Foundation Repair – How to Maintain a Stone Foundation?


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Owning an important property with an old stone foundation can be an engaging experience. Those with a powerful will and a sound pocketbook can be true caretakers of a piece of history. The basis of that history is the simple, bold and powerful field stone foundation wall.

Older buildings with a stone foundation will generally have the first stone facing visible on the exterior and interior of the building. However it was common to use a coating of plaster to the interior foundation wall in the basement area, as a technique of waterproofing so the stone won’t be obvious from inside of the original plaster would have worn off by today but if you are fortunate, you may run across an old stone foundation still in spotless condition but this would be the exception.

Usually after 30 – fifty years the foundation would have shifted cause cracks to appear in the foundation wall and it wasn’t uncommon to use a second to the foundation with a masonry cement stucco. If the second layer is cement stucco than it might indicate the 2nd coating must have been applied after the early 1900’s, when mass produced cement stucco became available.

Regardless if plaster or stucco was applied to the walls, they will look lumpy as the individual stones shapes will show beneath the plaster or stucco.

What to search for -A lot of these older stone foundations were never well cared for and can challenge a building owner with issues starting from water leakage, mortar turning into sand, loose stones and bulging walls. Anything beyond these few maintenance problems could be considered ‘in failure’ and may need an engineer’s inspection.

Stone foundation walls that leak – It wasn’t atypical for these old stone foundation walls to leak. When they were originally built a hole was simply dug to the dimensions of the building and a ditch dug where the walls were to be placed. Big field stones would be placed in the trench and became the bed stones of the foundation wall.

Drain tile were not in use round the foundations of older building so static pressure would have been a difficulty from the beginning depending or the soil type and topography. A quality builder would have trenched to daylight from the low corner of the building site to take water away from the foundation, if the site authorized. The ditch would be partly crammed with rubble stones before covering but this simply drainage technique would be an exception and not the rule.

Most of the older homes were constructed high off the ground to keep moisture to a minimum. The basement area for these homes where never intended to be used as living space so a little moisture would be been common and of no concern.

Stone foundation wall issues – Decades of water infiltration will cause degradation to the stone foundation walls. The result can be bulged walls from excessive static pressure or settlement of the foundation, deteriorated mortar joints from excessive moister or loose stones and missing mortar joints from easy aging and movement.

Bulged walls – This problem presents the most important hurdle for a building owner depending on the degree and seriousness of the prominent problem and the location within the foundation wall. Generally though, a little of the foundation wall can be removed and reconstructed but proper shoring must be in place to support the building load before you proceed. This should not be out of the range of a professional mason contractor and you need to seek their advice.

Loose stones and missing mortar – this stuff are straightforward to remedy. Loose stones should be taken out and re-set with fresh mortar. Care should be taken not to undermine any imperative support areas inside the foundation. If you suspect an area of loose stone is carrying a beam load or other loads then consult a professional for advice.

Holes and missing joints can be stuffed with mortar or tuck-pointed to help tighten the foundation walls. Any brand of masons mix available at the local box store should be adequate.

After you have completed the repairs discussed above you may want to apply another layer of cement stucco. This will help to smooth out defects, close little holes, ‘stiffen’ the walls surface and hopefully provide some defense against water leaks.

Check the foundation annually and make any obligatory repairs straight away. By taking immediate action and implementing the repairs advised above you’ll be one step closer to keeping that old, stone foundation in shape.

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