Natural Stone Retaining Walls in Christchurch
Top Retaining Walls Christchurch builds natural stone retaining walls, laid by hand in courses with tight joints and a raked finish. Depending on height they are either genuinely mass built or built as a stone face over a reinforced core, so you get the look with the structure behind it.
- Hand laid schist and local Canterbury stone
- Mass stone, or stone faced over a structural core
- The finish for character and heritage properties
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Stone is the most expensive way to retain a bank and the only one that improves with age. On an established Merivale or Fendalton property, or anywhere with a heritage character overlay, it is frequently the only finish that looks right. Moss and lichen take hold within a few years and the wall stops looking new, which is the entire point.
Mass stone or stone faced retaining walls, and how to tell
Mass stone
A genuine gravity wall built thick enough that its own weight holds the bank. Beautiful, slow, expensive per square metre, and it needs real depth at the base.
Stone faced over a core
A reinforced concrete or block wall does the structural work and stone is laid against it as a face. Visually almost indistinguishable once the joints are raked and the coursing is irregular, at a fraction of the cost, and it carries loads a mass stone wall could not.
We tell you which one your wall actually is, because a lot of what gets sold as a stone wall is the second one and there is nothing wrong with that.
Choosing stone for a Christchurch retaining wall
Schist gives the grey and gold layered look most people picture and splits into flat bedding faces that lay well. Canterbury greywacke and basalt read darker and more rugged. Oamaru limestone is soft, pale and warm, and it weathers noticeably faster.
Stone choice is not only aesthetic. Bedding characteristics decide how tightly the wall can be coursed, and a stone that does not split flat means wider joints and more mortar showing.
Natural stone retaining wall cost and build time
From about $260 to $625 per lineal metre for a low wall, and higher again for full mass stone. The cost is labour, because a mason places every piece by hand and turns most of them several times before they go in.
Expect it to take considerably longer than any other wall type of the same size. That is not inefficiency, it is what produces the result.
Natural Stone Walls at a glance
- Types
- Mass stone gravity wall, or stone faced over a reinforced core
- Stone
- Schist, Canterbury greywacke and basalt, Oamaru limestone
- Cost
- From about $260 to $625 per lineal metre, more for mass stone
- Cost driver
- Labour, because every piece is hand placed
- Best for
- Character and heritage properties, established gardens
- Ageing
- Improves, with moss and lichen within a few years
Natural Stone Walls in Christchurch: common questions
Is a stone faced wall as good as solid stone?
Structurally usually better, because there is engineered concrete behind it. Visually the difference is very hard to see once it is laid well.
Which stone should I choose?
Schist for the layered grey and gold look, greywacke or basalt for something darker, Oamaru limestone for pale and warm. Bedding characteristics matter as much as colour.
Why does it cost so much more?
Labour. Every piece is placed by hand and most get turned several times before they fit.
Will it look new for long?
Not for long, which is the point. Moss and lichen establish within a few years.
How long does a stone retaining wall take to build?
Considerably longer than any other type of the same size, because a mason places every piece by hand and turns most of them several times before they bed. That time is the cost, and it is also what produces the result. A wall laid quickly reads as laid quickly for the next fifty years.
Does a stone wall need mortar?
It depends on the height and what it is holding. Low garden walls can be genuinely dry laid. Anything structural is either a mass wall built thick enough to work by weight, or stone laid against a reinforced core with the joints raked so no mortar reads from the front.
Can you repair an old stone wall rather than rebuilding it?
Usually yes, and it is almost always worth it. The failed section comes down, the base is re established, and the original stone is relaid. Where the wall now carries a surcharge it never had, the better answer is a new structural core with the original stone laid back on the face.
Recent Christchurch jobs
Boundary wall between us and the neighbour on a new build. Sorted the levels, the consent question and the fence on top in one job. Turned up when they said and left the site clean every night.
Builder here. I use them on subdivision work because the paperwork comes back complete. PS1 up front, PS4 at the end, no chasing.
Wall failed after the big rain and took part of the bank with it. Made safe within two days and rebuilt a month later with real drainage behind it.
Terraced the back lawn into two levels. Fast, tidy, fair price, and the drainage was done properly.
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