Longevity of dry stone wall compared to mortared stone wall Brickwork, drystone walling, render are a few subjects covered here. Click here to post questions and get answers

[jacobfrosst]

I apologise if this is not the right place to ask but I could do with a couple of opinions for something I’ve been working on.

We are designing a house and want to have a dry-stone wall look, we’re proposing a dry stone – block – cavity -block build up with the stone being back mortared.

The stone mason we use is adamant that the longevity of this will be greatly reduced compared to a mortared stone wall, but we would love to get another opinion as we believe it won’t make too much of a difference.

[stoneyboy]

Hi jacobfrosst
If you have a fully mortared stone wall rain penetration will be limited. If however you carry out your proposed back mortared design water rain will penetrate deep into the wall and frost action may damage the join with the backing blocks.
So the masonry man is right but the likelihood of failure will depend on how severe frosts are in your area.
Regards S