In this HowTo we will cover the very basics of stone building design. In reality very few stone homes are built today because of the cost. There are many homes that were built prior to about 1950 that are stone homes and many that have survived hundreds of years. Today if you see a home with a stone exterior it is likely imitation or thin vernier stone that is applied to a stucco base. However because a few people have been asking about building with stone we thought that it might be a good idea to go over the basics of how these buildings are built.
Field Stone vs Finished Stone
The first thing about building with stone is the different types of stone that is used. In historic buildings you will find that some stone work is field stone. Field stone is stone that is found on the property or in a local quarry. It comes in random shapes and its appearance is that of a old farm house where you see the original stone as it was pulled from the ground. The next type of stone used in building is a finished stone. This is where stone is cut from large deposits and brought to the work site in blocks. You will see this type of stone in Churches and Government buildings.
Building With Field Stone
Field stone was basically a free building material that was collected when farmers were clearing their fields for crops or stock. In the Northeast states of the US you will find a mixture of wood framed and field stone buildings where the home’s basement might be built of field stone and above the ground they would build the rest of the home out of wood. They might also build a knee wall foundation that extended a few feet above ground which was good in areas that saw lots of snow. In most cases if they home was constructed by someone with skill or a stone mason the field stone would be prepped at the site and this meant that the mason would first concentrate on the corners and try to find stone with flat faces. If they couldn’t find enough they would have to use hand tools such as sledge hammers, stone drills, wedges and feathers to split the stone to make a corner face. Once the corners and footings of the building were established the building of the rest of the wall would be a bit more random however every stone that is placed in a stone wall is thoughtfully placed so that it locks into the stone around it. Prior to the 1900’s mortar was made out of lime and not portland cement. This meant it was much weaker. For the structure to be sound the smallest joints of mortar were the best built buildings. Once the wall is completed a cap of flat stone would be laid on the top of the wall.
Building with Finished Stone
Building with finished stone is very similar to building with concrete block or brick. The stone is cut from large stone deposits in huge quarries and brought to the site in a ready to install form. Sometimes the stone will be finished on site but if special facing or cutting is required for places such as around an entrance those details will be mocked up in a factory and delivered ready to install.
Normally only the finished face of the stone will see much work the rest of the stone is just sized to fit correctly in the wall and will have imperfections. If both the interior and exterior sides of the wall are finished and exposed then two walls will be built and the center of the wall will be filled with a rubble type stone and mortar. Even with only the exposed side being hand or machine cut the labor for each stone is quit long.
Working with stone at this level takes special skills and the average contractor is not going to have them. If you were going to build a large church or business out of cut finished stone you may need to search across your state or half way across the country for one with the required sills and staff to complete the work. On the other hand repairs could be done by a well trained local mason.
Interior Walls In Stone Construction
Interior walls, stairs, the structure of the building are normally built independently from the exterior walls of stone buildings. In some cases Beams will be set into stone walls but normally you are talking about two independent structures. Depending on the age of the building and its design the interior of the building may be built first and then the exterior stone would be set on an extension of the foundation just like brick. As the wall is built it is tied into the walls of the interior with tie back straps that are set in the mortar of the stone wall and nailed to the framing of the interior wall. Tie backs do not support load they just steady the wall.
In a modern stone exterior building the stone is more decoration than structure. The variety of stone used in this type of construction can be anything from real stone to a vernier stone or even fake stone made out of concrete. The advantage of fake stone is that it is light weight and it can be applied to a stucco base. The stucco base can be formed by building with plywood or fiberglass panels and then attaching a wire mesh and coating it with mortar. After the stucco face has cured then you can attach the stone with mortar.
Final Note
Stone Foundations are probably the most common form of stone building that most people will come in contact with in their homes. They were used for hundreds of years but pretty much replaced by the 1950’s with poured and block concrete walls.
A lot of people are very apprehensive about working on stone foundations or stone walls but they shouldn’t be. Although I probably wouldn’t suggest that anyone build a stone foundation or basement you can do repairs and upgrades relatively easily. In the Northeast of the US they are very common similar to adobe being used in the southwest.
Field stone houses are common in any area where there is a lot of farming because it was an easy material to get and as you cleared your land for crops you had to do something with the stone. Historically a small house would be built and then extended and you can see this on historic homes. As they cleared more land the stone allowed them to extend the size of their home or barn.
In other how tos we will cover building with these products and repairs.