# I want to build a stone cottage.



## VHestin (Aug 17, 2011)

I just have no idea how to go about it, has anyone here built one, or can recommend some books that would help?


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

Full stone or veneer? What kind of stone, cut or river rock? I have a little cottage that was a carriage house made from cut limestone from a quarry just down the road. Same stone as the county courthouse....James

http://photos.wikimapia.org/p/00/02/45/69/44_big.jpg


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## Muleman (Nov 8, 2013)

I am not sure about books?? I know here where I live there are lots of rock houses. We have lots of sandstone and limestone. Some houses are built from field stone, some are quarried rock. Most of the older homes have mortar showing. The newest trend is what is called a dry stack. They are mortared on the back side, but on the outside give the appearance of only being stacked up with no visible mortar. I am not sure where to tell you to look for the information, only that is can be done and here is Arkansas is fairly common.


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## VHestin (Aug 17, 2011)

I'm not sure I want limestone, river rock sounds interesting. There are alot of rocks in my area, not sure what type they are. Oh and I live in Klamath county in Oregon, high desert area, but it's not that dry, it does get really hot for 2 months usually each year. Winters are very cold and the amount of snow varies. Does get very windy here on occasion. Am looking for some pictures that are examples of what I'd like the finished cottage to look like.


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## VHestin (Aug 17, 2011)

On dialup here at home, got tired of waiting for Google's images page to load fully, but this one looks closest to what I want: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wxambWUvU.../English+Cottages+on+Tumblr+Stone+Cottage.jpg


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## Muleman (Nov 8, 2013)

Lots of houses here in Arkansas look similar. I would bet if you were to look at some northern Arkansas real estate adds you could find several examples, especially older houses. I am not sure your exact question. If you have done any kind of masonary work before, it is basically the same as building with blocks, they are just different sizes, so a bit more fitting required. The homes are around here are normally finished out with wood, although some will have at least some rooms with bare rock walls inside. Really just depends on what you want. I am planning a cabin project and will have one end wall that will be rock, it will also be several feet thick as it will incorporate a fireplace and a water tank to produce hot water in the winter. If you hire someone for rock work, good rock layers around here are like any other skilled person, you get what you pay for and the good ones are booked up months in advance. If you do it yourself, some simple hand tools and time and you can build whatever you like, it will just take longer. I would also bet if you have never done rock work before, there will be a definite difference in the part of the house you start on and where you finish as your skill increases. Might want to do some hobby rock work first. Maybe rock in a small shed or something to learn on?


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## mike554 (Jun 9, 2012)

We put this timber frame up in Texas this past summer. My client just sent me pictures of his rock work. I really love the look of it. I think it is limestone.


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## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

helen and scott nearing built several stone homes and buildings check out their books.


my old (yellow hardback)readers digest back to basic talks about it too...both of these use the slip form method.


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## Muleman (Nov 8, 2013)

Certainly a nice place and a good job by both of you. I bet it will be there for a long time to come. Hard to say what kind of rock it is from the pictures. here at home both limestone and sandstone are available cut like that. Limestone is HEAVY to work with. Our limestone is all grey, our sandstone comes in various colors. Not sure what is available where the op is?? Stone is heavy, shipping is costly. My nephews wife and her dad run a rock yard and her dad has done rock work on high end houses all over the U.S., but like I say once you start shipping rock very far it gets expensive.


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## copperkid3 (Mar 18, 2005)

mike554 said:


> We put this timber frame up in Texas this past summer. My client just sent me pictures of his rock work. I really love the look of it. I think it is limestone.


*******************************
Here's another house built of it.


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## VHestin (Aug 17, 2011)

I have no previous experience building with stone. What tools would I need if I use the stone around here? I presume some of it might need to be reshaped. We(my mother and I) don't need much space, only a bedroom/bathroom for each of us, a kitchen, living room, and a spare room for a combo library/craft room. Don't want a fireplace, plan to use a wood stove.


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

I live in a cobblestone house. The foundation and the bulk of the rock is "field stone" and the outside face is neatly stacked lake stones of similar size. It looks like brick out of the corner of your eye, with it's neatly done rows. The cobblestone takes a lot of skill to do, field stone is a bit more forgiving, although careful fitting of the stones provides the best appearance.

Look for local rock supplies and local rock home examples, and start reading up on the specific type of stone building indigenous to your area. 

