I'm the Murphy Brown of the stone wall building profession!

[Raven]

I'm having a stone wall built. I'm using all my own stones which were either found on the property or dug up during excavation of the house. These guys have been here for weeks and they look like they will be here long after I'm gone. They pick up a stone, examine it, try it on the wall, turn it, try it again, don't like it, put it down, pick up another...and on and on.

The good thing is that I'm paying them by the linear foot and not by the hour. The other good thing is that these guys are real artists. This wall looks like it's been here forever and no concrete used except to cap cracks at the top of the wall.

[Gormy Cuss]

1. An old fashioned stone wall.

Cool. Please post a picture of it sometime.

[Raven]

3. I will. I guess a new fashioned stone wall would be one with

the stones you buy that are somehow engineered. I might have had to do that except for the fact that I had all of this "product" right on site.

[skygazer]

2. Dry stone wallers are true artists

I used to watch a guy who was doing a wall near where I lived in Vermont - it was like he instinctively knew which stone would work where and he had a rhythm going, stone after stone. Very peaceful.

We had ancient stone walls on our property and I tried to rebuild them more than once. HA! It sure isn't as easy as it looks - not that it really looks that easy.

I'd like to see photos of the finished wall, too.

[Raven]

4. My property is bounded by ancient stone walls...maybe 200

years ago, this area was all sheep farms and the farmers would build their boundaries using horses and some contraption that could move and place the stone. Truly amazing. In NH these walls are all protected now.

I also get what you mean by the rhythm and the peace.

[Adsos Letter]

5. We have lots of old stone walls in our area

mostly built from stones cleared for farming by the Chinese and Italians. The ones being put up currently are done by Mexicans. It is definitely an art. It is interesting to see the different techniques and styles utilized by the Chinese, Italians, and Mexicans; each one has its own characteristics.

As long as they are charging you by the linear foot (and not T&M) then they are doing you a favor by taking their time, and your finished product will reflect that.

:D :hi: