Mortarless Retaining Wall
Repaired wall.
Repaired wall.
Pea gravel base
Base course of stone, with filter fabric in place against retained soil.
The wall BEFORE repair. Note the outward lean.
This dry laid (i.e. mortarless) stone wall was in need of repair. I corrected several flaws when I reconstructed the wall: providing a step-back of each stone, leaning all courses back slightly, and installing filter fabric and pea gravel between the wall and soil to reduce heaving due to soil migration.
People tend to like the idea of a monolithic wall that is either mortared stone or concrete block with stone facing; however, for smaller or lower walls, it may actually be cheaper and more durable to build a mortarless wall that will rise and fall with ground motion. There is no mortar that will inevitably crack, and water can weep from behind the wall and reduce pressure. Furthermore, it is relatively easy to repair a mortarless wall.