How To Build A Natural Stone Fence

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Fence construction technology for centuries

The most reliable and durable buildings are made from natural materials. This is a building material such as stone. There are different types of stones in nature. The most common is the so-called boulder stone, small types of it are called cobblestone. A natural stone fence is a beautiful and durable structure.

Such a fence naturally fits into the surrounding natural landscape and is an object of aesthetic pleasure for owners, guests and neighbors. Recently, it has become fashionable to build fences not only from cobblestones, but also from dolomite stone, which is quarried from rock layers.

Types of fences

A stone fence can be a solid structure, that is, stone pillars and the span between the pillars are also lined with stone. As a result, such a fence creates a continuous closed space around your house, hidden from prying eyes. A fence made of stone posts and a low curb with forged

metal spans, a wicket and a gate looks very impressive (see fig.).

Foundation

When starting the construction of a stone fence, one must firmly know that a stone fence is a very massive structure, and therefore the foundation for it must be strong and reliable. Having made the markup and layout on the terrain of the upcoming fence, we proceed to digging a trench for the foundation. The depth of soil freezing in the Eastern European territory is 1.2-1.5 meters, therefore, a hole is dug under the posts about 1.5 meters deep and 0.4-0.4 meters wide. The distance between the posts is about three meters. At the same time, a trench 0.5 meters deep and 20-25 cm wide is being dug between the pits. Pits and trenches are poured with concrete at ground level. At the same time, metal frames are placed in concrete to a depth of 0.5 meters under a column, the so-called grillage, and for strength, 2-3 reinforcement bars 8-12 mm thick are immersed in concrete in a trench. The columns for the wicket and gate must be made at 1,5-2 times more massive. The columns under the wicket and gates in the form of arches look very impressive.

Construction material

The most acceptable are football-sized boulders. To avoid the

gloominess of your fence, you should pick up stones that are mostly brown-red-burgundy. It should be borne in mind that a fence made of rounded cobblestones looks somewhat rough. To do this, you should pick up stones in which one of the sides is flat. The flat surface of the stone can be obtained by splitting it with an ordinary sledgehammer. Sledgehammer blows are applied not with a plane, but with an edge. The blow should be hard, not hard. In this case, the stone is pricked quite easily into 2-3 pieces, while the split surface is flat, the so-called torn surface.

Remember safety precautions. When splitting stones, not only the eyes should be protected, but also the whole face, gloves are needed on the hands, and boots with high tops on the legs. Be aware that when performing this work, stone fragments can fly 10-20 meters, so remove all onlookers and nearby cars. It is somewhat better to build fences from dolomite stone; this stone is taken from quarries where rock layers are exploded. As a result, the resulting stones are usually flat in shape, varying in thickness and area. At the same time, they are easily pricked with an ordinary bricklayer's hammer. In terms of its strength and durability, this stone is significantly inferior to cobblestone, but a properly built fence made of dolomite stone can stand for centuries. The advantage of this stone is that it can be processed with a stone sawing tool, for example, about

an ordinary grinder (popularly called "fortune" or "grinder") with an abrasive wheel put on it. In construction markets and in specialized stores, you can easily purchase diamond-coated wheels for stone processing. This will give you the opportunity to process the stone and get any shape, and thereby build fences, getting different geometric masonry (see fig. Geometric masonry).

When the foundation for the pillars and spans is ready, you can proceed with the construction of the formwork. The latter will speed up and simplify the construction of your fence. The formwork is a wooden frame made of edged boards and corresponds to the size of the post under construction. It is exposed to the foundation of the post and attached to the center-mounted reinforcement cage-grillage. Between the formwork of the pillars, one board is attached on both sides, corresponding to the length of the span. The width of the span should be 20-25 cm. Do not forget during laying for the strength of the structure after 40-60 cm in the span to lay reinforcement, the edges of which will go into the posts by 10-20 cm. This will make your structure stronger and more durable. Remember that during the construction of the span, under the weight of the stone and mortar, the boards may disperse, so they must be fixed with retaining pegs. After the foundation and formwork are ready, we proceed to the preparation of the building material itself.

So, if you decide to build a fence from

cobblestones, then the dimensions of the latter should be 20-30 cm in diameter, stones of the same color are desirable. In order to build a fence around the perimeter of about a hundred meters, with a plot area of 8-10 acres, you need to purchase 1.5-2 "KamAZ" stones. Masonry mortar is prepared in a 1: 3 cement-sand ratio. The sand should not be mixed with clay, but it is best to purchase river sand of medium grain size. The fence looks very nice if you add brown dye to the solution in the proportion: for ten buckets of the finished solution, 4-5 tablespoons of dye. The dye will make the solution brownish-burgundy, thereby concealing the grayness of the cement, and this, in turn, will fit very well into the brownish-burgundy background of stones.

And finally, we start building. From the tools we need: a mason's hammer, an ordinary trowel; we should have leather work gloves on our hands, and goggles on our eyes, since during the laying process we will constantly beat off uneven edges of stones with a hammer. First, we spread the mortar on the foundation with a trowel, on which we place the stones tightly against each other with a flat surface outward. The solution should be thick and not get on the face of the stone in any way. Then the space between

fill the outer and inner rows of stones with a solution to the height of the row and wait about a day for the solution to get stronger. Then, using a metal brush, we clean the surface of the stone from the solution that has fallen on it. And so we go row by row. It is undesirable to wash off the solution with water, because the cement contained in it soaks the front surface of the stone, and it turns from brown to gray. Having cleared the stones from the solution in this way, it is necessary to make the so-called jointing. This is done with a flat, narrow spatula. The fence looks very nice if the seams are embroidered in one plane and to a depth of 1-1.5 cm. This gives the structure volume and beauty. The construction of a fence is not difficult, in good weather it will take 30-40 days for the master and his assistant to build a fence about 100 meters long.

The construction of a fence made of dolomite stone is

much easier and faster, primarily because this stone is easier to process, it sets faster with mortar, and besides, its dimensions can be from 10-20 cm to 30-40 cm or more. And work goes faster in time. Remember: stone fences should not be coated with varnishes or dyes, since they will lose their appearance under the influence of the atmosphere in 3-5 years, and this will make the stones a dirty gray color.

For the durability of your structure, it is necessary to make a cap from tin for each column, and an ebb for the span (see photo). Based on my own experience, I strongly advise you to paint the sheet with pinotex 2-3 times using a roller. The color of the pinotex should be polysander, that is, brown, to match the color of your stone. Painting of tin with pinotex lasts 10-15 years. A natural stone fence is not only for you, but also for your children and grandchildren. Wish you luck!

Sergey Tyunis, Vitebsk