How to build a Dry Stone Wall (Part 4) : Middlefill

[@jamesmorris3175]

Great info as usual. The overlay shot at the end to compare good with bad was pretty slick.

[@drystone-tv]

Cheers, I enjoy trying to use the editing software to fill in the things I forgot to explain!

[@EssubW]

​@@drystone-tv So, the edit was appropriate size and shape for filling...

[@arifeapa]

Thank you! I have never done dry stonewalling. And I am planning to convert two kilometers of perimeter of stone walk to dry stone wall. Amazing work on your part!

[@danielsestina6457]

Well done, brother. I appreciate your work, talent, honesty, and humility. I haven't walled as much as you, but I definitely learned from some great wallers what works and what doesn't. I am building several walls on my property, and I am glad I made some my mistakes at my home, not someone else's.

[@phil3572]

Excellent presentation & answers some questions I had in my head. Many thanks.

[@DavidWilliams-q9n]

Thanks for taking the time to share the knowledge Bert, it is very much appreciated. I recently moved to a house with a few knackered retaining walls in the garden. My faces are not pretty but thanks to your tutorials I reckon the walls are sturdy. Cheers!

[@kingdomfighter23]

Thank you Bert. You explain things in such an understandable and simple way. You have a lot of care and humility and it shows in your craftsmanship. It never pays to rush and I see you take your time to do it right. Your video's are top notch! Keep up the good work.

[@drystone-tv]

Thank you, I'm never sure how I come across in the videos so it's nice to have that kind of comment.

[@kingdomfighter23]

@drystone-tv Your very welcome.

[@seandonnelly2178]

Yes!! Luke is the man for internals for sure. Great video man! I’ve seen some projects over here where the face is quite nice but the internal bonding and fill were so poor that the walls are now bulging and failing. I think the internals really show the quality of the builder in my opinion. We really need to put “heart” into our walls.

[@drystone-tv]

a-men

[@TS-jm7jm]

i appreciate you taking the time to educate us, you dont have to but you do anyways, thankyou.

[@Orange_tickle7261]

Mad stylish in the hat, love your videos as always!

[@Eamonnmhac]

brilliant , great workmanship

[@sweetor6714]

A video lesson from an experienced craftsman. Excellent instruction. Loved it.

[@retrorevolution6534]

From my experience of taking many walls down to rebuild, I think the middle is always the first place where corners are cut, that and too many tracers and not enough binders seems to be a common theme with a lot of the walls I work on. Like you said though, often there just isn't enough decent filler there, it's always the first thing I run out of. I try to use as big as posible and try and get them sitting right and pinned against the builders and use smaller bits in any voids as tight as posible. TBH, I sometmes get more OCD about the middle than I do about the face 😬😂

[@drystone-tv]

Yes your exactly right and context is everything right? I can absolutely forgive a poor waller from the 1800's for not filling their wall right or putting a few tracers or straight joints in! We're lucky that we're in a position to do a good job and care about what we build but even for us sometimes the gap just has to go back up with the stone that was in it. Cheers for the comment!

[@66bobbins]

I stack and fit all my fill as you do. I always try to think how the wall will settle over time. Fill just tipped in will spread the faces eventually. I wish I got to wall with nice coursed stone like that though. Most of the walls round me are field stone cobbles. They make taking care over the hearting even more important.

[@stuckmannen3876]

Thanks for sharing! God bless ☦️🇳🇴

[@HarryDesmond]

Brilliant. Thanks. Will try to do this from now on. Great videos showing how you actually wall and see your thought processes behind every stone.

[@drystone-tv]

Glad it was helpful!

[@flyingrabbit829]

Big up to you mate it’s awesome

[@lionjunkdrawer2386]

great stuff here. Thanks for the details!

[@BTHobbies]

Great content as always, and greatly appreciated!

[@drystone-tv]

Much appreciated!

[@FinnBearOfficial]

Great video! I've wondered how you estimate the cost for the customer? How much wall is reasonable to expect to be done in a day?

[@drystone-tv]

hmm that's a very large question that will require a very detailed answer but I can give you the two extremes in this comment. The most you would ever be able to build in a day would be a rebuild of a wall about 1.3m tall, the stone would need to be pretty big, pretty rough, all the stones would need to be quite wide and there would need to be no labouring required at all. In this situation, and lets say i was building to 75% quality then it would be possible to build 6-8m of wall. On the opposite side I might get a job that was a 2.5m tall retaining wall 1m in thickness with bad access and thin flat stone and lets say I'm working to 100% quality and making a really nice job. In this instance I would be lucky to get 1m per day built. Most of my jobs are somewhere in between those two scenarios so I would get around 2 or 3 meters done in a day but each job requires a lot of thought as the stone type and size can change the productivity massively.

[@FinnBearOfficial]

@drystone-tv thank you for taking the time to answer.. I kind of guessed it is not a simple thing. Like the job you did on that island, with the bigger crew. I guess what I was looking for is how do you make sure you don't sell yourself too cheap. I really enjoy watching your vids. Good stuff.💪🫡

[@blumminummer]

Thanks Bert 👍🏻 (And Luke) If I see you in the Farmer's I'll buy you a pint 😊

[@you_chose_wrong]

Nice video! So much to consider with dry stone walls and retaining walls...so many angles to view it from. It seems like the gravel infill acts almost like a movement joint along the length of the wall...which may be benificial ifnits battered. Drystone walls are superior in the sence that they can flex and give and have built in drainage/aeration but if making them as dense as posible is desired than maybe brushing in some coarse sand/angular gravel would be something to test out? It would definitely fill in the voids. It would be interesting to some how test multiple walls against subsidence.

[@drystone-tv]

Its certainly an interesting topic and sadly I don't think we'll ever get to see a scientific study on it to really get to know the answer. I could see the sand acting as a lubricant potentially as the round grains get between the stones. All worth trying and experimenting with though.

[@saviotoronto358]

nice work

[@bratty00]

Hows it going man im quiet for work next week (mon, tues, wednesday) i have cscs card/ public liability... i live in Stoke... if you are within a hour or so from stoke at all id be happy come chuck in with you guys to get some experience... total novice with dry stone walling but love the idea of it.... (dont want paying, just after the experience)

[@aaaaaa23234]

Really appreciate your videos, you do great work. Do you typically build a retaining wall in the same way (ie set a front and back face, then fill between the two)? Or do you just set the front and work back into the excavation? I’ve done both, but the latter seems to make more sense, use up less nicely faced stone, and be faster. I’ve been reading “Dry Stone Retaining Walls” by Paul McCombie. Dense read but solid reference. They specifically say build it like a freestanding wall; place outer facing, then inner, then fill the center. Like to hear your thoughts on it. FYI the practical chapter of that book, acknowledges contributions to one William Noble. Thanks again.

[@f-godz3342]

8:27 is the crisp packet structural? lol

[@drystone-tv]

middlefill not landfill. that's what we always say

[@jbradbury2]

Middle fill" is the correct term coming from Derbyshire and possibly Yorkshire. Certainly in Derbyshire for the last 50 years its been termed this, not "hearting"... Probably a southern term. I have never heard of hearting until the last few years ie facebook era.