Hangaia he kowhatu kua whakamarokehia hei pupuri i te pakitara

Kei te hiahia koe ki te hanga i to ake ake taiepa pupuri kohatu, engari kaore koe e mohio me pehea te tiimata? Mena kei a koe he koretake iari, ka taea e te taiepa pupuri kohatu te aukati i te horo me te whai waahi pai hei whakato. Hei ako me pehea te whakakotahi i a koe ake, mai i te timatanga ki te mutunga, panuihia.

 

To figure out how much stone you’ll need, multiply your wall’s height times the depth times the length. If your wall is 2 feet high, 1-1/2 feet wide, and 20 feet long, you’ll need roughly 60 cubic feet of stone. Most stoneyards will deliver the stones for a slight charge; have them placed as close to the site of your retaining wall as possible.

Mo tools, you’ll need a shovel for digging your trench and backfilling, a matika for attacking the grade, and a small sledgehammer for tamping soil. For marking your site and leveling rocks, you’ll need a line level, a few tall stakes, string, some flour, and a 4- or 8-foot level.

 

So you’re all set with your taputapu, etahi wai inu, me etahi oro hei mahi. Ko te mahi tuatahi ko te whakatau i te mata o mua o te pakitara. Mena he tika, ka taea te whakamahi i te papa, te aho ranei i totoro ki waenganui i nga titi hei tohu i te raina. Ki te kore, whakamahia he ngongo kari me te tohu i te taha ki te paraoa.

 

Now you can start digging. The easiest approach is to cut and fill—that is, dig into the slope where the wall will go and spread the earth below you to create a level terrace. When you cut and fill, the wall is backed by undisturbed soil, which is more stable than fill. For design reasons, however, you might choose to build a freestanding wall and fill behind it with soil from another site. Or you might do a partial cut and fill, which is somewhere between the two.

Ka hangaia nga pakitara ki nga akoranga. The base course is structurally the most important, while the final course, the capstone, is the most challenging. For stability, walls should be at least 20 inches wide at the base. They can taper slightly toward the top, but you’ll want a wall that is at least two rocks wide in most places. This can be accomplished by mixing stones of different sizes or by backfilling with a combination of two-thirds rubble to one-third soil.

 

 Keria he awaawa mo te akoranga turanga

Start by digging a trench about 4 inches deep and at least 2 feet wide. A straightedged spade will give you a nice, even edge. The first course must be very solid and tightly fit because the weight of the wall will rest on it. Take the time to find rocks that lock into place, without leaving gaps. Randomly lay your largest rocks along the front edge of the trench. Set the first stone, shifting it around until it sits securely without being rocked easily, and then fill with the remaining stones. If you are using rectangular stones, you want the height of adjacent stones to be the same, or of a difference that can be made up with a smaller stone. If the rocks are irregular, then the stones will fit together leaving a triangular gap for the next course to fit into. I find irregular rocks easier to work with than flat ones; with flat rocks you have to be more precise. Find a stone that fits well and then continue for a few more feet. A rule of thumb, passed down from my wall-building teacher’s mentor, is to try a stone seven different ways. If it doesn’t fit by the seventh try, use another stone.

Muri iho, kohia te paru ki muri o nga kohatu ka taia te whenua ki roto i nga waahi between, behind, and beneath the stones with top of the sledgehammer. This is an important step because the dirt becomes the mortar for the wall. I also recommend adding rubble (those stones you won’t use on the face of your wall) behind the face course to give greater strength to the wall. Pound the rubble and soil mix until you are satisfied that it is solid. Continue the first course until you reach the end of the wall. When you are done, test

 to huarahi ma te ata haere i runga. Kaua nga kohatu e huri ki raro i to taumaha.

 

Hei timata i te akoranga tuarua, whiriwhiria he kohatu hei piri i te hononga tuatahi o te papa o raro. Avoid having joints run up the face of the wall, and angle (batter) the courses backward—approximately 1 inch per vertical foot. This creates a stable wall. For added strength, intermittently place single stones that run the full depth of the wall. This will only work with rectangular rocks. For irregular rocks, place a large rock behind a face rock every 3 feet or so. As you set a course, you will come to situations, probably quite a few of them, where the rock placement is perfect on all sides but one. These are the planting opportunities that give life to a stone wall.

Continue building in this manner until you are one course away from the finished height. Fitting stones will get easier as you go, and you’ll likely discover that there’s a certain magic moment when you’re building a wall: you hear a thump that signals you’ve placed a rock perfec

 

Whakaritehia te teitei o to waahi taiepa

The ideal height for a dry-stacked retaining wall is 18 to 22 inches—so you can sit on it when your gardening chores are done. Even if

you don’t plan to sit on your wall, 3 feet is about as high as I would recommend building any dry-stacked wall; higher walls should be engineered for stability. Using your stakes, string, and line level, mark the height of the capstone. You’ll also want to check the level of individual stones as you go. It’s difficult to get the capstone perfectly level, but a 1-inch variance looks level overall.

 

Whakanuia te manawanui ki te whakatakotoranga o te kowhatu; ko te mutunga o te pukenga kua whanaketia e koe ki tenei wa. Kia 15 ki te 18 inihi te hohonu, kia kotahi ki te toru nga kohatu. Whakamahia te oneone me te waahi pai ki te mau i nga kohatu, me te rite ki nga hononga pakitara, karohia nga hononga roa i roto i te kowhatu potae. Mena kei te pirangi koe ki te noho ki runga i te pakitara, whiriwhiria nga kohatu maeneene, papatahi. Ranei, whakakiia nga waahi ki te oneone ka whakato otaota kakara hei urunga. Ko te kowhatu tapawha kua whakatōhia he whakapaipai pai ki te pakitara ora.