WHAT
YOU'RE SEEING
(Masonry
types: thin veneer | thick
veneer | solid stonework)
I do stonework
in three different structural genres. Some of the projects pictured
here are thin veneer jobs. That means the stone is usually
about 2" thick and is applied to a substrate of either masonry, or backerboard,
or mudded lathe on studs and plywood, as tile would be applied. The Brown
job illustrates the steps in this process. In this setting the
stonework does not need to be footed because it is attached to the substrate--which
is properly footed to carry the extra weight. Some examples of this
sort of work are the Rubbah Room
job, the Wilson job, and the arch
I'm standing under with my fiddle. The stone can be applied in various
styles--drylaid style (which I much prefer), or with showing mortared joints,
or even coursed with joints (the latter would be the most expensive by
far, as it would require much fashioning of each stone and the time to
do the joints).
I also
do thick veneer jobs. These would be akin to the standard
brick on block masonry that is used in most foundation construction.
A block or brick wall is built. Then a stone wall is laid in front
of this, connected with ladder wire and wall ties to the block, and footed
(normally on the same footing as the block). This construction is
heavier and is great for retaining walls (where the back or block side
is covered up with dirt). I like to do drystack work, showing mostly
edges, with occasional boulders that the thin courses have to climb over
and under. There will be a good deal of concrete in this sort of
construction, but hidden and used as sort of a "liquid shim." Such
work can also be coursed as in the Ashlar style. Examples here are
the Hackney wall (Ashlar style)
and the Hoffman/Valentine
wall (my preferred style of dry stacking with boulders). This
sort of construction can also be tied to a stud wall just as bricks are
laid on a brick house. What is required structurally is that the
work be properly footed. The Thorne
stove surround is drylaid stone construction (not thin veneer) against
stud wall. The Thorne
retaining wall is the same sort of stonework but against a block backing
wall that is back filled. The Morgan
Glen project shows the process of facing the block back wall with stone.
Finally
there is simply solid stonework. An example of that is the
Joyner
wall. Here the wall has both sides showing, so it is just laid
up in stone, on a footing, and controlled by temporary string lines.
The center of such a wall is made up of concrete and involves crossing
back and forth with the stones from each outer face. Sometimes a
center wall of block is laid and faced on both sides, but often that actually
makes the process slower--the width of the wall and the width of the typical
stones would be the controlling factors. Anyway, those are the three
kinds of work I do. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
--Bill
Hicks
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