course#3 - Restoration and building of 
DRY-WALLS USING FIELD STONES AND LIME

INTRODUCTION	LESSON 1	LESSON 2	LESSON 3	LESSON 4

• Special attention was given to the transition between the still good earth bound wall and the new lime bound layers.  
• All loose stones were removed always bearing in mind to safeguard the existing structure to a maximum. 
• The remaining step like structure was well sealed with lime mixture.  
• In the central opening the two walls were completely rebuilt as the cornerstones were badly damaged by freeze - cracking.
• A huge base plate in the center part was fortunately not damaged and served as a solid starting point for the two sections of wall.

• The following pictures show how big blocks can be placed to obtain a good fit.  This is shown for one of the finishing stones topping off the wall and it was therefore important to get a horizontal and flat surface.  Being positioned close to the edge it was important to use a big block forming a key to hold the wall together.
• A fitting stone was found and was placed on the wall without the last layer below the block finished.
• Holding up the stone in the air in its final position and looking at the gaps I judged of the material needed to build the bed of the block. The top surface was in this case indicated by placing a wooden rod in the correct position.  Sticks are more convenient than strings as they are quickly put out of the way.
• I usually start out by searching a pivot point or a pivot line of the block which positions it in the correct heights.  This by placing 2 to 3 stones which fit on the already finished wall.
• It is then easy to glide in the remaining fitting stones which help to fix the block in the correct position.
• Lifting the block off again the remaining interstices are filled in. When the dry wall is finished I always make sure that there is absolutely no motion possible of the block. To do this I exert pressure on its extreme positions and try to wiggle it around.
• The finished dry wall is then re-dismantled and immediately resealed by lifting off stone after stone.  The seat of the big block is checked after every bigger stone.
• I always make sure that I have a resting place for the lifted out block at similar heights as close as possible from its seat. The block will need to be lifted off about 5 to 10 times.
• For the final seal I wet the block first and then smear on lime mixture using the gloves. It is then placed after after having evenly distributed lime mixture on its seat.

• The middle row of the above pictures show how to finish off the top surface.
• A triangular hole remained to be filled in this case.  And I went for a hunting tour after triangular stones. I came back with seven candidates which I lined up according to size as you can see in the central picture.
• The third stone from right gave a good fit and I had now to build up the interstice below this stone without disturbing its seat.  For this I again used a collection of smaller stones.  Of course I always try to fill as much of the hole with a single stone.  You can see from the right picture that this worked fairly well in this case.
• The triangular stone was finally placed and the finished section of the wall again checked for horizontal positions and fit with the remaining walls.
• Some of the stone working tools are shown on the right bottom picture.  The granite chisel is very handy when having to remove a small piece of a block which prevents a prefect seat.  I try to keep this operation to an absolute minimum however and it was only necessary about five times when rebuilding the section of the wall shown in the pictures.

•  It is interesting to note that this historic wall was sloped towards the opening in the back center.  The pond is indeed fed on three spots on the back wall.  There are two water channels with a dripping stone in the corners and the wide opening in the center. 
• This opening also serves as a draw-well.  The whole court is gently sloped towards this lowest spot, thus permitting to collect all of the water falling on the courtyard.