Stonemasonry Restorations

Many stone masonry features often need some type of stone masonry restorations as they age. This is true for both dry stone masonry landscape features and mortared stone structures.

Much of the stone masonry restoration I have done is stone retaining walls. There are a general set of building traits that make retaining walls last, and when one or more of those traits are absent the walls usually fail.

Often, an entire retaining wall will need to be disassembled and rebuilt as part of stone masonry restoration. This is the result of consistent building methods throughout its original construction. For drystone landscape features, stone can usually be reused, and the stone can be reshaped where needed. Mortared stone masonry restoration involves removing mortar from the stone. In both types of restoration, it is possible to make the rebuilt stone structure stronger than the original.

Mortared stone masonry usually needs repair where the mortared joints have failed, or in places where stone has cracked and needs to be removed and replaced. Places where other materials interact with stone masonry, such as wood, or a metal roof, are often places where problems arise.