H. Chinking, Completing Wall
& Clean-up

Completing the wall now is just a matter of chinking and filling in the remaining space behind the wall with soil, grass, gravel, or a decorative rock.

This is section eight, the final section of building a dry stack stone wall. If you are just joining us, the links for the rest of this module can be found at the bottom of this page. this section will be a quick look at cleaning up.

Sodding behind and below the wall

If you are sodding up to the edge of the wall, try to use a minimum of 4 inches of soil for the grass to thrive. (6 is preferred). Most people prefer to sod into the cracks between the rocks as well. this gives the wall a little more character.

If you are sodding up to the bottom of the wall, make sure you have raked up all the scraps, allowing for about four inches of topsoil here as well.

For some other ideas on stone wall landscaping, please visit our landscaping walls ideas section.

If you have other features in and around your project, we have a great article to help you with this. Please visit our Edging and Decorative Rock Module.

Chinking

Now you are going to chink the wall. Chinking is the term used to finish the wall, by filling in gaps under or between rocks. This is done for appearance reasons and stability.

Take the pieces and hold them up to the spot you want them and give them a firm hit with a rubber mallet. That’s all there is to it. Make sure they are a snug fit or they may fall out and end up under your lawn mower.

You should be able to walk across the top of the stones with no movement. If you have any movement, look down to see where the give is. You can further chink or shim with appropriate pieces to tighten it up.

Remember that people and children will walk on your wall so it has to be stable. The cap stones have to be glued properly so they don't get dislodged.

Hopefully, you have used up almost all of your stone. Keep a bucket of small pieces aside just in case. Set aside a few of the bigger ones if you still have them too, or place them in a garden somewhere as stepping stones.

You are now finished dry stacking your wall. Cleaning up is easy. If you have a lot of unbroken stones, see if you can return them. The same thing goes for any piles of sand or gravel.

You can sometimes recycle the materials if you live in a larger center where aggregates are crushed for construction materials or roads. I have done this and the fee was $5 for a few hundred pounds.

Another way to recycle the materials is your local bargain finder magazines or even a neighbor. You may be able to find someone looking for a small amount of materials for a project in their yard. (They may even come and get it).

Make sure that you give your lawn a very thorough raking to get the gravel, and as many sharp pieces of stone as you can cleaned up. Your mower or whipper sniper will send them flying at a pretty high rate. I wouldn’t suggest bare feet for a while either.

Congratulations on finishing your dry-stacked stone wall project. Now you get to sit back and enjoy a great accomplishment. It feels great doesn’t it? You have also just added value to you property.

I really hope you found this information useful? If you did please feel free to tell us about it and don’t forget to send pictures. We would love to add them to our ideas section for everyone to see. If there is anything you feel we can improve on please let us know that as well. We can only improve with your feedback.

Thank you so much for visiting our site and come back any time if you wish to do any other landscaping projects. Also pass this on to others who may find it useful as well.

Thank,

The Dream Yard Team

You've finished chinking, and your wall is complete! Congratulations!

Feel free to stop by "The Yard" for other DIY landscaping projects.

_____________________________________

Table of Contents: Dry Stack Stone Wall

Introduction: Dry Stack Stone Wall

A. Wall Site

B. Wall Tools

C. Wall Materials

D. Wall Site Preparation

E. Base Stone Preparation