There are several resources for restoration of historical places which may provide valuable construction details and supplier information. http://www.landmarkspreservation.org/workshops/education/


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

Field stone is minimally shaped. Some in dry stonewalling consider shaping stone to be somewhat cheating, that fitting the pieces you have together is a rewarding puzzle. If you use dressed blocks you definitely need to be able to cut the stone. Minimally a cold chisel and a drill hammer, but that takes a lot of skill, might buy a bit of practice stone before committing to building the whole place.


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## Guest (Nov 30, 2014)

Those appear to be Limestone. Very prevalent around here.


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## chuckhole (Mar 2, 2006)

If you want something to watch, try and get some of the old episodes of "Rock Solid" from the DIY network (http://www.diynetwork.com).

Most of what DIY has now is reality junk but some of the old stuff was quite good and really was DIY.

There are a few ways to create a "rock wall" and not all are "natural" stone. To name a few,
1) Solid stone stack and mortar wall.
2) Stone veneer which is a wood frame with a stack and mortar wall built like a brick veneer.
3) Cultured stone veneer which is a thin stone applied like tile to an outer wood frame wall.
4) Dry stacked stone

Cultured stone is colored and shaped concrete product that uses a light weight aggregate like Pearlite (white stuff in potting soil mix) and is typically no more than an inch thick. I am not positive, but I think that Pearlite is crushed lava rock.

Solid walls require a higher investment in the foundation because of the weight involved. Stone veneer is not so thick and relies on the wood frame interior wall for support but gives the real stone wall appearance. The cultured stone veneer still gives the warm look of stone and is the least costly and labor intensive method. Dry stacked stone, rock or brick is typically not used in load bearing applications and is found mostly in landscaping. The general recommendation is that you don't want to go more than about 30" high without some type of support (so says the guys on "Rock Solid").


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## VHestin (Aug 17, 2011)

Okay next time I go to library I will look up Rock Solid, thanks chuck. I did find a couple good vids on YouTube about building with stone yesterday. Well one was about how to cut stone with hammer/chisel or guillotine tool, the other one was about building a stone house from the ground up(it was basically a slideshow with voiceover describing the process/steps).


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## wogglebug (May 22, 2004)

One of the best effects I've seen used old weathered brick to build straight edges (building corners, doorways and windows with arched tops), then filled in the rest of the walls with field stone. Wide verandahs and corrugated iron roofs. 

Good where the OP lives, as that allows capturing roof-water. 
You can also use brick and fieldstone to rough-out an underground cistern as well.


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

The solid stone offers thermal benefits that the veneers don't. I don't think I'd bother with veneer, but then I'm rarely the one to spend extra money on looks.


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

My little stone cottage was damp and cold. I built 2"x4" stud walls inside, put up a vapor barrier and insulated them, nice and cozy now. The addition was 2"x6" stud walls, insulated. If there is a big swing in temps and lots of moisture, solid rock walls are not the best....James


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## chuckhole (Mar 2, 2006)

jwal10 said:


> My little stone cottage was damp and cold. I built 2"x4" stud walls inside, put up a vapor barrier and insulated them, nice and cozy now. The addition was 2"x6" stud walls, insulated. If there is a big swing in temps and lots of moisture, solid rock walls are not the best....James


+1. 
And some weep holes at the base of the stone wall to release that moisture vapor. Definitely a plus where we are along the Gulf Coast.


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## VHestin (Aug 17, 2011)

Been thinking about doing slipform stone masonry for my cottage, saw this vid on youtube: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...XP_HXEE87eHCRlRUw&sig2=x-ZS72bK_hUKfpiocbgUxA

and it was very informative, not to mention they used copper piping in the floor for radiant heating(which my mother wants in the cottage). I have a (very) rough draft of the cottage, basically handwritten. Looks like it will be 2400sq ft, 60ft x 40ft. I am now trying to figure out the amount of materials needed, so I can figure out how much it would cost. My pre-planning would be the easy part, the hard part would be dealing with all the permits/inspections. Really want to get it done, if only because our 6 cats would have their own room.


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## Dixie Bee Acres (Jul 22, 2013)

I didn't see any copper pipe in the floor, running copper through cement is not a good idea.


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

Looked like pex for radient heat. They had copper for the solar heater.


