Last week I wrote about my recent trip to Southern California. I was fortunate to spend time with a dear friend and his wife. I don’t know that I’ve ever met a person who’s more in love with a home ...

“Stone Primer,” by Charles McRaven is the essential guide for homeowners interested in diy stonework, from winding garden paths to fireplaces and stone retaining walls. Stone Primer (Storey Publishing ...

Reducing soil erosion, turning steep slopes into terraced backdrops, creating focal points in the landscape—retaining walls serve many purposes. Indeed, they are some of the most common ways to ...

Q. While peeping at the colorful autumn leaves in New England, I saw more than one rock wall. I was so impressed with them and wonder if rock retaining walls really hold up over time. What are some of ...

Question: Everyone in my subdivision uses man-made blocks for the retaining walls they installed on the sloping parts of their yards. I do not like the look of these concrete blocks and want to use ...

Retaining walls were first created to perform the simple and necessary task of holding back earth. And with good reason: Erosion is a natural process, but when it means soil being washed off your ...

Many years ago, when I was young and foolish, I decided to build an 80-foot long terrace for fruit trees, and to edge it with a nice fieldstone retaining wall using stones I could find on my property ...

My daughters grew up playing a video game called Tetris, and we recently used the skills they learned from that game to build a wall. The Wikipedia definition of the game is this: “In Tetris, players ...

Make sure the piers are leveled so no wedging is necessary, to make the stone bridge as stable as possible. You stone bridge will be higher than the path leading to it. Build the path up with tamped ...

When old stone retaining walls crumble along narrow, winding roads threading through the , government officials often turn to stone mason Don Olmstead to make repairs. Olmstead, owner of Nature's Edge ...