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DRP
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# Posted: 22 Nov 2025 04:02pm
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I plugged in an old stick and it had several jobs on it.
The site where these were taken was a "boulderfield" covered with the rocks you see Ed laying. The clients wanted a daylight basement, 3 sides underground. Seeing the rocks all I could say is "We'll try, I don't have a good feeling". We didn't hit a rock underground. It was the sandstone beach sitting on top of the uplifted mountain and that capstone, broken up just remained as the softer soil beneath it eroded away,
We also collected the farm field piles and scraped the surface rocks into a pile after I cleared the site and sawed the oaks into timbers and lumber.
A rubblestone wall, look in chapter 4 of the IRC for the rules is 16" thick. Ashlar (coursed) stone can be thinner. This is probably the technique I've used the most. There is a temporary back form, we establish the front plane of the wall and lay that with tapes, strings, straightedges whatever it takes to respect the line. It is slower than slipform but looks much better. I have a mixing pan full of mortar and a wheelbarrow full of loose, flowable concrete. Lay the face stones in mortar and backfill behind the face stones to the form with smaller chunks and reject rocks and concrete. I do try to get some rebar in the wall vertical and horizontal. This is far and away the tallest one I've had done. I've done several under houses in the 2-3' tall range.
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DRP
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# Posted: 22 Nov 2025 09:26pm
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This was later that year, there was snow in the pics above, I had a baseboard heater in a plastic tent during the winter. It is deep summer here, he's a little embarrassed with the shave but it was hot. Damn he was a good dog. Ed has made it around the front where it gets much shorter but we used the same setup.
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 23 Nov 2025 12:14am - Edited by: MtnDon
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Is that the house we saw? That later had shingle problems brought on by reflections from the heat shielding in some windows?
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DRP
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# Posted: 23 Nov 2025 09:08am - Edited by: DRP
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Yes, that's it I don't see the heat gun pics but this shot shows the reflection from those 4 upper windows on the porch roof. The lowE coating on the glass reflected morning sunlight down onto the shingles, when we measured it they were hitting up to 180F and blistering. We discussed options, changing glass, metal roof there and ended up with wait and watch. As I researched the issue there were instances of houses close to one anther in subdivisions where the heat mirror glass from one house melted the vinyl siding on the neighboring house. In another case the windows of a motel facing the coutyard pool caused hot spots around the pool that could burn the unsuspecting sunbathers around the pool. The materials were all performing properly but the outcome was anything but good!
There was another pic of around back showing a shorter section of the backing form for stonework.
The third pic is a repair to an 1840's cabin here. I used the same technique for that foundation, it's 3rd major foundation repair.
Edit; I don't know if you remember the couple doing tilework and finishing up that house, that was when I really tore up the shoulder the first time... their apprentice is now doing the tile on my current job.
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 23 Nov 2025 02:25pm
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Wow, impressive stone work! All we have done was mortaring some odd sizes of river rock over the old exposure 'Crete foundation by the house entry. It did turn out well though for a 1st try.
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 23 Nov 2025 06:03pm
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@DRP That 1840 log cabin looks like it will be a fine restoration once completed again. 185 years old!
I don't recall the tile people themselves as much as I remember the tile work being wonderful, as was Ed's rubble rock.
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DRP
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# Posted: 23 Nov 2025 06:58pm - Edited by: DRP
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The log cabin restoration was completed in '02. The daughter of my clients slept there with friends shortly after. That was the 7th generation, cool  . There was a Civil War sword buried within a chink joint in the wall. If you were on the losing side, what would you have done, then it was forgotten. Carpenters in the 1970's found it as well as a rifle with bayonet in the attic, it looked like Crimean or a WWI trophy. All I found was broken mason jars and a natty boh, lots of locals went north to Baltimore but burned up the highway during the WWII war effort.
One cool thing was I had ripped an old probably virginia pine floor beam into planks from in the house. It was beside me on the old stone wall during lunch, out in the sun. It began beading resin. It was likely the warmest that fresh surface of the timber had ever seen and the resin still softened at that age, pretty cool.
Several of the contractors I hire now were running around at our feet during potlucks back in the day. I enjoy that .
Found another one, you can see the form for under the porch corner... I was hiding modern heat pumps under there behind that section of wall. Then stairs to the old cellar and we hid an entrance to the full basement with modern stuff under there. We dug about 9' under this house and put in a real foundation. The dry stack stone had crumbled, spat rocks and hogged the frame badly. This was another that I probably should have burned but for the history. I wrote the historic register submission that got it listed.
This is a good sweat equity foundation if you are blessed with stone. We think of "set in stone" as permanent, one shot, high stress. Not at all, I've gone back, looked at bad work, knocked it out and tried again. Don't worry, practice makes... better . I don't claim to be a mason by any stretch and can make passable work. Anyone can do it with a little practice.
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DRP
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# Posted: 24 Nov 2025 12:31pm - Edited by: DRP
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This is a pic of the Mt Harkness firetower under construction back in the '30's
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 24 Nov 2025 08:10pm
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Quoting: DRP Several of the contractors I hire now were running around at our feet during potlucks back in the day. I enjoy that
Cool. A few years ago I was surprised to discover one of the techs at the shop we use for anything I don't want to do on our vehicles was one of our former preschoolers.
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