Photos are coming soon!!!
Retaining Walls, Dry Stack Fieldstone, Versa Lok, Boulders And More.
Here in the mountains of Garrett County, walls serve an important role in almost every landscape project. Walls are used to control slopes, enlclose different areas within a design and to provide separation. We offer construction services for almost any type of wall you can imagine. We have broken up this page into different sections giving you some important information about the various types of walls common to our landscape projects.
Manufactured Retaining Wall Product Links:
1) Rosetta Stone (concrete manufactured product made to resemble natural flat boulders.)
2) Versa-Lok (concrete manufactured product for retaining walls, most commmon around deep creek lake.)
CMU Block, Mortar, & Veneer Stone
A new offering this year. We can install various veneer stone products with mortar onto buildings or walls. Over the past few years artificial veneer stone has come a long way as far as appearance. The stone comes in a box, usually in small pieces. These pieces can be assembled onto an appropriate surface (usually concrete wall, cement board, or chicken wire stud wall) with mortar. When using this veneer stone to build an outdoor wall or sign. We recommend pouring a solid footer well below the frost line, and constructing the wall with cmu (concrete masonry unit) blocks, mortar and masonry ties. The stone veneer can be applied to the surface and a nice sandstone or bluestone cap can be added to the top. These walls can be curved or straight. Give us a call if this is something you are interested in. We can help select a nice looking veneer product and go over installation.
Segmental Retaining Walls (Precast Concrete)
Versa Lok®, Uni-Lock®, Pavestone® and Belgard® are all manufactures of segmental retaining wall systems. For the last 10 years or so these types of walls have been exremely popular with homeowners and commercial clients alike. Almost every new home built in this neck of the woods has some sort of feature utilizing these blocks. Back in the year 2000, almost all of the new walls installed were a flat faced Versa Lok wall. This flat face block tends to look pretty industrial in most applications, so the manufacturers started angling the corners to create a little more visual interest. However, both of these styles are now somewhat obosolete looking when compared to the textured and tumbled blocks offered by the manufacturers today. In 2010 there are some really great looking options including Versa Lock Mosaic, Belgard Celtic Wall, and even the smooth roman style Uni-Lock block. These newer styles, though slightly more expensive, can really make an impact remnicsent of natural stone when installed on a landscape project.
Before choosing the block it may be important to consider the application. Manufacturers usually make a specific style block more suited for retaining wall situations. Almost any block will work if you're going 3' high....any taller and we would recommend a heavier more structural unit. In these taller retaining wall situations a structural Geogrid (looks like a heavy duty plastic fish net) is used to stabilize the soil behind the wall to help prevent "push out". It is critical for a design professional who understands soil compaction and structural loads to design the wall with a specific Geogrid depth (the distance from front of wall back into the bank). Daniel Lucas can help with putting together the appropriate wall design for your project. Feel free to give us a call to set up an appointment regarding your segmental retaining wall project.
NATURAL: Dry Stack Fieldstone & Barnstone Walls
Over the years we have really developed a "knack" for the installation of natural stone drystack walls. We have installed several of these walls out here at the farm and on jobs over the past 15 years. Getting these walls to turn out beautiful is really 1/2 constuction knowledge and 1/2 artistic talent (meaning that you really need to have a good "eye" for it). Both Daniel and Jonathan Lucas have a great understanding of how the final wall should look, and they both know how to build them from scratch. The ones that we have built really do look great. For these natural stone walls we don't recommend going any higher than 3-4' maximum. The final look is typically a "dry stack"; meaning that you don't see mortar between the stones. It is a historical and really timeless look that goes back centuries, and it really looks great in almost any situation.
To keep things simple, there are really four different types of stone that we can use to build these walls. I have listed them below. Natural Stone is normally sold by the ton. Depending on the size and thickness of individual pieces, the amount of stone you get in a "ton" is always different. For an idea, a drystack fieldstone wall 3' tall and 20' long can use as much as 7 tons of stone.
First is fieldstone. Fieldstone comes in various thicknesses usually at least 2-6" thick. The stones come from our natural surroundings, usually they are picked from local fields and stacked on pallets. Shapes are irregular and natural looking with little or no "shaping" by the hand of man. It takes time and skill to assemble a wall that looks good. A single stone may need rotated ten times before you discover the right fit. But, for all the hard work the final look is tough to beat.
Barn stone can be either sandstone or limestone pieces that are cut into more defined rectangular pieces. It is usually cut to a consistant thickness to make stacking easier. Most barn stone walls consist of pieces 6"-8" thick and varying lengths. Some people will call cut fieldstone the same thing.
Second is sandstone. Usually thinner than fieldstone, but not always. Sandstone is a softer stone that can be cut or broken fairly easily. Sandstone walls are typically built to lower heights in the range of 12" -18". The thin, laser flat stones are sometimes drystacked to make up a grade difference between foundation planting beds and lawn. When completed, it really has a much finer, sharper texture than a fieldstone wall.
Boulders are large stones either round or rectangular in shape. Large rectangular boulders 18" thick and 40" wide really make a stable and long lasting wall when stacked up 2-3 courses high. Due to the extreme weight (up to 1 ton per stone), once they are set....they ain't going anywhere. The final look is really the ultimate as far as natural stone walls go. The stones are extremely heavy and require heavy lifting machinery to move them to and around the jobsite. If you are planning one of these walls, it is critical to provide a reasonably level access route for a skid steer and excavator machine. Large round boulders can also be used in the same manor.
QuickLink: About Us - Projects - Design - Pavers - Walls - Plants - Turf - Lighting - Decks - Home
© Copyright 2010 Lucas Landscaping and Turf Farm, Website Created and Maintained by Daniel Lucas email: daniel@lucaslandscaping.com