Stone laying by own hands

Those wishing to receive elementary building skills, it is easiest to start with the mastering of the laying of rubble stone by the example of a stone fence in the country or in a private house. Valuable experience and skills will be useful for building a farmstead - erecting decorative fences, hozpostroek and partitions in landscape design.

What is the masonry feature of the natural stone

Masonry -The simplest fencing or wall of natural or partially processed stone. A different stone, folded in several rows or levels, is cemented with cement mortar, special glue for facing stone or other binding mortar. Suitable pieces of cobblestone and large stone blocks of the right size and shape are sometimes laid out in 2-3 rows and without fastening.

Masonry has several varieties:

• of brick of different types;
• from stone sides;
• mixed masonry type;
• laying wild stone - chunky and nesosanogo.

Looking at a bunch of irregularly shaped butt, the beginner does not understand how this material can make a beautiful masonry of natural stone. However, it was from him that people built in the ancient times the first fortifications, fences, houses and temples. Today it is the cheapest building material that can be assembled on the ground. The natural stone goes for the construction or arrangement:

• foundation of buildings;
• fences and fences;
• cellars and cellars;
• outbuildings;
• auxiliary walls and partitions;
• hydraulic structures;
• support walls;
• communications( sewer and hydraulic);
• garden buildings and fences;
• base for a barbecue.

With any method of installation, a stone fence or other neatly laid out stone fence looks quite attractive.

To use the illustrative material and explanations, it is important to master several terms used by masons:

• bed( wide base);
• spoon( sidewall);
• poke( butt);
• outer and inner versts;
• forearth;
• facade;
• seams horizontal and vertical;
• spoonful( chain) and bump row( short side) - see the masonry drawing.

Preparing the stone for laying

The stone collected or delivered to the construction site is sorted by size and shape. It is preferable to make a masonry of stone of the same mass, but usually natural material is suitable up to 30 kg. A stone having a shape approximated to a parallelogram is deposited separately - the material is at angles. Larger blocks - on the lower rows and on the formation of dressings.

Crushed stone varies in strength. By "butov" means natural stone of arbitrary shape, fit and chipped pieces of rock layers. For laying a small bout is suitable, within the limits of 100 - 500 mm, or which can be carried. A larger cobblestone is crushed to pieces up to 300 mm. For masonry is suitable:

• granite;
• sandstone;
• limestone;
• tuff;
• dolomite;
• shell( rakusnyak different density, chipped and cut).

The stones are selected in order to be stacked. The combination of the shape and size of the material is equally important for laying the stone by hand - they must harmonize and create an aesthetic figure. The formation of masonry is done according to certain principles, in order to obtain a strong foundation of the vertical plane, and not a chaotic conglomeration. Correct laying rubble stone - the upper edges horizontally or with a slope to the middle of the wall being built, which is important for the correct distribution of the load.

Layers of large stones and smaller size should alternate, and voids are filled with smaller material so that there are no cracks in the masonry. To fill the voids are selected small stones, the rest is filled with "putty".This is a composition of clay and small chipped stone, it is prepared in advance for work.

Before laying, the stone is cleaned of fine crumb and wetted for better adhesion. When a suitable stone does not fit in the right position, small triangular pebbles are laid under it as supports, so they should be at hand. Each layer starts from the corner stones to meet, the reinforcement of the rod is made between the rows. The last row is leveled especially carefully and poured with a binder mixture.

The best material for masonry - cut or chipped, of a suitable shape, which will give a relative even surface. Very large building materials are split in different ways. Excess tapers are removed to obtain a suitable geometric shape. Masonry made of hollow stones is done similarly, but without further elaboration.

For rubble laying, you will need a tool:

• hammer;
• sledgehammer;
• trowel;
• metal tamping and wooden.

Several ways to crush the stone for laying

Attention: When working on a stone pincher, be sure to protect your hands with working gloves, face with glasses, use a household respirator, a dense robe, high boots, you can wear a welding mask. There should not be a number of casual spectators. Just in case, keep the first aid kit at hand, since the material is very strong, you will have to make efforts. Take care that the tool does not jump off!

• The booth is broken with a chisel and a sledgehammer. In the ground hollow out a small groove for the stone - in order to avoid a bounce. A sharp and strong movement is struck with a sledge hammer in the center. If there is no result - the blows are repeated to the same point. A strong block can be turned and repeated attempts. Sharp pieces, after splitting the stone, should be hammered.
• Booth break with a hammer. If there is no suitable tool, an ordinary heavy hammer on a short handle will do. The chisel is selected with a hard-alloy tip, capable of withstanding the load. The whole scheme of action is the same as described above, but the chisel can be moved even along the circumference before the formation of the first crack. Usually 5-10 sharp impacts suffice, but all depends on the density of the stone.
• A large cobblestone is the hardest to break, but the process is similar to the previous ones - a stone in the groove is chipped with a chisel. The blows are applied with a hammer until the first signs of a split.
• You can try to work with power tools, but it is important to calculate the possible load and choose a reliable attachment. After breaking wedges in different places use a grinder with a diamond disc.

Tip: When using a sledgehammer, it is more important not the impact force, but the accuracy and the correct retention of the tool. You need to hold closer to the end of the handle, and this will give the shock more power than holding the heavy gibbet.

• The last way is to break a large cobblestone with dynamite, but here you need experience, equipment and removal from the settlement. These jobs are trusted by professionals.

"Dry" and "wet" masonry stone

Builders practice "wet" and "dry" masonry, using a mortar based on:

• construction adhesive;
• sand and cement mixture;
• clay kneading.

A tie stone of the same size is best laid out on 2-3 levels without any mortar, with careful adjustment of each block, corresponding to the shape of the adjacent material.

