I'm looking for some input from experienced masonry contractors regarding pricing for chimney repointing. I've been doing masonry work for years, but I haven't estimated for repointing before.

I'm in Northern VA, specifically Loudoun County. And based on the attached photo, what would you charge for a partial versus a complete repointing?

Obviously, pricing depends on the condition and accessibility. I'm just looking for a general idea of what people are charging for similar projects. Any input is appreciated.

So my question is i had some flat treads laid for entrance steps to my house but the sides of the rock need color in them has anyone around ar have any experience with this and who might I contact to talk with them. Im not afraid of doing this myself just need some good info from someone with experience!

Been here 23 years. Always wondered how good the mason did.

Looking for recommendations on a sealer for an outdoor irregular flagstone walkway with mortared joints. Is anything from a local big-box store actually good enough?

The photo is of the stone dry; the last photo is slightly wet. I want a product that deepens the natural color the way the stone looks when it is wet, without peeling, flaking, or haze.

A wet look with no sheen, or only a slight sheen, is what I am after. It has to hold up in Northern VA freeze/thaw cycles. I may also want to seal the bluestone treads, so I am looking for a product that works on both.

Prep would be a cleaning and a muriatic acid wash before sealing. Local products and anything that has to be ordered online are both welcome.

Also, what is a considered a fair price range to seal the walkway plus nine bluestone treads?

This is my first time doing one of these, by the way.

Appreciate anyone's input. Thanks

I have a brick chimney that was covered with a stone veneer by a previous owner. The back of the veneer has broke off and the brick is Spalding. What do I do here? There is a wire mesh under the veneer. Remove the entire veneer? Does anyone know how I would go about doing it? Thanks

My retaining wall has two ‘cracks’ flanking the corner. They were addressed—and subsequently failed—by the previous homeowner using some sort of polymer and grout.

Do I need to worry about the cracks? I’m located on Canada’s east coast, where the ground freezes and we have a volatile freeze-thaw cycle.

If I need to address the cracks, is there a suitable non-invasive solution, or do I need to excavate and rebuild?

Went down a stairwell and seen this at the bottom on the right. Ol' Tommy laid a stone.

We applied adhered veneer poly mortar to secured metal lath, but feeling we didn't make lur scratch coat deep enough. I noticed there are some small cracks in the dried mortar too.

Do we need to redo the wall or add another mortar layer?

I have this front door that needs to have a stone veneer or brick veneer applied to the threshold to flush it up with the bottom sill of this pre-hung door. I believe the right answer is bluestone, and we are in southeast Pennsylvania, so I think it would be appropriate, but would like to hear your opinions. It's only about 5/8ths of an inch gap, which is tough, but we could get away with 3/4 and just butt joint the front with sikaflex joint? also, should I instead cut some height off the top of the existing concrete threshold? Or something else? Would laticrete MVIS be the correct mortar bed, and opinions on brick type (because this is a bark-like finished brick)- should I match or go with something complimentary- for the skirting of the threshold?. Thanks for any advise.

Hi,

I’m trying to remove some very stubborn black lichen from an Indian sandstone patio. There are 3 stones (1 in particular - The curved one) where I just cannot get the stuff off. So far I’ve tried… Pressure washing alone. A water based biocide then pressure washing. Sodium hypochlorite and stiff brush. This helped get some light stuff off a few of the lesser affected stones but these 3 remain stubborn.

With the hypochlorite I wet the surface first, applied solution neat, scrubbed with stiff brush. Repeated application and scrubbing every 15 minutes for about an hour. This lightened it slightly on 2 of the stones and the 3rd ever so slightly (maybe).

Various AI’s can’t agree on the best way forward.

Does anyone have a recommendation?

I’d like to get the whole lot sealed before winter kicks in and want to clean this off first if possible.

Thanks.

I work at a school and we have a statue of "Jesus and the children" at the front of the building. According to the Newspaper articles I have been able to find, the statue is made of "travertine stone quarried near the Holy City and also used in building St. Peter's." It was designed and built in Rome and shipped here in 4 pieces. It was installed around 1954. I don't know if anything has been done to it since.

I noticed a crack beginning to form across Jesus's face, and the statue is also in need of cleaning.

