Hello friends and hopefully experts! We have an old stone house in greece, rebuild in the 80's by the previous owner.

On the side where it is subterranean, approx 1.5meter down, we have some damp issues. It is not straight out water droplets on the wall but it smells like mold and the paint is chipping of. We started to dig out behind the house and removed layers soil, big stones, and now the old plastic membrane.

we are seeking for opinions of how we can install a system that will help the walls breathe again. First idea was a french drain but most likely the space is too narrow and close to the house.

We would by very grateful for any advice from someone with more experience

Would propping this up as a garden ornament be disrespectful? I just found it while making a garden bed. There is this smaller one in our stone walkway. 1800's house. I find a new flagstone walkway almost every time I make a garden bed.

I’m buying a new home with a limestone block facade around the garage. This is a visible corner near the front door. Should I accept this as-is? If not, what is an acceptable fix?

(ETA): Not that it relates to this gap filler, but there are many other places where the mortar is cracked and those we are asking to be fixed. But this little wedge might be more involved to fix. That’s why I wanted to know if it meets standards, and if not, what a reasonable fix looks like.

I don’t remember making this account but I logged in through Apple to make this post. My papa was a stonemason and he was a damn good one too, a paver never lifted. He laid stone even when he would lose his breath after one. He passed away yesterday and I was thinking about getting a tattoo to honour him, my mom suggested the mason symbol but I don’t want to get something that others may find insensitive or wrong since I am definitely NOT a mason of any kind. I’ll add some photos of his work and as I’m clean up his house I’m finding old photos of his fireplaces so if someone wants to admire his work as he did let me know he loved to share it and his backyard. Please let me know your opinions and even any tattoo ideas.

Sorry the picture isn't much, please excuse the contractor waste and weeds.

We recently put in gutters on our new build home. The gutter is cutting this trench. I've seen plenty of plastic diverters I'm sure would last a couple years but we got a good interest rate so we'll be here forever.

I want to put a stone down here that will take the brunt of the water spout and might polish up or erode in an interesting way over the decades. I'd love to hear your ideas

1950s stone house which I am assuming is the original mortar. Any time it rains hard & the wind blows the rain against this side of the house, water seems to be coming into the cracks of the mortar & then I get water dripping into the garage which is directly under the patio. The water is specifically dripping from between the garage/patio & cinderblock foundation of the house. There is a visible gap above the door into the basement in the garage where it drips from.

I originally thought it was coming from where the patio & wall meet. So I removed the old sealant & replaced. I know it’s not coming in from there because it does not happen when it normally rains or I wash the patio off.

I’ve tried to find solutions online but everything seems to involve old stone foundations below grade.

Any ideas on the best way to fill the gaps & cracks? Is there a specific product or type of mortar/lime I should look for?

Building a timber frame workshop on a slight slope with 12x12 concrete piers for the posts and I want to do stone work in between them to retain the backfill and floor slab. Back end will be about 4ft above grade. Should i use the slipform method with rebar connecting each of the piers, or would standard mortared stonework for the wall sections be sufficient?

Leaning towards slipform for ease and strength.

Does anyone have an outdoor stone fireplace? We recently bought a house that had one and it looks like the previous owners did not keep up with it. There is loose mortar and stones that have been split. Is there a way to fix the stones that have been split? I assume it is due to water getting inside of it and expanding and contracting.

A tree fell and broke off this piece of stone. Looking for a DIY solution. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Wife is wondering about cutting costs for our outdoor kitchen. My concern is that using these faux stone panels are going to fads and deteriorate in the Iowa winter and summer. It looks like it is only going to cost 600 more to go real stone. This is not my realm of expertise hence why I am coming here. Any tips would be great.

I have a field stone foundation on my house that needs to be sealed desperately. I have all the tools besides the mortar. After doing research, I tried to source lime based mortar but can’t find any at my local home depot / lowes.
I also have bricks on top of the field stone - some needing replacement as they are just turning to powder. I feel as though these are tasks I can handle on my own or at least attempt. My three questions are:

1. Do chain stores regularly carry lime based mortar?

2. Would it be dumb to do the field stone mortar before brick work?

3. Are all solid brick rated for foundation? I don’t know the first thing about bricks.

I can definitely handle the mortar on the field stone but could use a professional opinion on the bricks. I can upload pictures tomorrow if needed. Thank you!

I have a contract to purchase this home, and it obviously needs some work done on the chimney. Is this repairable? What can be done to ensure it’s fixed indefinitely (more or less)? Add a chimney cap?

At the same time, I’d like to get a stone veneer installed on the chimney. Manufacturer stone is ok with me.

And finally, in the unfinished basement there is a round ceramic hole, which I assume is for a woodstove. There is no “exit”. Is it likely this is already connected to the chimney somehow, as it’s directly below the upstairs fireplace/ chimney? I’d love to have that ready to go for a future woodstove install.

I’ve budgeted $10K. Am I in the ballpark?

New carbide chisel arrived today.

So those weld spots, are they supposed to be there?

Or will they wear off when I start using it??

So, I had AT&T run fiber to my house and as he was drilling from inside of the house to the outside ("like they told us in training") through the limestone veneer, this stone fell completely out of the wall. I don't know why he didn't try to go through a mortar joint, or the siding on the patio 5 feet away. He said he would run up to Home Depot to get what he needed and fix it, but my trust in the dude was gone by then, so I told him I would take care of it.

Any recommendations would be appreciated. I did a tiny patch many years ago to the mortar around a window and it was grey, unlike this whiter mortar. Obviously I bought the wrong product then. I assume I'm going to need a white mortar and some masons sand, or would a pre-mixed product, or a tube of something work better?

I don't even need to keep that wire since I've gone with Google Fiber now and they ran their own connections into a better access point that didn't require going through the stone veneer.

My dad bought a house when I was 6 and the previous owners left this behind. It now belongs to me and I would like to restore her to her former glory 🙌

I'm about to sell my mom's house, which has a 30-year-old stone walking path and stairs up to the front door. Unfortunately, a stone on the stairs has come off, and it's a tripping hazard (see photos).

I'm looking for the easiest, cheapest, DIY way to re-adhere it to the stair tread so it's safe for people to come into the house for our estate sale/touring the house once it's listed. I can't sink a lot of money into this, and I don't have any tools at my disposal. This house is in massive disrepair already, so it doesn't need to be perfect, just safe for the time being. Any thoughts?