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## VHestin (Aug 17, 2011)

When you buy stone for building, how do they sell it to you? Is it just truckloads, or is it by square yards or cubic feet or something like that? I am trying to figure out how much stone I will need for the 60x40 cottage. It will be 8-10 feet high.


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## T-Bone 369 (Jan 18, 2007)

When I figure a stone job it is always done by the ton. The yard has calculations that give you approximate square footage a ton will do then you do the math. Figure plenty of overage because the will usually be quite a bit of unusable stone (unless your using actual cut stone). All the stone I have laid in the past few years came palletized with wire baskets around them - the amount on a skid depended on the type of stone but typically was 3800 to 4000 pounds.


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## VHestin (Aug 17, 2011)

Okay thanks. And does anyone know about roofing? I want the roof to be at least a 60lb snow load roof, but I don't know what you do to change the strength of the roof. My mother thinks you use more trusses and have them closer together, but she's not sure.


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## chuckhole (Mar 2, 2006)

T-Bone 369 said:


> When I figure a stone job it is always done by the ton. The yard has calculations that give you approximate square footage a ton will do then you do the math. Figure plenty of overage because the will usually be quite a bit of unusable stone (unless your using actual cut stone). All the stone I have laid in the past few years came palletized with wire baskets around them - the amount on a skid depended on the type of stone but typically was 3800 to 4000 pounds.


How must waste do you figure? My research said 20% for natural stone. Is that about right? All I have seen for sale is what you describe.......stacked pallets wrapped with chicken wire about a 2 tons each. Transport costs are a significant part of the price.


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

You need a good engineering reference to calculate snow loads. The book "Practical Pole Building Construction" had those details.


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## T-Bone 369 (Jan 18, 2007)

chuckhole said:


> How must waste do you figure? My research said 20% for natural stone. Is that about right? All I have seen for sale is what you describe.......stacked pallets wrapped with chicken wire about a 2 tons each. Transport costs are a significant part of the price.


Twenty percent is about where I like to be - depending on what works out to be full pallets. There are always shapes that just do not work out and a lot of little pieces that you just can not use. I would much rather have too much than too little - there are always little uses for the extra stone of the homeowner wants. Too little and you risk having the extra you have to order not match well. The job I am working now ran 40 sqft/ton and the stone was right at $260/ton from the yard so figure another $150 for delivery of the entire load.


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## chuckhole (Mar 2, 2006)

T-Bone 369 said:


> Twenty percent is about where I like to be - depending on what works out to be full pallets. There are always shapes that just do not work out and a lot of little pieces that you just can not use. I would much rather have too much than too little - there are always little uses for the extra stone of the homeowner wants. Too little and you risk having the extra you have to order not match well. The job I am working now ran 40 sqft/ton and the stone was right at $260/ton from the yard so figure another $150 for delivery of the entire load.


So, assuming a delivery size of 6 tons, that is about $6/sq ft for materials and good masons don't work for peanuts and beer........

Very good information. Thanks. It is helpful to go into a plan with your eyes open.


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## chuckhole (Mar 2, 2006)

VHestin said:


> Been thinking about doing slipform stone masonry for my cottage, saw this vid on youtube: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...XP_HXEE87eHCRlRUw&sig2=x-ZS72bK_hUKfpiocbgUxA


Thoroughly enjoyed the vid. Thanks for sharing. :thumb: My back hurts just watching all that hard work.


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

chuckhole said:


> My back hurts just watching all that hard work.


That's why they had interns do most of it, and took three years...


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

VHestin said:


> Okay thanks. And does anyone know about roofing? I want the roof to be at least a 60lb snow load roof, but I don't know what you do to change the strength of the roof. My mother thinks you use more trusses and have them closer together, but she's not sure.


The trusses are just built heavier. Most trusses are set at 2' apart. The truss factory has engineers calculate and build accordingly. 40' is a good span, lots of pressures come into the calculation....James


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

Oregon is pretty sure to get some sizable earthquakes sooner or later, depending on where you are. You should check the fault maps.
Because an earthquake can tumble down a lot of rock. And I would not want to be in even a brick house much less rock house in one.


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## wmshay6 (Nov 3, 2014)

mike554 said:


> We put this timber frame up in Texas this past summer. My client just sent me pictures of his rock work. I really love the look of it. I think it is limestone.


My back hurts just looking at the frame. Then the rock too!


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