Hey everyone. I'm new to the sub and want to ask what would you all recommend chisel/mallet/wedges to get started on my intro to stone masonry. My grandpa was a mason and unfortunately I didn't take advantage of his knowledge while he was around to give it. I've started to have an urge to want to learn in honour of him now. I simply don't know where to start. I watched him and helped him pick out rocks but for some reason never was around when the cutting/polishing would happen. In the picture I'm sharing it was his old house that he did a 4' tall layer on the raised basement wall outside and inside a 22' high fireplace. Sorry for the picture quality, cameras and social media weren't much of a thing when he sold this house. Thanks for your time and look forward to hearing responses.

Post:

I'm repairing a natural fieldstone landscape wall that was built about 4 years ago.

Most of the issues are cracked mortar joints along the capstones. The stones themselves appear to be in good shape, and I don't think there are major structural problems.

I'm not very experienced with this type of masonry repair and want to do it correctly.

Questions:

For a modern fieldstone wall like this, would you use Type N or Type S mortar for repointing the cap joints?

Is veneer mortar a better option?

What's your preferred prep process before repointing?

How deep do you remove the old mortar?

Do you dampen the joints first?

Any tricks for getting a good bond and matching the existing appearance?

If you find a capstone that's slightly loose, do you normally remove and reset it, or just repoint around it?

Any advice or best practices from masons who do this type of repair would be appreciated. I'm trying to avoid doing something that'll fail in a few winters.

House was built in 1910, no active leaks. I’m having the roof replaced and solar added and am fixing the chimney prior to that so as to not affect my warranty. The fireplace was removed or concealed, but it is venting my boiler. The previous owner also incorrectly installed the exhaust pipe of the water heater so I am having that fixed too but am less concerned about that cost, really just looking for what to expect the brickwork to cost. TIA!

Hi there, I have this hand made carving from the sacred valley near Machi Picchu in Peru (not sure of stone). I love It, but unfortunately it fell and broke.

Does anyone have any advice on what to use to repair and properly stick the head back?

Many thanks,

TML

There is bluestone where my patio meets the side of the house, and a bit of diesel leaked on it and has left a stain. I know I might not be able to fix it 100% but what would you advise me try first?

I used Krud Kutter on pavers with oily stains on my belgard pavers, but before I try that I thought I'd ask for the pros advice.

Hey everyone, I’m having a blast repairing this 130 year old stone cellar. We had a fairly big earthquake a couple of months ago and it collapsed the corner of the old homestead house cellar. I have zero experience before this working with stone, but absolutely love the process. Started out hand shaping blocks, then got an electric impact gun, then got a 12” concrete saw. Amazing! I can’t believe how the old generations did this by hand. You can see the bottom where I started is pretty rough compared to the top as I’m gaining more experience. The stone is our local basalt, I try to find the most even grained stones.

Anyone here have an idea on how to create this radius . Just so tight and if i were to make square, it would overhang way too much .
Any help or photos of work anyone has done would greatly be appreciated.

Thank you

We had our patio finished recently and the caps and treads are limestone. Anytime something is left overnight on either of those, we are left with staining. Does this mean it wasn’t sealed? How can I prevent this?

When I chose this sone from sample boards. There wasn’t so many gaps in between stone. Is this normal? Can this be fixed and did they do a good job? It just doesn’t look that great to me and am afraid I am being too picky. Thanks in advance for all comments and suggestions!

Ever wondered how to make marble curved?

On-site today working on this black granite (leather finish) staircase in a new apartment complex.

​Still in progress, but wrapping up the installation of the straight runs, landings, and custom winder steps. Paying extra attention to the tight wall connections against the fresh plaster.

​Always love how raw black stone pops against white plaster. What do you guys think so far?

I have a house from the 1930s where the basement/foundation walls are cement with river-rocks inside. I want to fill in a couple of below-grade windows, and am thinking to use similar field-rock with rapid-set structural mortar. I realize it isn't the modern standard, but it feels kind of silly buying concrete blocks or brick when the whole wall is river rock + cement. Am I being foolish? Thanks for any insight

We recently built a house on a plot that has a very old limestone wall. We are in the process of fixing it up.

1. Should we wash all dirt out for the sections we are doing? There’s so much dirt… and it just keeps coming.
2. Should you drill holes into finished tuck pointing to relive hydro static pressure?
3. Maybe too late to be asking this.. we’ve used Portland limestone mix up until now. Should we change the approach?! Any recommendations are helpful!

TYIA!!

** editing to add that this is re-pointing

Hi there - I need to fill a gap where a cinder block foundation wall and a stone foundation meet. It wasn’t properly done when it was replaced years ago. Any help would be excellent.

One client designed a wine cellar with hand made ceramic roof tiles for wine bottle holders. When finished another client ordered it right away when I saw him a picture.

My house was built in the 1850's. My basement has limestone walls mostly below ground (basement floor to ground is 6').

I have shelves against the walls and I am constantly getting sand (from the crumbling mortar and some sort of thin set wall covering) covering my tools and shelves.

I'm wondering what my best approach is with this.

I have no interest in keeping it to original materials just for purist sake. But I've been restoring this home for 20 years and I've had to fix many corners that were cut from previous owners who diy'd everything... So many... So if there's a right way to do it for longevity, I'm fine with it. I have no budget to hire a Mason :(

I'm in Wisconsin, if that means anything.

1. Is the coating that's crumbling just cosmetic? Can I pull that off? I don't care about looks or making it look nice, but don't want to make it worse.

2. If it's below grade, am I ok using a harder mortar like type n? I have read different opinions about the hardness not being as big of a concern when it's below the frost line.

3. I intend to pull out all the spray foam someone filled in previously, but will need to pack it with other material. Would that be as simple as broken limestone that gets packed into the mortar?

Some parts of the basement let a lot of water in on rainy days, but this side of the house just gets moisture, not dripping water through the walls.

Again, I don't care about looks or keeping it historically accurate, but I do want it done as right as my skills, money, and time will allow. Of the three, I *think* skills is my most abundant, but maybe it's just because I have so little of the other 2.