Following up on my previous post where I showed the carving and profiling process, here it is set in place!

Does anyone know how to remove roof sealant off of bluestone tread? Don’t ask me how it happened 😂

First time DIY doing stone veneer for our fireplace. I have this constant fear that a stone is going to fall off and hurt someone. When doing the tops, I had a few dried ones fall off in the process. Was very frustrating.

So just afraid that I didn’t do a good job on the mortar (used type S stone veneer mortar) since I had some get loose after it was dried.

So hoping everything is good now and when I over grout it this weekend it’ll be more secure.

Or when I grout it, it’ll be a wall of stone coming at me as it falls.

Am I over reacting on this, and it’ll be okay?

Oh and I know I’ll get some shit on the layout ha, I didn’t follow much of a design or the best practices of stone layout.

Perks of being into several crafts, sometimes there’s a bit of overlap. I’m a hobby blacksmith among other things. And have recently been getting interested in stonemasonry while re laying a couple of collapsed limestone retaining walls on my driveway. Did one side last fall but wasn’t quite happy with just reusing the stones without adjusting the fit. So decided to do some research and educate myself a bit before doing the other much longer side. Here I am one year later with my home made pitcher and started to work the first cornerstone. I’m ofc a complete novice so please don’t flame me for butchering this stone 😁

I plan on rebuilding those stone steps. The problem is that they are also supporting a small roof through two wooden columns. As you can see, a lot of material has been washed out from under the left column, but so far it seems to be well supported by the stones on the exterior. Even then, while most of the mortar between the granite blocks and the column is in place, some is missing.

Rebuilding the steps themselves isn't the issue, the column is. Since it's still holding well and nothing has moved (yet) is there a way to inject mortar and somehow reinforce the support without removing completely the column?

It’s been a minute since I last posted here! I’ve been completely swamped with interior work lately, so getting my hands dirty on a traditional architectural piece felt great.

​This is a handmade door surround carved from Belgian Blue Limestone (petit granit).

Not finished. Just a test ...

We want to clad the front of this porch with stone slips. It's blue pennant stone and the slips are around 15mm thick. The issue is that this was scratch coated before we decided to use stone, so it hasn't been re-enforced. Main concern is that these stone slips will be sitting above a doorway. I'm assuming I'll need to take off the scratch coat back to blocks. Add some EML mesh. Paint with SBR/cement. Scratch coat with 6-1-1 sand/cement/lime. And then use a polymer adhesive to attach the stones? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Been here 23 years. Always wondered how good the mason did.

So my question is i had some flat treads laid for entrance steps to my house but the sides of the rock need color in them has anyone around ar have any experience with this and who might I contact to talk with them. Im not afraid of doing this myself just need some good info from someone with experience!

Looking for recommendations on a sealer for an outdoor irregular flagstone walkway with mortared joints. Is anything from a local big-box store actually good enough?

The photo is of the stone dry; the last photo is slightly wet. I want a product that deepens the natural color the way the stone looks when it is wet, without peeling, flaking, or haze.

A wet look with no sheen, or only a slight sheen, is what I am after. It has to hold up in Northern VA freeze/thaw cycles. I may also want to seal the bluestone treads, so I am looking for a product that works on both.

Prep would be a cleaning and a muriatic acid wash before sealing. Local products and anything that has to be ordered online are both welcome.

Also, what is a considered a fair price range to seal the walkway plus nine bluestone treads?

This is my first time doing one of these, by the way.

Appreciate anyone's input. Thanks

I have a brick chimney that was covered with a stone veneer by a previous owner. The back of the veneer has broke off and the brick is Spalding. What do I do here? There is a wire mesh under the veneer. Remove the entire veneer? Does anyone know how I would go about doing it? Thanks

My retaining wall has two ‘cracks’ flanking the corner. They were addressed—and subsequently failed—by the previous homeowner using some sort of polymer and grout.

Do I need to worry about the cracks? I’m located on Canada’s east coast, where the ground freezes and we have a volatile freeze-thaw cycle.

If I need to address the cracks, is there a suitable non-invasive solution, or do I need to excavate and rebuild?

Went down a stairwell and seen this at the bottom on the right. Ol' Tommy laid a stone.

We applied adhered veneer poly mortar to secured metal lath, but feeling we didn't make lur scratch coat deep enough. I noticed there are some small cracks in the dried mortar too.

Do we need to redo the wall or add another mortar layer?

I have this front door that needs to have a stone veneer or brick veneer applied to the threshold to flush it up with the bottom sill of this pre-hung door. I believe the right answer is bluestone, and we are in southeast Pennsylvania, so I think it would be appropriate, but would like to hear your opinions. It's only about 5/8ths of an inch gap, which is tough, but we could get away with 3/4 and just butt joint the front with sikaflex joint? also, should I instead cut some height off the top of the existing concrete threshold? Or something else? Would laticrete MVIS be the correct mortar bed, and opinions on brick type (because this is a bark-like finished brick)- should I match or go with something complimentary- for the skirting of the threshold?. Thanks for any advise.

Hi,

I’m trying to remove some very stubborn black lichen from an Indian sandstone patio. There are 3 stones (1 in particular - The curved one) where I just cannot get the stuff off. So far I’ve tried… Pressure washing alone. A water based biocide then pressure washing. Sodium hypochlorite and stiff brush. This helped get some light stuff off a few of the lesser affected stones but these 3 remain stubborn.

With the hypochlorite I wet the surface first, applied solution neat, scrubbed with stiff brush. Repeated application and scrubbing every 15 minutes for about an hour. This lightened it slightly on 2 of the stones and the 3rd ever so slightly (maybe).

Various AI’s can’t agree on the best way forward.

Does anyone have a recommendation?

I’d like to get the whole lot sealed before winter kicks in and want to clean this off first if possible.

Thanks.