Stone Retaining Wall – Concord, MA

At this home in Concord, MA there is a large stump obstructing part of the driveway, and an unattractive hillside/chainlink fence.  The owner wants to remove the stump, widen the driveway, retain the edge with a stone wall, and then top it with a cedar fence.

 

Stone Retaining Wall – Prep

First we bring in the machinery to dig out the stump and excavate for the walls.  We hope to save the existing stone pier but the stump has grown underneath it and it comes down during excavation.  We also must be careful of town water an sewer that runs underneath the excavation area.  Once the major excavation is done we set sonot tubes in the ground in preparation for the fence.  The tubes are set several feet into the ground, we will build the wall around them, and then install the fence at the end.

 

Stone Retaining Wall – Construction

Next we bring in weathered fieldstone and start building the wall.  The stone comes from our private source in Western MA.  Much of it comes off of old farm walls and has a nice weathered color and texture as opposed to the smoother, lighter colored stones that are dug up during excavations.  We use a mix of large stones, small stones, flats, and rounds to create a classic New England style wall.

The stone column belongs to the neighbor and has history so we save much of the old stone, and re-build the column.  The original column used cement, but, we drystack it to match our wall and tie it all together.

 

Stone Retaining Wall – Completion

The stone wall is finished and capped.  It gets backfilled and graded behind, new gravel on the driveway, and the fence installed into our pre-laid tubes.  The driveway is now wide enough for two cars to fit, and the home has more privacy and a solid hillside that won’t wash out.