Stone Foundation Restoration / Repair. Lancaster PA.
On this stone masonry project we have a foundation that was in need of restoration. The wall in the left side of the photo was bulging and slowly being pushed in. Every time it would rain water would penetrate the wall at specific areas and flood the interior. The fact that there are no gutters on this barn compounded the problem. I chose to use this photo of the project because it illustrates before and after all in one picture. The left side of the picture the foundation is still being excavated and repointed. The right side the wall had been relayed and the finish coat of stucco has been applied.
First I’m going to discuss the left side of the photo. This wall was in such bad shape that when it was being excavated we could only dig about 4 feet and then I would repoint that section. After that was done we would dig another 4 feet and then that section would get done. The reason for this was the mortar in the wall had completely broken down and was basically nonexhistent. Rather than chipping old cement out of the joints it was just mud. Once the mud was removed then the wall would get pressure washed. Fortunatly the interior of the wall had been repointed . If that would not have been done the pressure washing would have blown completely through the wall. When the pressure washing was complete the wall was then preped to be repointed. When a wall is that bad of shape the ground that was piled against it was essentially holding it together. Thats why it had to be excavated in sections and the repointed to get some strength back into the wall. Had we dug the entire foundation out all at once there is a good chance it would have collapsed.
The right side of the photo is another story, the wall had collapsed and was relayed. There is another blog post titled “Stone Wall Collapse” that shows the interior of this wall with a giant hole in it. So, before we got to this point a footer was poured in the section of wall that had fallen in and the the wall was relayed. Sandstone are a very pourous stone and will absorb a lot of water if given the chance. In order to minimise this stucco was applied to the areas of the wall that will be below grade. On top of the stucco there will be some type of sealer or water proof membrane. The above grade areas will be repointed with an off white custom mortar color that will match the front of the barn as much as possible.
This stone masonry project is located in northern Lancaster county PA.
