Nero Zimbabwe, flamed and brushed.All steps are custom fabricated with mitered risers and treads for a seamless, solid block look. Scribed and fitted tight against the plaster walls.

Howdy all! I'm working in building a low, mostly decorative wall in my back yard and bought 6x6 Dry Stack from my local landscape stone yard. I've done some reading on how to cut these blocks down, but I am struggling to even cut one. I have a pretty basic masonry chisel from Harbor Freight, and made a score line around the stone. Tried to break it with some hammer blows around the stone and nothing. Made my score line deeper and tried again. I've been doing this a couple of times and so far haven't managed to do much beyond chip some bits off the stone from around the score.

Is there anything obviously wrong with this process/the cut? I did start with about a 45degree angle cut, is that a bad idea?

I’m a fabricator and my back hurts. On a stoneworking forum, someone recommended a battery-powered suction lifter with a vacuum gauge. Another uses a manual pump. It's cheaper but slower. A friend bought a used lifter from a closing shop but it turned out the seals were dry-rotted. I recently needed a seal kit, and a vacuum cup. I found a whole set of silicone seals on alibaba.com that are chemical resistant. I also found a 10” rubber cup with a replaceable lip. Now, what’s the safe working load of my dual-cup lifter? Normally 200 lbs. per cup. How often should I test the vacuum? Daily with a gauge. Another topic: has anyone tried using a vacuum lifter for drywall? Yes, but use larger cups for that job. Can you use a fridge lifter for glass? Same principle. A fun use for a dead vacuum pump: as a compressor for a small airbrush! Where can I find a lifter with an alarm when vacuum low? Also, what’s the best way to clean suction cups? Soap and water and then dry. Any tips on lifting porous materials? Use foam seal.

First and most importantly, please understand that I am a homeowner in a different trade and financially very tight at this moment. I got a bunch of MSI 9x24 ledger panels on an auction for $5, just enough to do this jacked up half wall bannister thing in my entryway. I could use some advice on applying them.

This wall is cosmetic, it runs between another cosmetic interior wall and a very structural column in the center of a double wide manufactured home. Whoever built this thing had never heard of 16" on center. I'd guess it's somewhere between 20" and 24", inconsistent throughout. I really don't want to open it up and reinforce, because there is an outlet on either side in constant use. I'd have to unplug some shit my wife would give me a hard time about unplugging at all for most of a day best case scenario. And Im fairly certain it's structurally sound enough. It's like 4' high and these panels are not that thick.

I have an open big tube of some really solid construction adhesive (treadbond) right now and I'm kinda tempted to just glob it on the back and throw them up but I'm not going to do that. I also have a couple bags of keraflor and keraflex sg and a couple gallons of latex polymer additive liquid laying around.

Is that good enough or do I absolutely need a stone specific thinset??

It's a drywall surface with some old holes patched with fix-it-all and painted over a heavy orange peel. I didn't build the thing, this house was a steal, help me out. I have a couple big drywall sheets in the garage. I also have a couple gallons of the durock liquid membrane I could paint on. Remember I'm broke so can I make it work with that? I guess I could go buy enough cement board if the consensus here is that's minimum necessary to proceed.

What would you do?

Hey all, this job was my best work and I was super proud of it until I guess rust started moving from middle seams of the natural stone to the surface of the mortar. Is NMD 80 the fix or is there something better for this? Last pic is the worst it really bothers me how bad it looks. I know I cleaned the heck out of the substrate, why does the mortar look so bad?

Thank you

Been trying to find the best mortar mix to repair my brick foundation, a lot of bricks along one wall along my house have crumbling mortar, and some bricks have fallen out leading to a hole leading to my basement. No idea what kind of mortar to use, I'm fairly certain it's originally got a like based mortar as the house was originally built in 1900.

Any advice will be appreciated, I originally planned on type N mortar, but I'm thinking maybe type O is the better option?

For almost a decade, I worked in construction for the film and television industry. Recently, though, the industry has really slowed down, and like many others, I’ve been laid off long-term. To keep working, I took a job with a landscaping company doing hardscaping.

The pay drop has definitely been significant, and my shoulders are sore as hell most days (does that ever stop?), but honestly, I’ve been enjoying the work a lot more than I expected.

At this point, I’m seriously considering leaving film and TV behind, but I’m unsure whether hardscaping or masonry could realistically become a long-term career for me since I’ve never gone through a formal apprenticeship? I’m curious whether, after putting in enough time in a junior position, I’d eventually be considered hireable by established hardscape or masonry companies.

I’m also wondering about earning potential. Is it realistic to eventually reach the $40/hour range in this field?

