Stone masonry is amazing. If you’ve ever watched a professed mason doing their trade it’s nearly like watching a scripted play or dare I say a ballet. The professed movement is a true art form. Of course, an ability like this doesn’t occur overnight. There is, still, the capability to do some masonry on your own if you’re a little handy and take your time. In this blog, I’ll cover many of the specifics to help your work look good. This will also help you understand why certain stones The Details of Good and Bad Stone Masonry
Some of the most important specifics missing from the videotape have a lot to do with what makes an installation look good. It might feel odd to have to explain some of this, but it’s not as egregious as you might suppose. Once you know what a good natural gravestone veneer installation should look like, it’s a commodity you’ll notice ever when looking at a design that includes erecting gravestone veneer products.
Mortar Joints
The first thing is the mortar joint. You’d suppose it’s the gravestone, but it’s this detail that can make all the difference. A mortar joint is a crucial element. Whether it’s drily piled, dredged back, flush, or over grouted; a bad mortar joint stands out.
What, you ask, is a bad mortar joint? It can come in several forms. One is inconsistency in size. However, the average installation will have roughly an a1/2 inch joint, If you’re doing a typical mortar joint. Indeed with a bad gravestone, if you keep the common harmonious it can make all the difference in the world.
Mortar Joint Finishing
The coming thing with joints is how you “ finish ”them. However, striking, or brushing your mortar joint; it’s important that you do it when the mortar is roughly the same hardness – frequently appertained to as “ thumbprint hard ”, If you’re combing.
still, it’ll pull the lime in the mortar to the face and make the common lighter than the rest of the joints, If you strike the joint when it’s too wet. The only good thing about this is that it generally evens out so the mortar joints end up matching up over time. In the morning, however, it freaks a lot of people out.
Gravestone Masonry Styles & Patterns
The coming thing to consider is the style of gravestone you’re installing. It may not look like it, but there’s a system to the madness in the installation. There’s actually a pattern for the different gravestone types.
An Ashlar Line pattern of installation is occasionally appertained to as a 21 pattern. This is as it sounds, 2 lower stones to 1 big gravestone.
The below sample belt of Chilton Custom Country mix illustrates a 21 pattern. It’s a product in our Ashlar Line, but numerous different gravestone product types can be installed this way – with two stones butting up to one and creating a perpendicular joint. This does a couple of effects. First, installing gravestone pieces in this way it breaks up the joints so they don’t run into each other. This also helps keep the vertical joints from forming long, coursed runs. The other thing to notice is the variations in the perpendicular joints. A good rule of thumb is to have a minimum of four elevations between perpendicular joints to keep from having the perpendicular joints run a long distance over and down; rather, they should be staggered.
The coming type of gravestone masonry installation is what we call a Mosaic installation. The same rules are enough much apply then with common sizes, and not having the joints running too long perpendicular, or vertical. The one difference with a Mosaic Line pattern( occasionally appertained to as irregular) is you have to watch “ the crotch ” of the stones.
principally, when the stones line up with each other what you want to watch for is a big triangle showing up in the joint because the gravestone shapes don’t line up well. The below belt print for Antique Copper Fieldstone is enough for good gravestone masonry installation. Areas, where the crotches of the gravestone pieces are a little bigger than they presumably should be, are indicated by white triangles. You can see the joint in the middle of those stones is a little large than the rest. It’s not poor – just not as quality as it could be.
Your Stylish Resource for Stone Masonry Information
So there you encounter it – those are the fundamentals! If you’re considering installing a gravestone on your own, the biggest thing is to take your time and don’t rush the process. However, work with your Masonry Los Angeles to help with some of the details, If you do have questions. They’ll be a great source of information and help keep you refocused in the right direction.