PRESERVE YOUR EXISTING DRYSTONE WITH REPAIRS
DRYSTONE REPAIRS
We really appreciate working with people who are interested in preserving their drystone and we regularly carry out repairs to existing walls and structures. The way drystone is built means that it’s easier to repair than, say, a mortared wall and doesn’t require any equipment like mixers.
In line with our ethos we reuse as much stone as possible from the original structure but sometimes extra stone is required to complete the job.
We are also experienced in agricultural repairs and happy to consider these as well as standard walling contracts.
You can see some examples of our repairs below.
This was another wall that failed long before it should have. Only thirty years old (date confirmed by a Kinder Egg garden gnome toy found in the wall), there were many traced stones and the wall had not been backfilled sufficiently enough to do much retaining at all. Many of the stones in the wall were large sandstone blocks recycled from much older buildings (the masons chisel marks still visible even after so many years) and we brought in some extra Perthshire fieldstone to ensure the wall was built back strong. With good weather and beautiful views from Crieff over the nearby hills, building progressed quickly. The new wall followed the natural curve of the bank and was topped with a layer of soil for planting, ready for spring.
Leaning at a worrying angle, this owner decided it was time for their wall to be repaired. At first glance it was obvious that Ivy had comromised the structure but when we took it apart we didn’t expect to see so many traced stones (stones that have more of their length along the wall than it it). For its height, the wall was far too narrow at the base and the original wallers had resorted to tracing stones to make them fit in a small space. There was also little to no hearting (the internal stones of a wall, integral to structure) and instead buckets and buckets of soil. Invergowrie was a lovely location to work in, we ate lunch on the banks of the Inner Tay Estuary with views across to Balmerino in Fife, and with the good weather, the new wall came up quickly. Built back slightly lower, with no traced stone and free of ivy, the result is a neater, stronger wall that will last for decades (and decades).
Two separate sandstone wall repairs at Bridge of Allan Golf Club. A fallen tree had damaged both sections of wall. One required a full strip out and we also had to remove a lot of old tree root to ensure the integrity of this repair. The other wall , which you can see below, needed repaired only from through height. As you can see, the results are fantastic. As the stone weathers you won’t be able to tell they were repaired at all. We reused all the original stone in both repairs and they were both completed in one day.
A mortared flower bed destroyed by a fallen tree built back in drystone. Customer wanted this done ASAP as they were holding an event at their home and wanted the garden to be neat and tidy. As we are a team of three wallers we were able to complete this repair at very short notice in just a day. Built back from the ground up, we also corrected a bulge in the wall behind the box section to ensure this repair lasts a long time.
Back at Bridge of Allan Golf Club, this repair was more difficult due to the rough nature of the stone as well as navigating the huge tree root system that had brought the wall down in the first place. Over two days we repaired a large section of this wall from the ground up, again using original stone as well as some stone from the surroundings. The stone will weather quickly under the trees of ‘Mine Woods’ and the repair will last a lifetime.
This wall was beginning to seriously bulge and wave, letting us know that at some point soon the structure would fail.
While stripping out we found the majority of the stone to be traced (for those unfamiliar with walling terms, check out our glossary). It also seemed like the packing had been tipped in. Packing (or hearting) is integral to the wall’s structure and longevity so every piece must be placed by hand. The traced stone plus the hastily added packing were likely the reasons for the movement in the wall and the inevitable structural failures.
We also ran into bedrock whilst stripping out and it’s not often you will come across this in a residential cul de sac. The bedrock was a surprise but we used it to our advantage, building against it to give the wall extra strength.
As you can see from the image (top left), this rebuild and repair makes a huge difference to the property, has avoided an incident where a fallen wall could block the residential street and as with all of our structures we guarantee that it will last for generations.
