A few weeks ago we began the first phase of restoring the brick foundation of a home in North Asheville. The home was built in 1907 by Charles Humphries. Humphries was believed to have owned Blue Ridge Grocery Company, a wholesale retailer formally located at 363 Depot Street. 

Upon close inspection, the individual bricks of the foundation were in good condition. However, the mortar in-between the bricks had greatly deteriorated. In several areas, the mortar had gotten so soft that it resembled damp sand.  At 116 years old, this was not a surprising observation. 

Given the age and condition of the mortar in the brickwork, We elected to restore the entire foundation. This approach flips the hourglass on the life span of the masonry and ensures that every brick is attended to. 

The approach for repair that we take is called repointing. Repointing is a meticulous process involving the removal of the old mortar and replacement with new. It is critical to ensure that the mortar we replace with is historically appropriate. Mortars that are too hard can do more harm than good when applied to historic masonry. 

The photo above shows a section of foundation where we have removed the old mortar. Our aim here is to remove deep enough that our fresh mortar will act to stabilize loose bricks. This deeper depth also allows for a better cure and thus a stronger repair.

Before applying fresh mortar, there are a few considerations to make. First being, the type of mortar to use. Every project is different. With our many years of experience, we create a custom blend that is going to be durable, and yet soft enough to not damage the building. For this foundation, we determined a lime-based mortar was the way to go. 

It is also very important to consider what the repair will look like when all's said and done. We never use "just add water" type mortar. By mixing custom blends from scratch, we have far greater control over the finished appearance of our restorations and repairs. 

Once our custom lime-based mortar blend is settled on, we are ready to point. 
The joints are thoroughly cleared of any dust of debris in preparation for new mortar. Once cleaned, the bricks are heavily hydrated. Older bricks are incredibly porous. If bricks are too dry when the fresh mortar is placed, the bricks will wick the moisture out of the mortar. This inevitably results in premature failure. In addition, it is important to keep things damp after the fresh mortar has been applied to help curing

This was the first phase of the total repair of the Humphries house foundation. We will come back in Spring to complete the rest after the windows in the foundation have been restored.

,Having come aboard in 2013, Will quickly became one of Living Stone Masonry's most valuable team members. He worked hard to learn the craft, and Franklin likes to say "I taught him everything I know." Will is unique in Asheville as a stonemason who is well versed in both Dry (DSWA level I certified) and Mortared stonework, whereas most masons here specialize in one or the other. These skills served him well when, in 2018, he relocated to Portland OR and went to work for Pete Wilson Stoneworks. He spent the last 3 years there, grinding it out with Basalt Stone and Pennsylvania Blue Stone before having his first child in early 2021. This made him rethink his priorities and he and Alyssa decided Asheville, NC is where they intended to raise their kid(s).

In early Spring of 2021, Franklin was wondering what the fate of Living Stone Masonry and his beloved Dodge 350 Cummins (named Goldilocks) would be once he became a full time Realtor with Asheville Craft Realty. He had closed a few real estate deals at that point and was looking forward to completing the transition he started a year earlier. As fate would have it, Will and Alyssa had decided to relocate to Asheville, and Will was looking for a business opportunity! Franklin could not imagine handing it over to a better person- Will is a solid, well rounded individual with a great personality and the skill set to match.

While Franklin looks forward to a new, less physically demanding career as a Realtor, Will is eager to take the business to the next level. He looks forward to building a team and finding his niche in the increasingly high demand profession of Masonry in Asheville.

Franklin continues to be passionate and involved as a stone educator; he's scheduled to teach at 2 workshops in Nashville TN this year and hopes to one day bring the workshop format back to NC. He also intends to bring the same client focused, professional service to the Real Estate field as he brought to countless masonry clients over the years.

I'm proud to announce North Carolina's (and possibly the Southeast's) first ever dry stone bridge workshop! The dates are set: a 5 day workshop May 2-6 and a weekend workshop May 4-5. We have lined up the amazing and talented John Shaw Remington to instruct! If you are unfamiliar with his work, check out his blog:thinking-stoneman.blogspot.com https://thinking-stoneman.blogspot.com. He has led numerous dry stone bridge workshops throughout Canada, and we are so excited to have him on board. The location is set: Pokeweed farm in beautiful Sandy Mush, NC-just 35 minutes from downtown Asheville in the exact spot pictured above! Camping and lodging are available onsite, and workshop discounts are available for stone industry professionals. 

Cost- 5 day workshop-800, 2 day workshop 400. 15% discount applied for stone industry professionals.

For questions or more info, contact Franklin at livingstonemasons@gmail.com

Registration coming soon!

Lately my passion has been guiding me towards the use of plants in combination with our stonework. 

The last few weeks have been busy ones for us as we completed the large commercial job in Grandfather Club near Banner Elk and transition to a summer full of residential stone projects in Asheville. After Grandfather, we completed a drystone patio with wall in Asheville, a very special bench project in West Asheville  (just in time for a wedding), and have begun a large restoration job of a historically important residence in Woodfin. Read on to hear more about these projects.

Above is a shot of the Asheville stone patio upon completion. It was built as a dry stone patio, meaning a 1/4" gravel base and no mortar (except in a couple of spots for stability). One of the major advantages of this technique is the drainage created by the gravel bed. In this case, we needed to make sure water wouldn't puddle around the hot tub, while at the same making smooth transitions to the several fixed point already established around the edges of the patio. One of the techniques I used to do that is the river cobble swale which snakes through the patio. It is a design element which helps to transition between areas that slope in different directions.

Here you can see the gravel base which gets compacted during the setting of the stones. Josh is using a level to make sure the surface is sloping correctly and smooth. Our patios beat the competition in how thorough we are to make sure the clients have a safe surface and positive drainage. We placed polymeric sand in the joints which sets up hard for low maintenance, but remains flexible to allow for expansion and contraction.

Other design aspects of this project include the step to the outdoor shower terminating in a sitting wall which helps support the foundation of the house and create a space for planting.

We named this project "the Wedding Bench" because we had a request to fit this project in an emergency time frame to accommodate the wedding of the client's daughter. She presented me with her design and several photos she had collected from pinterest to create large bench/retaining wall to support the yard behind their house and to create seating for wedding-related events. I chose a mix of boulders, fieldstone and large slabs to transform this backyard into a one-of-a-kind area for entertaining and relaxing.

At the last minute, we were asked to create this fire pit with boulder seating. I like it because it reminds me of a simple but functional forest service campsite.

Living Stone Mascot Layla posing for the camera! I will have more photos of this project in a future post once the landscaping is complete, stay tuned

This patio on the historic residence is failing, as evidenced by the crumbling mortar and vegetation. There is a garage below, and the owners are concerned about keeping it dry and clean. Our plan is to remove most of the stone that is not under cover, resurface the concrete, add a layer of waterproofing , then put the same stone back down in a similar pattern.

After pulling up all the stone, we realized there was a coating over the old, damaged slab. We spent several days grinding, cleaning, and preparing the slab to be resurfaced.

Here I am applying fresh cement to the damaged slab to resurface it, create positive drainage, and a smooth surface to waterproof before we put the stone back down. This should help the garage to stay clean and dry and give new life to this historic terrace. Next week we begin laying the stone, stay tuned.

Last week we hosted our first dry stone walling workshop near Asheville, NC.  The workshop was sold out with about 12 participants; we had perfect weather and got lots of wall built.  Josh and I are both DSWA level II and instructor certified, so we kept the curriculum centered around DSWA style walling.  All in all I think everyone had a good time and learned a lot, including us!  Stay tuned for future workshops and events happening in Asheville and beyond!