Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Self-Sufficiency and Preparedness
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 02-16-2016, 12:35 PM
 
Location: Where the mountains touch the sky
6,753 posts, read 8,541,972 times
Reputation: 14957

Advertisements

Looking at handy skills for the homestead, being able to work with stone is a good one. You can lay foundations, build houses and fences, retaining walls, make waterholes, all using the natural stone that may be available on the land.


I started working with stone when I was still in High School and was helping my father and uncle build a house.
Working in stone is different than working with brick or blocks because you are dealing with irregular shapes, but learning how to cut stone with a chisel or shape it really helps. That said, many of the same techniques transfer over from brick to stone.


Using round river rock is the hardest type to work with because it is smooth and round, so harder to set securely.


The big things to remember with stone is 1 on 2, 2 on 1. Always make sure that the seam between 2 rocks doesn't extend up the wall as that will be a weak point where you'll get a crack.


Mortar is not an adhesive. It simply provides a fitted bed for the stone, it will not stick the stone together or to a wall.


Stone wants to fall straight down. So you need to make sure the rock is set level so it doesn't move front or back and collapse the wall.


Always start the bottom of a wall thicker than the what the finished wall at the top will be so you have a slight angle in. This will help brace the wall. For instance, if you want a wall 1 foot thick at the top, for a 10 foot wall, the base should be at least 18 inches thick.


Make sure you have a good solid footing under your stone. Gravel or other crushed material so that the weight of the wall is solid and can't slip.


Know the characteristics of the stone you're working. Sedimentary stone is easy to cut and shape, but will weather and surfaces exposed to the elements should be sealed to prevent weathering. Granite or basalt will really withstand the elements, but are tough to cut.


Here is a pretty good tutorial.
How to Do Stonemasonry (with Pictures) - wikiHow


Just an FYI, working stone is heavy work, always wear heavy gloves and wear steel toed boots, and don't try to lift more than you can handle easily. It's easy to injure your back lifting too much or working at it too long.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 02-16-2016, 01:57 PM
 
Location: Backwoods of Maine
7,487 posts, read 10,460,988 times
Reputation: 21460
Up in Maine, we have a lot of stone (at least in my part of it). Many ancient stone walls, once used as property or field boundaries. Those old farmers must've known what they were doing...I can't figure what holds those walls up over so many decades - no mortar at all - must be the moss!

When the glaciers receded some 10-12,000 years ago, the ice would melt and just drop its load of rocks that had been held in suspension all those years, having been scraped off the bedrock as the ice sheet moved south. Lot of granite up there; just as much as in RI when we lived there. We had 'hills' that were the terminus of glacial moraines. Fascinating stuff!

Plenty of stone at our place that I should use for something. I never worked with it before, except to throw loose stones into a foundation for a shed. We did work with a lot of crushed rock in my trucking business...but the dump trucks got to handle all that! Seems a shame to waste that resource.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-17-2016, 01:31 AM
 
Location: rural south west UK
5,376 posts, read 3,570,793 times
Reputation: 6540
I did some dry stone walling, its hard work.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-17-2016, 02:17 AM
 
Location: When you take flak it means you are on target
7,646 posts, read 9,920,297 times
Reputation: 16451
Oh, sorry I thought the title said "stoned." Been spending too much time in Colorado I guess.

MTSilvertip, if that Montana winter is getting you down, it's 84 down here in AZ and I just happen to need a wall built.

Im my younger years I build a massive 6' rock wall using large volcanic boulders. It took a couple of weeks. Every rock had to be fitted just right. It is a facade facing a standard block wall. We used dark mortar and once we had several rocks set we scratched out some of the mortar so it looked like it was a hand-fit wall.
Attached Thumbnails
Stone-yard.jpg  
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-17-2016, 03:29 AM
 
Location: rural south west UK
5,376 posts, read 3,570,793 times
Reputation: 6540
Quote:
Originally Posted by jamies View Post
Im my younger years I build a massive 6' rock wall using large volcanic boulders. It took a couple of weeks. Every rock had to be fitted just right. It is a facade facing a standard block wall. We used dark mortar and once we had several rocks set we scratched out some of the mortar so it looked like it was a hand-fit wall.
that cheating!! we built dry stone walls-no mortar- and every stone had to be "trigged" to sit right, its long, labourious and hard work, I know because I've done it.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-17-2016, 07:05 AM
 
Location: Where the mountains touch the sky
6,753 posts, read 8,541,972 times
Reputation: 14957
Quote:
Originally Posted by jamies View Post
Oh, sorry I thought the title said "stoned." Been spending too much time in Colorado I guess.

MTSilvertip, if that Montana winter is getting you down, it's 84 down here in AZ and I just happen to need a wall built.

Im my younger years I build a massive 6' rock wall using large volcanic boulders. It took a couple of weeks. Every rock had to be fitted just right. It is a facade facing a standard block wall. We used dark mortar and once we had several rocks set we scratched out some of the mortar so it looked like it was a hand-fit wall.
To me, 84 is way worse than the 40 degree temps we've been having. To me, 40-60 degrees for the daytime high is juuuuuuust right
The wife's kin is all down around Phoenix, so with them there, living in Montana, while still a little close, is just about the right degree of separation.


Now if we could tone down the 70 MPH winds with gusts up to 85.....


I don't like working with large boulders, too hard on my back. My father loves to go pick fieldstone for me to work with, and he always picks stuff at least 100 lbs, which would be fine for foundations or freestanding walls or retaining walls, but for stone facades backing a wood stove or whatever...I usually end up doing a LOT of cutting.


We have a lot of granite around Butte, but most of the stuff around the home place is sandstone laid down at the bottom of shallow seas or freshwater lakes back during the Cretaceous and Jurassic as evidenced by the Hell Creek formation here where all the dinosaurs are found.


It's a dream to work, soft enough to cut easily, usually already in a rectangular form, it goes up quick in a drywall or mortared build. But it has to be sealed as it will weather badly and will absorb water which when it freezes will cause it to flake.


Still, it's a blast to work with
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-17-2016, 09:10 AM
 
Location: Backwoods of Maine
7,487 posts, read 10,460,988 times
Reputation: 21460
Quote:
Originally Posted by MTSilvertip View Post
To me, 84 is way worse than the 40 degree temps we've been having. To me, 40-60 degrees for the daytime high is juuuuuuust right
I hear ya! 48 and sunny today in TN. Rain's ended. Tomorrow going into mid-upper 60's and that's plenty high enough for me. By May, it'll be stifling. Thank God somebody else will be here to take over for me by the end of May. Chickens will be growing, and the heat'll be driving me back to Maine!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-17-2016, 09:22 AM
 
Location: Where the mountains touch the sky
6,753 posts, read 8,541,972 times
Reputation: 14957
Quote:
Originally Posted by jamies View Post
Oh, sorry I thought the title said "stoned." Been spending too much time in Colorado I guess.

MTSilvertip, if that Montana winter is getting you down, it's 84 down here in AZ and I just happen to need a wall built.

Im my younger years I build a massive 6' rock wall using large volcanic boulders. It took a couple of weeks. Every rock had to be fitted just right. It is a facade facing a standard block wall. We used dark mortar and once we had several rocks set we scratched out some of the mortar so it looked like it was a hand-fit wall.
P.S.

That work looks Great!!!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Self-Sufficiency and Preparedness

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 03:42 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top