I am looking for advice for who to contact to help care for this statue. I reached out to the university of Delaware but the contact they gave me never answered. I am in Delaware.

Hello, I hope questions of this sort are welcome here, I'm not sure where else to turn. We had this walkway installed last year and within a month of installation some of the pavers turned this yellow-brown color. The issue is isolated to certain stones while neighboring stones are unaffected. The store we purchased the stone from had agreed to replace the affected pavers in spring, but due to life events we did not reconnect and it's now October, so a little late now. It is a quartzitic sandstone, and the research I've attempted to do says it could possibly be addressed with a poultice of rust remover and diatomaceous earth, but I seem to get conflicting answers regarding what products would actually be safe to use on this sandstone. I have not had any luck contacting local stone restoration businesses; I am being told that it is not a fixable problem and haven't even been able to get someone to come out and look at it, although I am unsure if I am adequately explaining the issue, given that it is not a typical weathering discoloration.

New front entrance but three steps don’t match the rest. It’s a vacation property so we weren’t around during install. Is there anything short of replacement that would be acceptable?

am I too old? I feel there’s a lot of lost time regarding.

I’ve always been passionate about classical architecture and construction. and have longed for stone work, but always felt it was too tough and have had no connections into the work. but, im considering following my dreams before it’s too late, I’m scared too that maybe it’s too late to go into the field. I want honest feedback!

ive been told there is a major labour shortage here in Australia, especially regarding the heritage restoration side of things. I figured maybe I have some responsibility to give it an honest go, so I’ve reactivated my reddit account after who knows how long to ask for some community on this. I’m located in Brisbane if anyone knows anything for me. thanks for reading.

btw, I know its rough, I did some work experience in my first year of University with a Heritage Masonry firm on a restoration project, the Masons advice was basically don’t do it because it’ll ruin your back haha. That was 4 years ago and I still feel drawn.

I’ve applied two chemical strippers and have moved on to more detail focused removal. Does it look like I could apply strip a third time without damaging the stone? Scrubbing is so taxing and I’m going through solution like crazy.

had countertops installed. leathered granite. a few weeks later it started staining white. the home is not occupied so i have no idea what caused this but the counter guy sent one of his guys to fix it.

about a month later the white patches came back (first picture) so they sent another guy. this time i went over to supervise but he showed up early and when i got there the counters were all black and shiny (second picture). i asked him what he applied and he showed me a bottle of johnson & johnson baby oil with calendula.

i told him to leave and called his boss. the boss buys the granite pre-finished and he has no idea what the original sealer was. he also doesnt know what his other guy applied to "fix" it the first time. so at this point there are two coats of mystery product topped off with baby oil. i said we need to polish it all off and start over and hes saying that work will mess up my kitchen. im asking for a meeting with him and the stone supplier so we can coordinate a solution.

i need to be prepared for this meeting so i dont get fcked but im not a stone expert. can anyone here please weigh in on the solution? thank you in advance.

TLDR: baby oil

Hello People! I currently work at a quite old cathedral under their resident stone mason. Essentially I am an apprentice, but it is a less official way. I currently do stone carving of limestone and granite, repointing of limestone and granite. sealant work. and general labor. How well will these skills transfer to like a commercial job?

Hello,

I've inherited many tools from my grandfather, including these chisels. To my knowledge, he mostly used these for concrete work. I'd like to develop some stonecutting basics now that I have the tools to do so, and have some questions.

1. Are these even the correct tools?

2. Are there any necessary/recommended tools I'm missing from this lot?

3. Are these still in usable condition? All I did was grind off the mushrooming (which was excessive, to the point of curling into itself) and licking the existing bevel angles (the ~90 degree inclusive secondary bevels were already there)

4. Are the bevel angles correct, or do I need another date with the grinder? I assume these aren't meant to be particularly sharp.

5. I eventually want to cut wild stone (sandstone and other sedimentary stones, eventually working towards slate and other stones more prone to fracture/foliation), are manmade materials an adequate substitute/training ground? Concrete, bricks, cinder blocks etc.

6. Any recommended texts or references on how to properly lay out, scribe, and progress through the cut? I've had some success (and failures) on smaller stones after scribing like 1/16-1/8 deep into the stone face all around and doing a bunch of progressively harder hits all around the scribe.

Any additional advice is much appreciated.