Stone masonry in Lancaster CA - stone walls that drain and stand straight

Often yes, because the city requires a permit before any work that physically changes or adds value to your property. Its list of work that doesn't need one includes fences no taller than 7 feet and retaining walls no taller than 4 feet from the bottom of the footing, as long as they aren't holding up added load like a slope or a driveway above. We check with the building office for your address on every job, and if you'd like to ask yourself, you can email the city's permit staff at permits@cityoflancasterca.gov.

A dry-stack wall suits a spot where water needs a way through, because its open joints let water drain instead of building up pressure behind the stones. It stands on careful fitting, stone shape, thickness and its own weight, so most of what you pay for is skilled hands. A mortared wall gives you bonded stones and finished joints, but it still needs firm support, drainage, a cap and a mortar that suits the stone, and its stiff face won't hold back ground that moves. Down the road, a dry wall may need a section reset now and then, while a mortared one will want its joints looked after.

A contractor holding California's masonry license from the Contractors State License Board can, since that license covers stone work. The only exception is a small job under $1,000, and only when the work needs no permit and the person doing it has no employees. We're licensed and fully insured, so that's one less thing for you to sort out.

Stone veneer installation in the Los Angeles area usually costs about $3,000 to $11,000 per project, so treat that as a market range for the whole job, not a Lancaster quote. Where yours lands depends on how much wall you're covering, natural or manufactured stone, and how much prep the surface underneath needs. I'll put your own figure in writing once I've seen the wall.

Pick a stone with a history of holding up to the local weather, which is what the natural stone industry advises, since not every stone is suggested for outdoor use. Before you buy veneer stone, you can ask the supplier to certify that it suits Lancaster's weathering conditions. Manufactured stone veneer is another route, a lightweight product cast from cement and aggregate to look like natural stone, though it carries no load and covers a wall rather than making one.

Usually by repairing the part that failed rather than rebuilding the whole wall. A dry-laid wall that has settled can be taken apart in one spot, its base corrected and the same stones set back in place, and a mortared wall that's still standing straight may only need its worn joints repointed and a few stones replaced. I'll tell you plainly which parts can wait and which can't.