Whew! What a week! Our most recent home improvement project turned out to be a bit more challenging than we anticipated – and the weather was VERY hot and humid. But even with those two factors working against us, we managed to make good progress for stone laying newbies. I’ll outline the process here and share few tricks which will help save you some time and frustration, if you plan to tackle a project like this. Let me warn you up front, though, this is not a project for a novice DIY’er. Do-it-yourself enthusiasts probably won’t have too much trouble completing this project, but we do have a few money saving tips you might find helpful.
Pour a Footing
As with most jobs, there was quite a bit of prep work to be done before any stones were laid. This step took one whole day and included items such as:
- Trim the grass several feet out from the house.
- Till up the soil where the footing will be poured. We used a small garden tiller to expedite this process.
- Dig a trench for the footing.
- Form up the footing and pour the quick set concrete.
- Allow the concrete to cure over night.
Money saving tip: DIY Guy built an inexpensive concrete mixing box with spare 1×6’s and a piece of plywood (see photo above). We generally use a wheelbarrow, but this project needed more concrete than our wheelbarrow could handle.
Frame Out the Open Areas
On the second day we framed out the open areas with treated 2×4’s and half inch treated plywood. The stone mason assured us the stone would adhere to the new block piers (and the older ones which were brick), so there was no need to cover those areas with plywood. When installing the 2×4 framework, be sure to set it back the thickness of the plywood so the face of the plywood will be flush with the face of the piers when you’re finished.
I should probably mention here that we are using manufactured stone. If you’re using something other than manufactured stone, you should ask your provider if it will adhere to surfaces other than the lath.
Install Lath Over Plywood
Our stone and the lath were delivered on the third day. I was disappointed with the color of the stone – it had much more orange in it than I wanted. We considered our options and decided to proceed with our plans. We only had one week “vacation” time, and it would take seven more days to get new stone delivered. I plan to dry brush some concrete stain over the stone to tone down the orange. I’ll write more about this later, and let you know how it turned out.
After the color controversy, we installed the lath so that the curved slats pointed up – if you slide your hand up the lath, it should feel smoother than when you slide down the lath. The curved slats help hold the grout and stone in place. Lath should be installed with plastic capped nails like those which are used to hold tar paper to a roof, and they should be placed every four to six inches. Lath does not need to be installed over brick or concrete blocks, unless they have been painted.
Lay the Stone
Now we get to the fun part of the project – laying the stone! This was where things got hot and hairy! I’ll write about this step and the tricks we learned in the second part of this series and create a link to it from here.
Keeping it real,
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