Garden and park fences for dry stone laying look very natural, especially if the back of the earth is buried to resemble natural terraces. The stone gradually grows overgrown with shoots and a picturesque landscape resembles the ruins of an ancient fortress or castle.

In the "dry" masonry only a large stone of arbitrary shape, close to cubic. It is more important not only to fit each stone to each other, but also to calibrate the building material so that a wall is formed along the width and height. If a stone hedge is placed under the backfill of the earth from the back, it is important to align only the front surface - with the help of a plumb. In the same way, you can make a low laying of ceramic stone.

The largest stones are laid on the lower level, but the ranks are always observed, as in wet laying. This kind of work is somewhat reminiscent of a jigsaw puzzle of the fragments, and nothing else is dry. Emptiness or seams between the butes or stone blocks can be filled with compacted soil, if it is a low masonry in the form of a garden border or a fence for a flower bed. The lower row of stones is sometimes partially digged into the ground, like a foundation.

For buildings with a height of more than half a meter, only wet laying is used, based on one of the types of binder solution. If natural stone is used for low hedges in agricultural buildings of mixed type, for example, as the basis of adobe masonry, it can also be clayed with the addition of dry cement. This ensures masonry durability and stability.

Important: It is not recommended to mix sand with sea stone in mortar for masonry. Preference is given to well sifted river sand - it has the best characteristics for adhesion and stirring, does not emit salt.

Ways of laying

From the way of laying the long, short and end sides of the building or finishing material depends both the overall appearance of the masonry and the strength of the structure. The main task is to displace the vertical seams in order to avoid cracks in the masonry:

• buthot concrete;
• large-block and small-block;
• light;
• decorative, etc.

However, in any way of working, masonry must meet the basic requirements:

• stability;
• longevity;
• reliability;
• solidity;
• aesthetics;
• resistance to mechanical stress.

The simplest masonry of artificial stone and brick - blocks on each other are exposed by wide facets( beds).The brick is laid out with spoon and bunching rows, depending on which side it lies on the front side of the wall. This is important for the strength of dressing rows.

Traditionally, laying of spoon rows is done by dressing - where there was a vertical seam of the previous row, there is placed above the gray brick, block or stone. Other types of rows are also often used:

1. English dressing, where the brick of the typhus row alternates with the spoon rows - photo.

2. American dressing, where the buny row interleaves 4-7 spoon rows to make the seams mixed.

3. Flemish dressing, where through the series there is an alternation of baulk and spoon-type stacking of bricks.

However, a natural stone usually has unequal dimensions and arbitrary shape, therefore it is not so easy to observe the types of dressing similar to brickwork. Experienced masons skillfully combine the principles of different types of styling, picking up the boot with a poke( short side) and a long( spoon).In zabutke( butovuyu masonry) it is still important to observe the number and alternation of vertical seams, so that it turned out to be a kind of chain dressing. The corners are laid out so that the long side of the stone alternately leaves in one wall, then into another wall.

The easiest way is to observe the row and the alternation of vertical seams when laying the cut stone, for example, from shell rock or sandstone. This is a natural material with a high content of calcium, which has arisen through the underwater pressing of the relict shell, it is ecological, has a low thermal conductivity. It is cut in blocks, like a brick, so it is convenient to stack a shell. And in butovoy laying a lower limit of strength, as stones of irregular shape touch each other at several points, and not flat. Here much depends on the quality of the mortar and the skill of the handler.

Clutching is of different complexity, where the following are assumed:

• shaped ledges and volumetric bulges;
• belts( several protruding horizontal rows);
• cuts( on the facade a smaller thickness of masonry);
• overlaps( fragment of masonry with protruding from the common wall next to it);
• ledges( the facial fragment of the wall goes in the opposite direction);
• fines( masonry is temporarily cut off, vertical or "runaway");
• niches( at half the thickness of the masonry and more).

Thus, a special decorative effect is achieved, and not just a solid stone wall. Often, in fines with a gradual decrease in the rounded form, a forged metal grate is mounted - a very effective hedge of the manor is obtained.

Butane masonry technology

Butovoy masonry is also laid "under the bay" and "under the shoulder blade."

1. The first row is often slightly buried and laid in a dry way, compacted with crushed stone, then all this is poured in with a liquid solution until all voids are filled. Next, the rows are sealed with a thick solution to fill the voids, while retaining the dressing. Be sure to make an intermediate horizontal seam. Each stone is burned tightly adjacent to adjacent blocks, and the vertical seam is necessarily overlapped with the stone of the upper row. If a sufficiently large cavity is formed in the seams and the aisles, it is possible to fill with stumbling blocks or simply filling. Bearing walls and poles spread only in this way, observing the row, dressing and split.

2. Sometimes make a clutch with vibrocompaction, adding strength - without mortar spread out the 1st row, clogging the rubble with voids. Then pour the solution and to seal the masonry install a construction vibrator, until the entire solution enters the masonry. Next comes the usual clutch "under the shoulder", and again everything is condensed. This is possible where dense soils do not give a sink, and the base of the wall is laid in a trench, you can use the formwork.

3. Laying "under the bay" is suitable for natural stone with a torn surface without sorting, starting from the bookmark in the trench, like the foundation. This is done without formwork to obtain even steep walls. Under a tightly laid stone, a slab is made and poured with a liquid solution that covers the stones from above with a surplus and then a new layer of stones is laid.

4. "Cyclopean" masonry looks more decorative, thanks to a stone, which in the wall gives a kind of pattern. Masonry is made out by convex seams within 5 cm with a crocheting - photo.

Tip: For any type of masonry, check the verticality of the masonry level, especially in the corners. It is desirable to reinforce the wall between the rows. The horizontal stiffness of the masonry is checked on the lanyard stretched between the stakes, and if a semicircular masonry is needed, it is marked with stakes by radial marking from one point.