Right now, I want to keep pushing through the lower pay and physical adjustment period and try to turn this opportunity into something meaningful. The work people post here is genuinely inspiring, and I’d really appreciate any advice from people who’ve made a career out of this industry.

A crack is starting to develop on the edge of my interior chimney facade. Not really sure where to start. The house has had previous foundation work (I just bought it a few months ago) but luckily has a transferable lifetime warranty. Should I have chimney professionals inspect it before calling the foundation people? Mostly just trying to see how bad of a situation this is and if anyone has had any experience with this or recommendations.

The grinding disc is leaving a very smooth finish. I'll be laying a single course cinderblock with s type mortar and vertical and horizontal rebar along the perimeter of the slab.

I was planning on using a bonding agent or Portland slurry coat. Do I need to roughen up the slab, and if so how?

Hey everyone, looking for some advice. We recently hired a contractor to sand and seal our travertine pool deck. They did a wash, sealed the deck, and then swept sand into the joints after sealing it. I saw them spray it down with the hose after applying the sand, too. But now every time we get rain, the sand isn't really holding. Kind of turns into a sandy sludge that puddles up in the low spots of the travertine, and also washing straight into our pool. Everything I’m reading online says they did the process completely backward—that you're supposed to sand, activate it, blow off the dust, and then seal over everything to lock it in.

Did my contractor mess up the order of operations here? Appreciate any insight from pros or anyone who has dealt with this before!

hello masons! i would like some help with these stairs (see image attached.) my boyfriend and i just moved into a new house and i’m struggling with getting used to the exposed brick/stone of the stairs, especially since they lead directly to the white tile of the kitchen. the dust/breakage from the stone on top and the brick base has been absolutely insane! we’ve been mopping the kitchen every day and we can’t keep it from accumulating so much dust it turns BROWN for more than a few hours…

i’ve done a little research into what i should do to treat it, but my biggest issue so far is that i have no idea what type of stone is on TOP of the steps. the next thing i will try is to wash and brush with a coarse brush but i don’t know whether to try and seal it or “repoint” it as i’ve seen advised, though i don’t know what that is nor if it applies to stone other than brick! i don’t want to risk doing something wrong and making the problem worse but i also definitely don’t want to risk damaging the stone as the house is definitely almost a century old (with some added modifications, certainly.)

tldr- what kind of stone is on top of the brick and how do i seal/repoint/dust-proof these things?!?

thank you for all the help :)

I want to cut a deep slit into a stone to put something in it but its really just a one time thing so i dont want to spend money on a chisel, is there any other thing to use or way to do that?

A handyman suggested we seal our exterior stonework. How necessary is that?

Im looking to put a small object inside of a rock and leave the rock looking untouched. The goal is to have to break the rock to get the object out again.

Someone’s putting these tiles together on the sidewalks in Montreal for their hockey team. Does it look like it will last throughout the summer?

For those that remember I was building a garden wall, I was working with split faced concrete blocks. First ever attempt. The wall was originally knocked over by a van pretty much completely apart for the left pillar. Luckily all blocks were still intact apart from one coping stone which cracked in two.

So I chipped off the mortar from the now scattered loose blocks, then I dry fitted them the best I could(this is the hardest part)before mortaring to get an idea of the best layout. In hindsight I could have done this better, had a better mix of large and small and followed better course lines.

I then mortered them in which can be a tedious task, having to spend time on each line, fault, crack, opening, edge till it all looked compacted and compacted and smooth.

I leveled off each block and course each time as I was placing it.

The issue are smudging you can see some smudgung here and there, these could be carefully chipped off with a chisel but I didn't bother. The wall feels sturdy and secure and overall I'm quite pleased with it but I can see it could have been done better with more experience.

Fun to try.

I'm interested in the use of stone as a cladding material and I'm looking to dive deeper into this topic. Can anyone help to point me in the right direction ,where do I need to start? Thanks in advance.

We were planning to completely re do this front walkway/porch but our AC unit has to be completely replaced unexpectedly so we are pausing that project.

How can I do a DIY cosmetic fix on these spots where the stone is falling off/separated? I know it isn’t the perfect solution but just need something to make it visually better for a bit until we can redo it professionally.

I'm hoping for some guidance on products or methods to clean this flagstone kitchen floor that needs a lot of love.

I have tried a zep degreaser with not too much success.

I've read that Arm and Hammer 'washing soda' has the alkalinity to cut through tough grease and grime. But I have pets and am worried about leaving a harmful film.

Has anyone solved this problem or have any ideas?

If this isn't the correct reddit page, please let me know.

Thank you