Is that fieldstone in that fireplace?
Is that fieldstone in that fireplace?
Heh heh, that mysterious arch reminds me of an arch I built from local stone, in a semi-remote section of a county park near me. It's not dry stacked, but it will make the occasional hiker wonder about it's origin.
:D Now if you would have made two arches and painted them gold... 8)
Well I finally started my stone work a couple of weeks ago. I found a supplier close by that sells blue sandstone for $80 a ton. I am using type S mortor for the strength and am laying the wall about 8" thick against the block wall foundation of my house. Although I had no prior skill in this I found it quite easy. I can only get about 30 s.f. in a day, which is about 1.5 bags of mortar a day...so it is rather slow I guess, but actually alot of fun. It is like a big puzzle. It looks great too. I have gone around town to look at other professionally done jobs....and I really don't like them as much. Around here they chare 10 dollars a square foot too! Don't be afraid of stone masonry, just give it a try. You will be suprised at how good at it you could be.
Please post some pics of your project. tks Phil
hey all..i need some thoughts on this.
we have a mason doing a "veneer" on our ICF stem wall with stones that came from a house we took down on the property. i was planning on having the stones cut n then used as a 4" veneer. i like the look of drystack..but he was going to mortar these.
yesterday when i wasnt on site he decided to experiment a bit. i like the look of what he came up with, it fits into the look of the cabin because of how beefy it is. and i can save some money cuz he doesnt have to cut a bunch of stones.
my question/problem is..if we do it this way ( meaning as thick as this would be ) am i just bringing up the height of the "ground" and loosing the 18" above ground rule?? i kinda need to decide quick cuz hes paid by the hour n he aint cheap. would this retain moisture or drain fine? i held off on the termite shield til we knew what we were doing with the veneer.
the top stone sets in more..and creates a nice transition to the log and it hides that first chinking line which i dont like much anyway.
thoughts? concerns?
ramblinman can you decribe more about the experiment? I cannot view the pictures (limits placed by servers here at work....) can you describe what your mason has done?
basically hes taken stones that are about 10" thick..dry set them against the ICF ( tho he does have gravel between the stone and the ICF ) so were talking a full 12" at the ground and then it slowly tapers in. with the top stone set in the most ( kinda creates a small shelf i guess ) the look is cool ( tho it may sound strange )
my concern is the 18" rule and moisture..it feels like weve just brought the ground height up...seems the water would just drain tho.
If I were you I would be inclined to go with it and then monitor it closely over the next year or so to make sure it was working correctly. You are not bringing dirt up to the logs..you are bringing stone so I don't think it would be a problem.
keith
It does sound dramatic!!
the goal is getting the logs 18 inches off the ground so the experiment does not interfere with that. one might worry about rain water splashing off the lower stones that are on the outside of the taper, though....
we'll be finishing our ICF with stone as well. dry set sounds so easy! had planned on securing the stones to the ICF with mesh, mortor, sitting on top of our brick ledge. I like your idea better for our garage stem wall. would look a bit more natural!
I hope others chime in on whether or not the experiment 'brought the ground height up'!
Bookmarks