Stone Work

Have ready

Clear the beds and the ground along the wall before the visit, and pull back any irrigation heads that spray the stone, because constant wetting is what feeds the white staining. The technician starts by sighting the wall for plumb and for any lean or bulge, since a moving wall is a different job from a cosmetic one. He checks the flashing and cap at the top, the drainage plane and weep openings behind the veneer, and whether the stone sits so low that splash-back is soaking the base.

• Match the stone
• Anchor and flash
• Lay and point
• Seal

The visit

A stone work visit starts by naming the failure, not by selling the fix. We check what the problem touched, protect the floors and the rooms below, and leave a written scope. The work is done in one sequence by the same company, so the trade that caused the damage is the trade that closes it.

What fails first on the Shore is what we look at: salt-rotted fasteners, water finding the soft spot, and the 'quick fix' that never dealt with the cause. For stone work, the tell is usually visible on the first visit, and we say what it means in plain English.

Permit

Stone veneer applied to an existing wall as a finish is normally not a permit item in New Jersey. A free-standing garden wall kept low, usually under about four feet, is generally treated as landscaping and does not need one. A retaining wall that holds back a slope or a driveway surcharge, or one close to a property line, often does require a permit and sometimes stamped plans. The line is drawn at what the wall holds back.

On the Shore

Salt fog settles on the stone and pulls moisture into the mortar and the porous face, and when that freezes, the surface flakes and the joints open. The real damage usually starts behind the stone, where water that gets past the face has nowhere to drain. That is why the details matter more than the stone itself: a drainage plane behind the veneer, clear weep openings at the base, and a cap that overhangs and pitches water off the top.

When we leave

Once the mortar takes its initial set, the technician checks the wall with a level for plumb and for level courses, then runs water at the top of the wall to confirm it exits at the weep openings instead of soaking the base. The cap is checked for pitch. The care note covers letting the mortar cure before washing the wall and keeping a pressure washer off the joints.

Built with

Veneer goes up over a drainage plane and metal lath with a scratch coat, set in Type S mortar, with corrosion-resistant ties anchoring it back to the framing. Full-bed stone sits on a concrete ledge or foundation. Weeps and a weep screed at the base let water out, and through-wall flashing at the top keeps it from getting in. A breathable sealer is used on porous stone, since a film-forming sealer traps moisture.