Spring is finally here! And the Living Stone Masonry crew is operating at full capacity, chipping away at two projects- a double chimney repair in East Asheville and a large scale commercial stonework project in Banner Elk.
The owner of the two chimneys called me with the complaint that several people had attempted to repair her chimneys but they were still leaking. I responded with a full assessment and discovered something shocking- previous attempts at repair had included smearing epoxy and rubber cement OVER the mortar joints! Not only did this not fix the leak, but it compounded the difficulty of the repair! Now we had to chip out and repoint every joint on both chimneys because there was no way to determine the condition.
The owner of the two chimneys called me with the complaint that several people had attempted to repair her chimneys but they were still leaking. I responded with a full assessment and discovered something shocking- previous attempts at repair had included smearing epoxy and rubber cement OVER the mortar joints! Not only did this not fix the leak, but it compounded the difficulty of the repair! Now we had to chip out and repoint every joint on both chimneys because there was no way to determine the condition.
When I saw the moss and obvious mortar deterioration shown by this photo, I was not surprised both chimneys were leaking. Previous attempts at repair had served to worsen the problem and waste the owner's money.
In this picture, we are partway through the demo on the first chimney. What looks like mortar smeared on the stones is actually some type of epoxy and/or rubber cement.
Will stands atop a newly repointed chimney to prepare it for a new cap. When finished, it will look like the photo below. And what a beautiful spring backdrop! The weeping cherry trees have been amazing this year!
The overhanging cement cap will ensure that these two chimneys never leak and cause the owner problems again!
Meanwhile up in Banner Elk, we have been waiting for Spring to crank up production on a large stone cladding project. The stone is grey TN Crab Orchard set in an ashlar pattern with several large tapered columns. The stone is easy to work with, but all the trimming make this project very labor intensive. We will be working on this project for the next several weeks, but we are taking on projects for our late spring/summer schedule.
Will is learning to produce high quality stonework at a faster pace.
These tapered columns are finish grouted so you can see clean, modern look of the final product.
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