I got tasked with rebuilding a stacked stone foundation from an early 1800's house (I am going to be there forever).
Two walls caved in, so I excavated and tore down the walls, dug down to the cobble trench footer they made, leveled with crushed stone and started building again, but I need a decent mix design.
The Art of the Stone Mason says to use 1-1-7, I tried it out yesterday and it seems a little rich to me, what have you guys used with success on something like this.
Normally on patch jobs I just get bagged Type N, but it's not practical for such a large project.
I see some really nice stone work going on there. You have the patience of a saint to fit them like that. I would get joints the size of my fist after about 2 hours.:thumbsup:
I decided to go lean with it in the hopes that the actual stone laying holds all the structural value, and the mortar is the just crack filler. Plus I wanted it to have some give to it if the wall decided to settle a little.
The guy in the photo is one of the local stone gurus and I have helped him on some dry stacked walls before. I learn more every time about the best ways to tie the wall together, and with these rocks being so ugly it is definitely a test in patience.
I'm glad to be getting it under my belt though, it was fun to take apart the old wall (what was left of it) and figuring out why it failed so badly. Random cobbles in the wall and hydraulic pressure over 170 years is a bad mix.
I got some fresh pictures today for anyone interested.
I have had the house blocked up for a few weeks now, the outside of the wall is complete, I leveled off about a foot down and just built up to the main beams, the rest of the inside is going to simply be filler to make the wall complete.
I had 3 strapping lads come with me to work today and we dug out the floor and prepped it for concrete this week, 7 hours of digging and about a million 5 gallon buckets of dirt and rocks later we got something I can actually work with down there. :laughing:
Here is how it sits right now, the next time I post pictures there will be a floor, the wall will be finished and hopefully pointed up.
Keep in mind that I have been just sort of fitting this job in every few weeks, I don't sandbag that bad on all my projects :whistling
put up a sign charge 10 bucks to look at stone wall master piece, next time you need a good pokey mix call the guy who last did it, hey it lasted a couple of hundred years!
I kept careful track of how much material and time it has been taking me, so if I ever get another one I know how much to upcharge.
This guy has given me so much work it isn't even funny, and he still has a list that will take me a year to finish up. So I just charge him hourly and don't mark up material.
Should I ever come across one of these again though I would really like to pad the old retirement fund.:laughing:
Its funny how when you can deliver a load of whatever next to where your working how much quicker the project goes. Walking stuff around the house gets materials X aggrivation X time X aggrivation X exhaustion X heat factor X aggrivation X time + I dont really want to do it = price.
Bruno is a good dude, San Marino is a beautiful place. I'm sure he's wandering about on his cycle living the good life. At least that's what he told me awhile back when I PM'd him.
How about the Italian who was deported,...liked that guy as well!
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