Hi All-

I'm in western NY and need a mason that works with field stone foundations. I've made a pile of calls but nobody wants to touch it. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

DIY... fieldstone is a no brainer.

I thought of taking it on, but I have a lot on my plate already and I'm worried that parts of the foundation won't wait for me to experiment and learn.

I'll poke around a bit online, I'm always up to learn something new.

Thanks again Mark.

I'm a mason in Northeastern VT. I have repaired many stone foundations as well as building new ones. I may be able to help you.check out my webpage www.oldeworldmasonry.com You can contact me there or through this forum.

Hi;

Dry stone done well is not really a no brainer. Maybe the Dry Stone Concervancy can refer you to someone in your area. http://www.drystone.org/

I think a well done dry-laid walls are extremely durable IF the wall is well laid and the ground water around the foundation is properly drained.

Jim

Field stone foundations and dry laid stone work are two different styles. Most barn foundations I see around here use mortar between the stones.
Dry stone is not that hard either, provided you have good material(reasonably flat stone), unless you are talking about making fancy arches, etc. In that case I bow down to the experienced mason.
I would encourage anyone to try working with stones, especially field stone or rubble stone barn foundations. The stones you need to do the repair are usually laying right beside the wall, and there are probably plenty more laying around the farm, waiting for you to pick them up for free.
To mix mortar, get some clean sand, a couple bags of portland cement and a bag of lime that is meant to mix mortar with. Play around with your mixture, there should be some suggestions on the lime bag, it's been a while but I seem to remember 10 shovels sand, 3 portland and 1 lime... or was it 21 sand, 3 portland, 1 lime...

Hi Mark,

I am not that keen on your suggestion to use Portland cement in connection with laying stone walls. Portland cement cures to form an impervious unyielding layer that traps water and can result in freeze / thaw movement damage plus if a timber frame stands on top of this it will cause rapid rot to any contact surfaces. If you need to use mortar then this should be simple lime mortar which will absorb / transmit / re emit water and will yield to slight movement and then re seal itself by water calcium carbonate soluable action. The old ways are the best.

Regards

Ken Hume

Ken,

Agreed, could you, or anyone, provide a recipe for this simple lime mortar?

I won't agree, however that the old ways are always the best, people are still trying to improve things and sometimes it actually happens.

Problem is, I'm trying to think of an example of something that has improved, and not coming up with much. Take diet for example, the average farm animal has benefited from nutritional science, and people know how to eat better, but most of us are in worse shape than we were before the nutrition revolution, so is it better or worse?
Most things I can think of are like this, we know more about keeping houses warm in Canada, but we have more problems with air quality in our tight houses, so it's hard to say if we are ahead...

"Agreed, could you, or anyone, provide a recipe for this simple lime mortar?"

I'll go to Vitruvius again,

"mix your mortar, if using pit sand, in the proportions of three parts of sand to one of lime; if using river sand or sea sand mix two parts of sand with one of lime....Further, in using river or sea sand, the addition of a third part composed of burnt brick, pounded up and sifted, will make your mortar of a better composition to use"

supposedly the crushed bricks produced good frost resistance. the hydraulic and semi-hydraulic stuff is a little over my head.

some recorded proportions from up near your parts Mark,

One part lime to 2.2 parts sand : Quebec
One part lime to 2 parts sand: Nova Scotia