Dry Laid Stone Wall Repair - Provence France

[MossRoad]

Nice! Those walls remind me of my parent's home, the one I grew up in. Anytime my dad would see sidewalk repair going on, he'd bring home pieces of 4" thick broken concrete, or have the contractors dump them off in our driveway. Each summer, we'd spend time putting up "stone" retaining walls, or repairing the 150 or so steps down a steep hill to the lake behind our house. There were many retaining walls along those steps. So, we'd take big pieces and chip them or break them down to get the sizes we needed, then place them, all dry stacked. I helped on that for 20 or so years. Hauling, eyeballing, selecting, breaking, trimming, fitting, adjusting, fitting again... I can really appreciate the work being done on your place. :thumbsup:

 

[dstig1]

Please give Ahmed At least my compliments, if not the whole site's. Impressive work, and it is hard, and he does a fantastic job. Kudos!

Good luck to you and Ahmed.
-Dave

 

[wngsprd]

Beautiful. Thank you for rebuilding this part of history, and for sharing. Ahmed is a true craftsman...he needs an apprentice to pass on his knowledge.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Stone masonry has always fascinated me even when using mortar. The amount of time needed to find the exact sized stone and fit it to the space where it is needed so the lines stay straight is amazing.
Good work Ahmed and good of you Rox to spend the money to make /keep the wall original.

 

[rox]

Nice! Those walls remind me of my parent's home, the one I grew up in. Anytime my dad would see sidewalk repair going on, he'd bring home pieces of 4" thick broken concrete, or have the contractors dump them off in our driveway. Each summer, we'd spend time putting up "stone" retaining walls, or repairing the 150 or so steps down a steep hill to the lake behind our house. There were many retaining walls along those steps. So, we'd take big pieces and chip them or break them down to get the sizes we needed, then place them, all dry stacked. I helped on that for 20 or so years. Hauling, eyeballing, selecting, breaking, trimming, fitting, adjusting, fitting again... I can really appreciate the work being done on your place. :thumbsup:

Hey! Your dad sound like my dad, (God rest his soul) LOL! My dad, if we were driving down the road and he saw a nice stone he would stop the car and pick it up. Many times we would be driving down a country road and he would stop the car to cut wild asparagus he saw growing.

We had a similar situation, house on top of a steep hill and the lake at the bottom of the hill. One property over was a stream bed and for many summers we kids had to go pick rocks out of that stream bed to build his rock retaining walls for the 3 terraces he built. Like your dad, he never bought a single rock, we scavenged them all.

 

[MossRoad]

Hey! Your dad sound like my dad, (God rest his soul) LOL! My dad, if we were driving down the road and he saw a nice stone he would stop the car and pick it up. Many times we would be driving down a country road and he would stop the car to cut wild asparagus he saw growing.

We had a similar situation, house on top of a steep hill and the lake at the bottom of the hill. One property over was a stream bed and for many summers we kids had to go pick rocks out of that stream bed to build his rock retaining walls for the 3 terraces he built. Like your dad, he never bought a single rock, we scavenged them all.

Rox... My dad also collected fossils. If we were driving through new road construction with road cuts through rock hills, it was pretty much a given that we'd be stopping for lunch on the side of the road while dad and a couple of my sisters would climb the fresh cut rock slopes looking for fossils. He passed away back in '97 and I still have his rocks! :thumbsup:

 

[JRobyn]

My dad had the good fortune to have a stone cutting operation a block from his office (tombstones, monuments, etc.). They had an enormous "slash" pile and he convinced them to let him have his pick at no charge. Mostly granite and marble. Almost every weekend, he came home from work in his company car, the trunk loaded with edging and flats for sidewalks and what have you around the house. Poor car would literally drag the bumper with the front tires just barely making contact. Guess who got to unload it every Saturday AM? Between those and the "rock garden" on the slope in the backyard he really took a toll on his back. All handled with just human power. Some stones in the 200-300# range.

 

[MossRoad]

My dad had the good fortune to have a stone cutting operation a block from his office (tombstones, monuments, etc.). They had an enormous "slash" pile and he convinced them to let him have his pick at no charge. Mostly granite and marble. Almost every weekend, he came home from work in his company car, the trunk loaded with edging and flats for sidewalks and what have you around the house. Poor car would literally drag the bumper with the front tires just barely making contact. Guess who got to unload it every Saturday AM? Between those and the "rock garden" on the slope in the backyard he really took a toll on his back. All handled with just human power. Some stones in the 200-300# range.

Back in the 60's and 70's here, the city did a lot of "urban renewal", as it was called. They also gutted 4 blocks for a new post office. There were many brick streets that were going to the dumpster (unlike today... those bricks bring a premium). My dad would take out the center seat of our VW van and bring loads of paving bricks home. One time, he got home and couldn't open the sliding door on the van.... yep! He bent the van in half with too many bricks! We unloaded through the front seats. When done, the sliding door could barely open. I think he took a crowbar to the tracks to get it freed up. He considered the van a tool. No more, no less, no sentiment. :laughing:

 

[rox]

JRobyn & MossRoad your stories and memories are so funny. Our dad's huh? And they sure made us kids work. I think in my father's case it was becausehe was raised on a farm and on a farm all kids worked. On time I asked him what his life was like as a kid, was his entire memories of childhood just working? He said no, he said when the circus came to town his dad would take the family to the circus and of course church life was very important in his generation (born 1924).

 

[bindian]

My Dad drove a mattress truck, delivering new mattresses to and picking up mattresses from homeowners for renovation. When I was younger, he drove it home every day. Fridays would have 100 pound "tote" sacks of horse feed. My brother and I had to unload it and haul it to the barn. In the fall, we would go into a local hay field and Dad would load the mattress truck up with hay. I was so young...........all I got to do was sweep the truck out when it was empty. But it sure was fun climbing the bales.

Labor Day weekend is tough on me nowadays. Dad's birthday was Sept 2nd (today) and Mom's birthday was Sept. 3rd. We celebrated all weekend.
hugs, Brandi