The old stone wall I tried to fix crumbled in my hands last Sunday

I was out back trying to patch up a low stone wall my grandpa built in the 70s. The mortar was already crumbly, but I figured I could mix up a batch of new stuff and get it solid again. Soon as I started chiseling out the old mortar, three big stones just fell right out and cracked on the ground. Turns out the wall had no real foundation, just dirt and gravel behind it. I spent the whole afternoon picking out the rest and stacking them in a pile. Now I'm looking at a 30 foot gap and wondering if I should just rebuild the whole thing with a proper base. Has anyone here ever tried to save an old wall with that kind of damage or is it better to start fresh?

2 comments

2 Comments

noahw531d agoMost Upvoted

Is it really that deep though man? A 30 foot gap in a wall that was already falling apart doesn't sound like a tragedy to me. Grandpa built it without a foundation in the 70s, so it was probably always gonna crumble eventually. You could spend weeks trying to piece it back together with new mortar and it would just fall apart again next winter when the ground shifts. Just stack the stones somewhere else and call it a day lol. Or if you really want a wall there, rent a mini excavator for a weekend and dig a proper base. But honestly watching old stone walls slowly disintegrate is just part of owning an old property, happens to everyone.

the_gray1d ago

Honestly @noahw53, I get the practical take on it, but is the "just stack the stones somewhere else" attitude really fair to the old guy who built it with his own hands back then? Tbh that wall probably had more sentimental value than structural integrity for whoever owned it.