Preliminary considerations before erecting stone screens
Before you can start erecting a stone privacy screen in your own garden, the most important questions about the following factors should first be clarified:
- legal regulations / required permits
- Stability of the subsoil
- Material and surface design
- Ecological or practical added value of the erected stone wall
also read
- Erect a stone wall as a privacy screen
- Ideas for a creative privacy screen in the garden
- Thread a privacy screen into the fence
In many cases, the erection of a stone privacy wall may require official approval from the responsible building authority. In this case, the prescribed minimum distances to the property line also apply. In addition, walls made of natural stone or stone baskets, in contrast to the planting of a privacy hedge, require a precise examination of the respective subsoil. After all, ordinary soil can sink, be undermined or simply give way under the often underestimated weight of a stone wall. In such a case, life-threatening accidents can occur if a stone wall collapses. While brick walls and gabions hardly offer any ecological niches, a natural stone wall can provide a habitat for rare plants and animals in its cracks.
Security through a suitable base
If the approval for the construction of the planned stone wall is available, the preparatory work can begin. As a rule, a trench is dug along the planned course of the stone wall, which is first filled with a little coarse gravel and then provided with a load-bearing foundation made of base stones or concrete. Since this causes an obstacle to “nestle” in the garden in the long term, openings for cables to be laid or the water flowing underground should be integrated in sloping areas in the form of pipes or empty shafts. As soon as this foundation has hardened and load-bearing, depending on the material, construction of the actual privacy screen can begin.
Erect a privacy screen made of demolition material
When old houses are demolished, it is not uncommon for bricks and natural stones to come to light, which are far too good to be filled in as rubble. When building a stone wall in the garden, it doesn't really matter if the individual stones are still left with mortar residues from previous use. Rather, a stone wall made of recycled stones offers a kind of patina that allows the newly created masonry to be integrated organically into the landscape design immediately. If a ruin-like look is chosen instead of a strictly geometric construction, the result is a special charm with a romantic factor.
Gabions as contemporary privacy screens
The minds of landscape planners and gardeners often differ when it comes to gabions: These stone baskets offer some advantages with regard to the approval process, as they usually do not have a fixed anchorage to the ground and (at least in theory) can be quickly removed at any time. However, the rather rugged look of rubble stones and galvanized steel bars cannot necessarily be combined with every type of architecture and landscape design. However, it is entirely possible, for example, to green a wall made of gabions by adding annual or perennial climbing plants.
Tips
The higher a stone wall is built in the garden, the higher the requirements for stability and tipping safety. As a compromise between the height of the privacy screen and a reasonable amount of effort, it is advisable to build a raised bed out of stones and then to plant this with relatively tall vegetables or flowers.
