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US 9,975,272 B1Granted
Stone wall construction method
AssigneeNatural Stone Wall Solutions
InventorTroy D. Guinther
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Provided is a system and method for building retaining and freestanding stone walls, wherein wall panels are made, then transported to an installation location, and installed on site quickly and efficiently. The wall panels are made in wall frames that use joint forms to provided wall panels having sides that reliably and securely mater together. The joint forms include “zig-zag” like connections and a structural interlocking key, engineered to prevent vertical and lateral deformation of the assembled wall. Drainage and strengthening materials are built into the wall panels while in the wall frames. A lifting apparatus is also provided that engages a wall panel through openings formed in a rear side, and stably lifts and flips the wall panel from a facedown orientation to an upright orientation.
Claims31
A method of forming and providing at least one wall panel having a natural stone face and top, the method comprising:
- providing an open-back wall frame in a facedown position, the wall frame having a face portion, a frame top, a frame bottom opposite the frame top, and at least two frame ends, with at least one frame end comprising a joint form that defines a back-to-front pattern of alternating lateral protrusions and indentations used to form a joint side of the wall panel;
- inserting at least one removable placeholder against the face portion and the joint form;
- layering a sand setting bed onto the face portion and around the at least one removable placeholder:
- layering natural stones onto the sand setting bed around the at least one removable placeholder, including arranging stones in the sand setting bed to create a natural stone face and arranging stones against the frame top in create a natural stone top;
- pouring concrete onto the natural stones in the wall frame;
- setting first and second lifting tubes to a partial depth into the concrete so that the first and second lifting tubes remain accessible from a rear face of the wall panel after the concrete has cured;
- curing the concrete;
- inserting first and second bottom holder members of a rigid lifting apparatus into the first and second lifting tubes of the wall panel, the lifting apparatus including a cable connection;
- and
- applying a substantially upward vertical force on the cable connection of the lifting apparatus, thereby flipping the wall panel oat of the wall frame from the facedown position to an upright position.
7 more elements
A method of forming a stone wall, comprising:
- forming a first wall panel and a second wall panel, each wall panel having a natural stone face, a natural stone top, first and second lifting tubes set to a partial depth of the wall panel that are accessible from a rear face of the wall panel, and at least one joint side comprising a front-to-back zig-zag pattern of lateral protrusions and indentations and an interlocking key void, and at least one bridge stone void at the joint side including:
- forming a first interlocking key void in a first joint side of the first wall panel;
- forming a second interlocking key void in a second joint side of the second wall panel that is arranged to align with the first interlocking key void of the first joint side,
- forming a path from at least one of the first and second interlocking key voids to an external surface of the rear face of at least one of the first and second wall panels;
- providing a unitary lifting apparatus having a first end with a cable connection and a second end having elongated first and second bottom holder members corresponding to the first and second lifting tubes;
- and
- joining the first and second wall panels together at an installation site, including:
- moving the first and second wall panels onto footings at the installation site using the lifting apparatus, including abutting the first and second wall panels via the zig-zag pattern of their respective joint sides, aligning the at least one bridge stone void of the first and second wall panels to form a shelf, and aligning the interlocking key void of the first and second wall panels;
- locking together the joint sides of the first and second wall panels, including after abutting the first joint side of the first wall panel with the second joint side of the second wall panel, pumping concrete via the path into a complete interlocking key void formed from the first and second interlocking key voids within the abutted first and second wall panels;
- mortaring at least one bridge stone into the shelf, wherein for each of the first and second wall panels;
- moving the wall panels includes inserting the first and second bottom holder members into the first and second lifting tubes of the wall panel and applying a substantially upward vertical force on the cable connection of the lifting apparatus, thereby causing the wall panel to be flipped from the facedown position to an upright position, with the cable connection of the lifting apparatus not contacting the natural stone top of the suspended wall panel.
8 more elements
A method of forming a wall panel having a natural stone face and natural stone top, the method comprising:
- providing an open-back wall frame having a face portion, a frame top, a frame bottom opposite the frame top, and at least two frame ends, at least one frame end comprising a joint form configured to form a joint side of the wall panel having a back-to-front pattern of lateral protrusions and indentations and an interlocking key configured to form an interlocking key void in the wall panel end and a path between the interlocking key void and an external surface at a rear face of the wall panel;
- inserting a removable joint side placeholder against the face portion and the joint form and a removable top placeholder against the frame top;
- layering a sand setting bed on the face portion and around the joint side and top removable placeholders;
- layering natural stones onto the sand setting bed, including arranging stones in the sand setting bed around the removable placeholders and on the face portion of the wall frame and against the frame top;
- pouring concrete into the wall frame;
- setting first and second lifting tubes to a partial depth into the concrete so that the first and second lifting tubes remain accessible from the rear face of the wall panel after the concrete has cured;
- and
- curing the concrete, thereby forming the natural stone wall panel including:
- the natural stone face;
- the natural stone top;
- at least one joint side having the back-to-front pattern of alternating lateral protrusions and indentations, the interlocking key void, and the path between the interlocking key void and the external surface at the rear face of the wall panel conforming to the at least one joint form;
- placeholder voids defined by the removable joint side and top placeholders;
- and
- the first and second lifting tubes configured to insertably receive elongate first and second bottom holder members of a rigid lifting apparatus.
11 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.