Ask the Builder: Building a stone wall and arch

When he retired, he decided to build an eight-unit apartment building just down the street from the bakery. He named it Valley View because it had a commanding view of the Mill Creek Valley. I never got to meet him, as he was sent to Heaven fifteen years before I was born.

There are quite a few photos in the family albums of him standing next to limestone walls, arches and even a stone fountain he built with his own hands in the apartment building’s gardens. How he managed to build such gorgeous structures is a bit of a mystery. Keep in mind there were no YouTube videos to watch, probably no great DIY books at the local library, or home improvement shows to watch on cable TV. Somehow, somewhere my grandfather gleaned the information to build stone walls and arches on his own. You can do it to with his inspiration and a little help from me.

Almost all stone is suitable as a building material for outdoor walls, arches and fountains. After all, the rock most likely has withstood thousands of years of exposure before it was quarried or hand-picked from a road cut or stream bed. My grandfather used pieces of fossiliferous limestone that is abundant in Cincinnati. Limestone is an excellent material to use. There are thousands of buildings all over the USA that use fine-grained limestone for their facades. It’s extremely durable.