Grant Winslow

Daniel,

I ended up filling in most of the joints using a gray Type S mortar and applied with grout bag & skinny trowel.  Water should be able to seep through small crevices that weren't mortared.  Even with mortared joints, thankfully it still retains a "dry stack wall" appearance!

Trace, if I use the Quickrete I/II portland cement then would I need to add sand to the mixture?  I would be using it as a "grout" to fill in the crevices and not as a binding agent to secure the stones.  But with a normal grout, if the joints are >1/4", then it's recommended to use a sanded grout!  Would that apply in my situation?

Thanks Thomas!  I'm not able to jam any stones any deeper into wall. I suppose I should have back filled behind the wall with gravel, but too late now!  I was surprised how little room between the crevices where the dirt had spilled out onto patio!  The cement patching will have to be visible.  So you think the Quickrete portland cement Type I/II in photo will work OK?

I've recently had a retainer wall built in the landscape using the dry-stack method (see photos). Unfortunately, there has already been two occasions within past month of gopher activity behind the wall which has caused the soil to spill out onto the patio. I would like to seal the crevices between the stones with concrete to keep the gophers from pushing the soil outward. I'm not sure if portland cement or posthole concrete would be preferable. Although there isn't a french drain behind the wall, I don't think that drainage will be a problem as there should be plenty of smaller weep cracks for water to drain.