How to Install a Paver Wall
- 1). Map out the layout for your new wall, wrapping a garden hose or installing wooden stakes and nylon cord to mark the wall's course. This will give you a guideline for your installation.
- 2). Dig a trench 4 inches deep and as wide as your chosen pavers. If your pavers are larger than 4 inches tall, dig your trench 2 inches deeper than the height of your pavers.
- 3). Compact the exposed soil with a hand tamper. This will flatten the soil, providing you a stable support surface to start with.
- 4). Cover the trench with a 1- to 2-inch layer of leveling sand or gravel paver base. This base layer aids rainwater drainage through the wall. Compact the layer as well so your installation surface is completely flat.
- 5). Set your first paver in place at one end of your trench. Use a level to ensure it fits flat against the base layer; if it's not flat, use a rubber mallet to gently tap it into place until it sits level.
- 6). Set all remaining pavers in the first layer, checking the level of each one against the pavers around it. This first course should be buried under the soil line to provide the best support for the wall. Continue until the entire first level is in place.
- 7). Cut the first block in the second level in half by using a 3½-inch brick chisel and a 3-pound sledge hammer to score a cutting line around the center of the block. As you complete the score line, the stone will fall in half.
- 8). Set half of the cut stone at the starting point of the second level. Cutting the block in half will ensure that the joints of your stones stagger, which provides better structural support for your wall.
- 9). Lay all of the blocks for the second layer in place, checking each one for level as you did with the first layer. This layer should be completely level all the way across, since it's sitting on the level first layer.
- 10
Fill any gaps between the trench and the stones with soil after the second layer is in place. - 11
Set all layers of stone in place, cutting different measurements off each new block to continue to stagger the joints. Continue until you reach the desired height of your paver wall. - 12
Line the back of the wall with landscape fabric to cover any gaps between pavers. Fill in the 6 inches behind the paver wall with gravel to ensure that rainwater will drain past the wall and not build up behind it. Trim away any extra landscape fabric with a utility knife when the wall is complete.
Source...