Restoration Stone Work and Landscaping

Heritage buildings need to be properly restored, which means several things, including keeping cement-based mortars and concrete away from direct contact with stone. Improper mortar destroys stone (usually seen around towns as the darkest grey repair patches on old buildings.) Concrete also destroys stone. Heritage homes should almost never be repaired by general contractors, most of whom DO NOT know what they are doing with stone, heritage stone workers use ONLY heritage mortar, ie. lime base mortars. Stone basements should never be encased in concrete, they can be restored from inside or out, or both. Water, ice and gravity are the other enemies of stone/ and must be controlled through grading, drainage/eavestroughing etc. Water damage tends to radiate down and out from lintel/archway/sill cracks around windows and doors, and the restoration/repair needs to follow the water flow line. Restoration either involves replacing heritage mortar, and or broken stone, and/or the disintegrated mortar between and behind stones. It is a methodical task than can be undertaken over time, taking budget and other concerns into consideration. It is like dentistry. (Disintegrated mortar is not a sign that the building should be demolished, it is a sign that the original masons did their job, and the breathing stone building has simply ground out the mortar over the previous century and that it is now time for the process to be repeated for the next several generations.) (Cement-based products, being harder than stone, move enmasse and break the stone over time, which turns your heritage building into a rubble heap.) No heritage building should ever have to be torn down if it is maintained properly.