Not so long ago, I wrote an article about why I chose a stone as a fence posts, and not a brick and described why a stone is more practical. If you are interested, then I leave a link to this article:
Looked at the neighbors' fences and abandoned the brick pillars. Made it my own way (my photos)
In fact, I like stone constructions. I like it when the natural natural texture of the material surrounds us, it somehow becomes more comfortable in the yard. In addition to building a fence, I have a basement made of rubble stone, after which, a year and a half later, I made a porch to our house from stone.
Today, I would like to explain how I grind the seams of masonry and emphasize the texture of the stone. So...
1. Stone preparation
It doesn't matter what kind of stone the structure is made of, but all the cobblestones brought to your site will be dirty. Stones lie in layers in the ground and it often happens that they are brought in with strongly adhered pressed clay on the edges.
Therefore, it is important to rinse them well under the pressure of water or wait for a good pouring rain.
2. Masonry
The stone is always laid on a cement mortar, in which there is little water. The ratio of the components is as follows:
- 1 hour cement
- 3.5 hours sand
- 0.5 tsp water
Due to its monolithic low-porous structure, the stone does not absorb water and the solution is in a plastic state for a very long time. In order to keep the stone on its neighboring brothers, it is important that the masonry composition is tough with little amount of water, otherwise the solution is squeezed out from under the heavy cobblestone and the masonry collapses without even having time to collect strength.
3. Stone cleaning
After 3-6 hours, depending on the ambient temperature and the quality of the cement, the side faces of the stone are cleaned from the mortar using a brush with stiff bristles.
In the masonry mixture, all the water must already react with the cement. At the time of cleaning, the cement-sand mixture should already crumble, and not smear over the stone. It is important to clean each stone very carefully so that no adhering solution remains, otherwise it will be very difficult to remove it on the second or subsequent days.
4. Grouting
Now, put the stiff brush aside and sweep away the sand left over from the rough cleaning from each seam.
This is done with a regular soft-bristled brush.
After the seam is cleaned of sand, the work ends.
The next two or three days the masonry is doused with water from the hose.
Thus, you can make fountains, flower beds, and in general, who is in what is much. Any structure made of stone will look amazing, especially if there are needles and wooden elements in the yard.
Even if these works take a lot of time, the result is pleasing. I made two of my fence posts for a week, there are two more left and I will put up a fence ..
I hope the article was useful to you!
Thanks!