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reusing old stone
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Posted by chompersmama ONT CANADA (My Page) on Mon, Jan 17, 05 at 23:23
| Hi,
Does anyone have experience with old stone.We have an old carriage house made from old stone(no clue what kind.) It is about to fall down and we are going to have it demolished in order to add on to our home. I would like to keep a large portion of the rock to make walls, pathways etc in my garden. Would it be possible to use this stone to make a driveway? It is irregualr large rocks that are flat on one side. Would you just dig them into the ground, or would you have to prepare a bed for them. Would you fill between with ground and then put grass, or would you actually mortar? I really want to use as much of the rock as possible. Also, how does one go about removing old mortar from rocks?
TIA,
chompersmama |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: reusing old stone
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To begin, if you are going to use it to do a drive then you will absolutely need to prepare a compacted bed for the stones. When using something like paver/bricks they recommend using a 10"(25cm)compacted bed. This is also compacted in a series of layers. Also be aware of how much stone you'll need or have on hand, you don't want to run out.
As far as putting mortar around stone or brick, the stone needs to be mortared onto a concrete bed. If you don't then over time, very little time that is, the mortar will just start breaking part because of the movement in the soil underneath.
When using the stone for walkways no matter how large the stones I have always used some kind of gravel base. The less soil the less heaving and sinking of the stones.
Between the stones you can simply use sand, it acts as a great filler and easy to wash into the joints. It also is graet for planting ground covers.
Hope this helps.
Good luck, Matteow |
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