How to Build a Sitting Wall

By: Jennifer Stimpson

Shopping List

Supplies You Will Need

Cast Concrete Block:
Choose a block made specifically for freestanding walls, not retaining walls or pavers. To calculate how many blocks you need, multiply the length of the wall, in inches, by the height, and divide that figure by the area (length x height) of the side of one block. Add 10 percent to account for cuts and breakage.

Paver Base:
A mixture of ¾-inch crushed rock and stone dust. One yard covers 108 square feet 3 inches deep.

Stone Dust:
One yard covers 324 square feet 1 inch deep.

Masonry Construction Adhesive

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Tools List
Tools You Will Need
- Mason's line and Line level
- Spade
- Hand Tamper
- 4-foot level
- Rubber Mallet
- Mason's Chisels and Maul
- Brick Hammer
- Caulk Gun
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Product Gallery
Product selections for this project
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Little girl with flowers on sitting wall

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Photo: Kolin Smith

Introduction
Overview
Steps:
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3 hours a day over 3 days
About $20 per linear foot for a 2-foot-high wall

Difficulty: Moderate Digging and heavy lifting is required for prep, but the stones stack easily.

Take a scenic drive through the back roads of New England and you will inevitably spot some of the 240,000 miles of stone walls built by 19th-century farmers trying to delineate their land. You may not have a large plot to mark off, but your patios and flower beds are still deserving of a border, and one that doubles as a place to sit down will make your landscape all the more enjoyable. But no need to dig up the yard looking for rocks like the Yankee farmers had to. As This Old House senior technical editor Mark Powers shows here, a wall built from cast concrete blocks made to look like stone is just as beautiful and much easier to build—especially when your "planting season" is confined to the weekends.