🪨 Dry-Stacked Stone Foundations for Drainage & Erosion Control in Chattanooga, TN

🪨 Dry-Stacked Stone Foundations for Drainage & Erosion Control
📅 August 25–28 (4 days)
💰 $480

Ready to build stone walls that are beautiful and built to last?

Join us this August at Talking Water Nature Retreat in Chattanooga, TN for a hands-on deep dive into dry-stacked stone foundation work. This workshop is designed for anyone who wants to combine aesthetic, long-lasting walls with smart water management—whether you’re planning a cob, cordwood, or hybrid structure.

We’ll be working on two real-world applications:

🔹 50′ perimeter mortared stone foundation (for cob walls)

• Trenched gravel base with runoff tubing

• Classic stacked stone wall techniques for vertical builds

🔹 65′ linear mortared stone retaining wall (for cordwood walls)

• 2–3 ft high with 6 ft load-bearing buttress supports

• Water management with landscape fabric, French drains, and compacted gravel

You’ll learn how to:

✅ Select and balance stones

✅ Frame for openings like doors and transitions

✅ Build with long-term structural integrity

✅ Create 100-year walls that manage water like pros

✅ Use simple tools and techniques that honor tradition and function

This workshop is part of our Fall Earthbuilding Series, a collection of focused weekend intensives at our family-run nature-based retreat, Talking Water, on Suck Creek Mountain—just 15 minutes from downtown Chattanooga and next to Prentice Cooper State Forest.

🌿 Pricing includes:

• All tools and materials

• Daily breakfast, lunch, snacks, and drinks

• One homemade, healthy group dinner

🏕️ On-site camping available: $20 per tent
🏡 Discounted cabin rentals available (while they last!)

This is for the builders, the land-lovers, the folks who want to do it right from the ground up. Whether you’re just getting started or bringing years of experience, you’re welcome here.

📩 Questions? Reach out: Bobbie@TalkingWaterTN.com
🔗 More info & full workshop schedule: talkingwatertn.com
🔗 Facebook share link: https://www.facebook.com/share/1H1dgCprih/

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This workshop is part of a series of workshops constructing a bluff-top amphitheater from the ground up. Topics include:

🪨 Dry-stacked stone foundations for drainage & erosion control

• August 25 to August 28 (4 days)
• $480

🪞 Bottle-log windows for beauty & light diffusion

• August 30 to August 31 (2 days)
• $315

📐 Load-bearing cordwood walls

• September 13 to 14 (2 days) OR September 20 to 21 (2 days)
• $315

🌀 Scultpural cob walls

• September 5 to September 14 (10 days)
• $815

🪷 Natural plasters with breathable, weather-ready finishes

• September 24 to September 28 (5 days)
• $580

🏡 Reciprocal green roof for thermal mass & elegant structure

• October 12 to October 16 (5 days)
• $580

🌿 Performance meets creativity. Function meets nature. And you meet a community of hands-on learners ready to build the future together.