The fingers crossed job – Edinburgh

Edinburgh – retaining walls and steps

This was an interesting build.

The clients contacted me in January to have a look at their garden in Edinburgh. It had some old and tired dry stone walls, and they wanted something much nicer. Various options were discussed: the main thing was to keep and re-use the stone rather than bringing in fresh stone.

The quote included several options: firstly using the stone in the garden to build dry stone walls; second using blockwork and using the existing stone to face it, and finally bringing in fresh stone.

In the end we agreed to use the existing stone, built as facing stone against a blockwork back. All the mortar was hidden and the stone work looks dry. Although I could estimate how much material I would need, there was no way of knowing if there was enough. Would the stone go far enough? There was only one way to find out! Hence the fingers-crossed name!

We build about 45m of low retaining wall capped with Yorkstone flags, a grand staircase, a smaller set of steps, a wheel-barrow/lawn-mower ramp and a bench. Quite a change from what was there before!

It turned out great, the stone lasted for the whole build and the clients were really happy.

You can see more examples of garden landscaping works on the projects page.

Testimonial

“We are absolutely delighted with the work Stone Inspired did on our garden to create such a fabulous stone wall. Jason helped us through all the stages from design, preparation and build and brought great ideas to us, which have transformed our garden. We’re really looking forward to bringing in planting which will compliment what we have and of course our super new stone walls. I also want to commend Jason on his customer service. He communicated and consulted with us at each step, found extra stone for us and brought in other services when they were needed. It has been a pleasure to have Jason with us and we are delighted to have his work in our garden. Many thanks and best wishes” Blair Miller