) it limits the amount of sun to the lower depths, thereby preventing photothynisis. Then use a leaf rake to clean up the algae as it will float to the surface. Try to do this on windy days when it sweeps to one side for less effort.
In these shots the pond is really a mess, I only had given it the sulfate, but recently used the aquashade and the results are very dramatic. 1 gallon of aquashade runs about 38-44.00. 1/4 gallon will suffice at first for a pond my size.
My lab swims in the pond often so I am very leary of any pesticides.
On that note I would like to add in very extreme cases if you have weed growth in the water alone the shores, I have used Roundup. Mixed according to the instructions. There was a study performed some years ago by the U of South Carolina in the use of aquasides. They found that Roundup was a manufacturer of the leading aquaside they used. They performed a chemical breakdown of the more expensive aquacide, and the agricultural family type weed killer Roundup. The analasis was the same for each ingredient. The only difference was the label and price. I think one may be able to find MDS sheets on line for comparison. Anyway I have used round up in the past, in very limited applications due to my dog and other friendly critters I find nearby. I have not forgotten the agent Orange use during the nam campain, and kind of feel round up is almost identical. so the long term exposure is still under question..at least to some.

[dtd24]

What a nice quiet looking place you have. Beautiful wall!!! It's all loose fit right? No mortar? How about a footing? Gravel?

Just asking because I have a ton of shale on my property and was thinking of starting a project alike yours.

Think you could send those guys up to me for a week or so?

[mjarrels]

Dang... that stone wall is so heavy that you may have screwed up the earths rotation? NICE job!

mark

[Tollster]

Originally Posted by dtd24

What a nice quiet looking place you have. Beautiful wall!!! It's all loose fit right? No mortar? How about a footing? Gravel?

Just asking because I have a ton of shale on my property and was thinking of starting a project alike yours.

Think you could send those guys up to me for a week or so?

Yes, it is loose, no base prep besides cutting the sod and a wide trench with the back hoe. The ground is well compacted and has a high drainage. The previous owner used to work for the DOT, so he filled in allot of the yard`with the road gravel and ditch scrapings. Also by the pond the hill has a shale content about 6" down at most, I think there may be a shale ledge there somewhere, fortuately I did not get into it on this job. Backfill was 2B stone tapered in to the hill, to a height of within 4-6" of the top (16 tons total, 8 trips with trailer). This also filled in some of the stone gaps in the walls tightening it up some.

[EddieWalker]

Very impressive. One of my favorite things is a dry stacked wall that follows the contour of the land, and yous does just that!!! When done right, it looks like part of the landscape and becomes a thing of beauty. Your wall is all that and then some!!!!!!

Congratulations and thank you for sharing,
Eddie

[Dog Lover]

Sure got a beautiful property! How many acres do you have? Looks like the kind of property one wouldn't want to leave. I like the pond too, any fish in it?

[Cliff_Johns]

Well, that's a fine looking section of wall. There seem to be a lot of places where two stones come together right over the joint below and even over two joints below. Not perfect, but for a lot of walls it doesn't really matter. A dry-laid wall is a beautiful thing to see, and the price you paid is amazing.

I wonder how long ago the farmer had to plant the pebles to get all that rock. That's a long term crop.

Cliff