Decorative Stone Wall Project

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Project – Stone wall with hedge on top to give privacy, wind break and with any luck half a zone increase for growing ornamental grasses.
Decorative stonewall started out as a simple project that I felt would take a few days and then start another project. Boy was that a reality shock.
First the search for decorative stone block. That stuff is not cheap ended up buying seconds and still almost broke the bank.
The layout was next and then get the mini hoe on the 425 and start digging the trench. I dug 6 inches down at the lowest point and worked my way in both directions. The trench is used to help hold the wall from moving. As I was only going 3 feet high I elected not to put in a cement footing or cement/rod in the block recess. The first layer was a challenge. Back breaking, knee killer that had to be perfectly level in two directions. The other three layers went very fast.
Installed water lines in three locations for future use if needed.
PJ

 

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Looking West. This is what the area looks like prior to starting the project. I used a hose to get the feel for location and curve.

 

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Better view looking East. My home (upper left) is an old 2 room school house we converted.

 

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Painted line ready for trenching.

 

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Installed 3 pvc lines underground. Center and one on each end not knowing where my needs may be in the future.

 

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Used the mini hoe to dig the three lines in (12inches deep).

 

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As the wall will be 3 feet high, I installed a riser pipe for the watering of the hedge.

 

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Completed underground installation.

 

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Digging the 6 inch deep trench using mini hoe. This was 15 inches wide so make double wide cut 150 feet long. Took some getting used to keeping the bucket level when digging and going in a straight line. I started out buy dragging the bucket backwards but that was very slow. The best was to get the bucket curled so that you actually cut 6 inches at one time about two feet before dumping. This would give you a nice level cut.

 

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Wall block being delivered. Each block weighed 85 lbs and we bought 509 blocks.