The short answer
A stone wall that is standing straight but losing mortar, missing its cap or shedding a few stones can almost always be repaired: repoint it, reset the loose stones, put a sound cap on top and make sure water at the top and behind it has somewhere to go. A wall that is bulging, leaning or rotating has a water or footing problem behind it. That section needs to be taken down and rebuilt properly, using the original stone.
We have built hundreds of stone walls in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and we have taken apart plenty that other people built. That experience is why we restore walls the way we do. When an old wall slumps into a garden or bellies out over a driveway, people blame the weight of the hill. Nine times out of ten, the real problem is water.
Repair: most walls just need care
If the wall is standing straight and the trouble is open joints, a loose or missing cap, or a few stones working loose, it is a repair:
- Repoint the failed joints with a mortar matched to the wall.
- Reset loose stones, and replace any that have split.
- Recap the top. A sound cap is the wall's roof and keeps water from soaking down through its core.
- Redirect water at the top and base of the wall: downspouts, grading and clogged weep holes.
- Seal caps and faces that stay wet with a breathable penetrating repellent, where it helps.
Rebuild: when a section has failed
A wall that is bulging, leaning or rotating has lost the fight with the soil behind it. Pointing the face will not hold back a hill. That section comes down, and we put back what should have been there from the start: a footing below the frost line, free-draining stone behind the wall, a way out for the water, and a slight lean back into the slope. Then the original stone goes back up. Read why stone retaining walls fail for the full picture.
Tall walls and walls that hold up driveways or buildings may need a permit and sometimes an engineer's design. We will tell you when that applies and build to the drawings.
Garden walls, boundary walls and pillars
Old dry-laid field walls, mortared garden walls, springhouse walls and entrance pillars all get the same approach: save what is sound, fix what is not, and use the stone that is already there. Watch a stone wall rebuild and restoration on our YouTube channel.
Questions we hear on site
Can a leaning stone wall be fixed without rebuilding?
Why do stone retaining walls fail?
Will a rebuilt section match the rest of the wall?
Should a stone wall be sealed?
Do you repair stone pillars?
Our other restoration services
Who does the work
Luciano Sansalone learned stonework at fifteen beside his father and grandfather in Italy and has worked on Bucks County stone for over forty years. His son Alex is the fourth generation. The two of them inspect every property and do the work themselves. Read our story.
