New Code for Post & Pier ?

[MarkP]

One method of building with stone that is mentioned wherever alternative building methods are discussed is slip form masonry. You build wood forms as long as your wall, a couple of feet tall, and about 18" thick. You reach the stones in from the top and place them with the good faces out against the forms. When that course sets up you move the forms up and do the next course. You fill the center of the wall with concrete and rebar so you are essentially building a reinforced concrete wall with decorative rock faces. Those rocks make the wall heavier and require the wall to be thicker to be self supporting. The irregular rocks also require more mortar to fill all the gaps. There is the false impression that using the rocks adds strength and uses native materials but unless it is a dry stone wall you would be better off somehow casting 4" thick slabs and tilting them up or casting them in place. Point being adding the rocks does not reduce the amount of cement if you are committed to building a reinforced concrete wall.