Side Entrance Stone Wall & Walkway

 The Side Wall and Walk Way Work Continues

The Steps have been completed and you can see how they are

bringing the wall up to meet the top step.

It's slow going with thousands of pieces of stone.

Beginning of the Top Steps

It was interesting watching them chip each rock to the right shape.

I would have never finished this because I would have spent more

time looking for the right rock.

The Steps are made up of Blue Stone

Lots of Rubble. All used Somewhere.

Steps Completed.

They look great don't they?

If you look closely, you can see the two low voltage lights

on the top stone riser.

Wall Completed.

It's amazing how even with thousands of rocks it's 

straight and plumb.

Gravel was brought in for the Walkway Base

Techo-Bloc - Aberdeen Slabs (Pavers) were used for the walkway.

Techo-Bloc Steps were used to match the Pavers.

We added low voltage stair lights on every other step.

The Stone Veneer on the Garage was Tied Into the Wall.

Those are Bluestone Shelves to divert Water

on top of the Veener.

Completed Walkway Looking Towards the Street.

Plantings will be on the left and right.

Side Entrance from the Street

The Wall, Staps and Walkway came out Fantastic.

We think it really adds to the house.

While I was working on the wood wall, Henry from Pereira Brothers and his crew continued work on the  stonewall on the side of the driveway and the walk way leading to the side door.

We’ve recognized that because the street in front of the house doesn’t have any parking, the side entrance was really going to be the main entrance for guests. So we’ve put a lot of focus on this area.

The stone from Pennsylvania came in on pallets wrapped in chicken wire. Apparently, even with all of the stonewalls that we have in New England, those are really boulders that farmers have dug up through the years. The type of flat stone that we wanted isn’t found in the area so it’s pretty common to have it shipped in from PA.

It was a lot of work. Stone by stone. They really are skilled at constructing walls. While I would have  been spending hours looking for just the right stone, they used their rock hammers to chip away until the rock fit the spot just right. They would slather on mortar and then place the rock on top of the wet mortar tapping it until it was set perfectly. And  then on to the next stone.

The steps at the top of the stairs were finished with bluestone to provide a nice entrance. In addition to putting low voltage walkway lights on the lower stairs, we added a couple on the risers here as well. We’ll put these on some sort of timer to go on at dusk. That part still needs to be figured out.

While the steps were being completed, Mike from Stone Age Masonry returned to finish the stone veneer on the garage and tie it into the wall. He capped the veneer off with blocks of bluestone to shed the shed the water so it wouldn’t get behind the veneer.

Once the wall and steps were completed, Henry brought in a load of gravel for use under the walkway. They then put sand on top the gravel. This was leveled off and tamped down. Then came the Techo-Bloc Aberdeen slabs (large pavers) (www.techo-bloc.com). The walkway is a little wider than we originally planned, but Henry suggested that we match it with the width of the steps so that it would flow better to the landing at the top the wall. Otherwise it would have narrowed only to be widened again over a short distance. It was a good suggestion because we like the way it looks and we can add planters to narrow up the appearance if we need to.

Ever have some work done on your home that you were just tickled with? Well, this is one of those areas for us. The wall, stairs and walkway came out perfectly and we think it really adds a lot to the house. It’s a great place to welcome guests to our new home. We can’t wait to dress it up even more with flowers and bushes.

Next up. Landscape Planning.

Enjoy your weekend!