A wet retaining wall is like that of a dry wall except for one major difference. The stability of the wall is not dependent upon the friction of stone upon stone, but rather on the mortar that bonds this wall together. Cement mortar is used between stones to secure them together and achieve a monolithic wall. Two requirements of this type of construction are:

1) a footing of either solid stone or concrete is required down to the frost line

2) drainage weep holes must be placed in the wall to allow water to flow through the wall. Its major advantage is in the solidity of the wall. Stones will not get kicked out of place and dirt will not run through as it might in dry wall construction.

Construction is started on this type of wall much like that as described in dry wall construction except, as stated before, there must be a footing down to the frost line if the wall is to remain stable. The batter on this wall should be 1 inch back for every 1 foot in height. This is not as great a batter as used in dry wall construction. In mixing the mortar, use one part cement for every two parts of sand and mix with water to a workable consistency. Pack all voids solid with mortar to achieve a tight wall, taking care not to get cement on the face of the stones.

A wall laid up using a 4 inch stone veneer as a facing is almost always constructed as a wet wall. A concrete footing is poured about 8 inches thick by 24 inches wide (for a 12 inch thick wall) at the frost line. Concrete or cinder block is laid up to just below grade. Then a 4 inch block is laid up leaving a 4 inch shelf to receive a 4 inch stone veneer. Wall ties are placed in between the block as it is laid to bond the veneer to the block. This type of construction almost always requires a stone coping of some sort to cover the veneer and exposed block wall. One advantage in using this type of construction is the unlimited choice of 4 inch veneer stones. In both cases, however, drain tiles should be placed in coarse gravel at the back of the wall, and weep holes (rust free pipe) used throughout the wall to let out water that would accumulate behind the wall.