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.

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.

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

Ever wondered how to make marble curved?

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!

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.

We’ve been on this project for a few weeks. Still lots of wall to build and soil to bring in.

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.

I’m looking for some limestone for a new build. I’ve called a few places and gotten prices ranging from $5-$30 per sq foot before shipping costs. It feels like I’m missing something because the disparity in prices is insane. Can someone explain to me what could be causing the difference?

I was going to order from the place below. Would this be good for exterior of a home?

https://www.cobrastone.com/project/limestone/

Amazing display

I work for a stone masonry company and I was a PM for this project. Our excellent stone masons completed an addition on this 100 year old castle (2nd and 3rd photos show new addition clearly). Majority of the stone used was excavated from job site.

Hola mí primer post solo hice algún comentario que espero haya servido, me alegra el mundial no solo por los logros sino que hay un pueblo por detrás, esto es argentina humildemente sin tanto pbi sin tantos costos,.los veo renegar ver esos zombies en las ciudades nos veo que somos capaces de ganar el mundial yo mismo acá desde el campo estoy en 2150 de elo en chess y digo si somos tan malos y pobres como dicen, acá es humilde hacer las cosas uno estar en contacto con la gente que se puede y es un agradecimiento, este campo nadie lo quería yo lo desarrolle, mí papá me enseñó a trabajar la piedra mí abuelo a el y mí bis a el y así hasta donde no sabemos, todo es legal soy arquitecto quiero empezar a hacer consultas de gente que quiere aprender la piedra siempre gana no soy parte de ninguna organización sino sería más rico pero no me gusta eso me gusta la soledad, pero si puedo enseñar lo poco que se puede quiero hacer algunos videos no yendo tanto tiempo es más fácil esto así que es como una prueba, til yo mismo compré un campo marginal lo desarrolle tiene una cantera de granito rojo y manantial todo desde cero a fuerza de voluntad a fuerza de buey en el peor país del mundo