Building a house out of stone/rock--has anyone done it?

I'm not trying to argue here, but the when you are a woman, hauling rocks in a wheelbarrow is difficult. If I were a big strong guy like you, I would do a wheelbarrow every day, but being 5'2", and barely over 130 lbs, means that if I hit a rut in my barrow, that bugger tries to throw me to the ground! I agree that the dolly is difficult over bumby terrain, but you can pull it backwards and that helps alot. Also, the dolly is just for short trips, to make it to either the wagon or the wall.

I gotta say though, fot he smaller stones, that wheelbarrow is definatly the way to go!

I agree with Jennifer on this one... women often have to devise different methods of doing the same job than men, because our musculature is different. I don't have the bulging pectorals and deltoids and large masses of biceps and triceps that men have. Women's bodies are different, and we often have to use leverage instead of just brute strength. I speak from experience in other areas. I've had wheelbarrows dump over when carrying large loads and hitting a bump, simply because I didn't have the upper body strength to keep it upright. Dollies simply pivot, and like Jennifer says, you can pull them backwards which allows a woman to use her thigh muscles if necessary, which are larger muscles and able to do more work. I'm not trying to argue either, I've just had my share of wheelbarrows dump over on rough ground. I think dollies would be a good option considering the terrain of my land.

Jennifer and Rose... you don't have to use mongo rocks... nothing says you can't use "Jennifer size" or "Rose size" rocks. Use the size you're comfortable with. I have acquired some building stone that was too large for me, and tried to lift em anyway, and paid the price in a sore back. I've seen some beautiful stone walls consisting of nothing more than brick size or smaller stones.

As far as moving more than one rock at a time, a 4 wheeler or a lawn mower even with a tiny trailer would move em just fine. I've looked at some of the small hydraulic lifters that oil field hands have on their trucks. Basically just a small boom, with extenders, that's mounted on the truck... seen em with winches powered and hand cranked. Have thought about mounting one on my front end loader, to place heavy stones high off the ground, instead of muscling em (my back muscles are shot ).

I've got a cement mixer. I know it's not as efficient as a mortar mixer, but my budget won't allow for both. I have to finesse the mortar mixing a bit, but it works.

Walter, you are ambitious. I've been 'drawing' plans for a tower for several years now, and if I got 50' I was lucky... seven stories... I'm drooling here. I've visited your site before, but haven't seen any mention of your future tower. Are you looking at steel for superstructure or oak? I like the idea of oak... would be great if I could find some white oak beams. Have access to cypress, but oak is stronger...

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

Mark,
what kind of rock do you have? I assume a limestone... any 'hill cuts' or flatland, with rock on top of the ground.

I'd love to find someone in the Hill Country with granite outcropping on the surface...

I'm building a stone house in one of the few places in Texas without any rocks to speak of. We have some limey sandstone boulders, but they weather away too quickly out in the weather.

__________________
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

You underestimate men. Yes, I have much larger muscles and denser bones than you probably do but I also use my body's levers optimally. My wife often comments on that I know how to lift and it makes a difference - I teach her techniques. Without good technique she can lift 50 to 100 lbs. With good technique she can lift 100 to 200 lbs. Yes, I can lift many times that due to my stronger muscles but both of us work at using the proper technique to optimize our lifting and hauling. To say that men just rely on brute strength is to demean us. We do have brains.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/
http://HollyGraphicArt.com/
http://NoNAIS.org

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SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

At 5'2" and 120 lbs, I have moved very heavy loads, including rocks, with a wheelbarrow, also a child's size wagon (it was a huge slab of rock that I couldn't get into the wheelbarrow) and a garden cart. Our land was hilly, bumpy, and full of ruts. yOu can't just wheel it along m indlessly, you DO have to watch out, be careful, etc, and for bigger rocks, I'd sacrifice the maneuverability of the wheelbarrow for the easier load of the garden cart, but it CAN be done. Dollies have their place too. I especially like them for transporting stacks of boxes or 55 gallon barrels of water, for which I would NOT want to use a wheelbarrow.

My personal experience has been that women tend to underestimate themselves. You don't need sheer muscle, you need to be able to figure out the easiest way to move the rocks with the least effort. Lastly, the gluteus maximus is the largest, strongest muscle in the entire body, and most of us women are adequately endowed there.

Oh good God Walter, I wasn't trying to demean anyone When I said 'brute strength' I meant it figuratively, not that men were brutes. I just figured I couldn't have a thread without someone being offended.

Anyway, Chamoisee summed up what I was trying to say probably better than I did.

Thanks everyone for their input, it is greatly appreciated.

I'm a brute, but I'm charming and not bad looking, but in a brutish way

So, I'm in limestone country, where it's not that old and not that good to build with. HOwever, we have limestone construction around here, which tells me someplace not far away is good stuff. I've seen the method of harvesting good blocks out of a quarry and it's not too complicated. If I can find a good cropping, I'd like to try my hand at it.

I bet most of the women here would swoon for a brute long before a suit.

Ladies, I have a huge wheelbarrow that's fairly easy to move because it has two wheels. It was a little more expensive but it's well worth the money.

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Robin

I think my best and worse "wheelbarrow dump" story was when I had a BIG load of UNAGED , WET, chicken manure and bedding- just trying to get across the back yard to the compost pile- and when that booger leaned to far to the left, I couldn't hold it up! But I tried, and didn't give up until the last minute, when I landed right in "the heap of things" as they like to say! It was in my hair, on my clothes, every where! Not to mention I had to pick up what spilled! DH never laughed so hard...

I think that the one thing we can all agree on, is this. Your body is going to be your Number 1 tool. You just need to be careful to remember that this will be a long process, and your body will have to endure for the long haul. Whatever you find to be YOUR best way of doing things, do that, so long as you are protecting your number 1 asset.

And again, i sure do admire what you are doing!

so thats it for this thread??? I want to see some pictures of the stone house. I too read all of the books and did all of the research...also check out "the art of building a house of stone" one of my favorites as well as the stonebuilders primer...my wife finally bought me a small mixer and said "go for it" so we did...and I'm glad I did it...the look of stone is so nice. It amazes me that I drive around and see stone walls in every field, or I go by somebodys house and they've laid a stone garden wall...but mention building a house and they think your crazy!!! just plan it out read all of the books and go for it. there are rocks of all sizes, trust me, there were some I didn't use because they were to big, and there was one my nephew picked out for me that almost killed me. the majority of mine were smaller and easy to carry. don't forget you end up moving them about 3 times before you get them into the wall.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12531305@N07/

it took a long time, and by the time I was done I was in much better shape than when I started...

Kenny, Thank you for bumping this old (forgotten?) thread. Your photos prove that this is not just a pipe dream, but something that is doable. You have built a home that your grandchildren will be proud of years to come. Great job!

All I can say is WOW, that looks great, I cannot even imagine doing that, kudos to you.

Great house.

Welcome Kenny
Looked at your pics...
Appears you had a form on the inside, and laid stone on the outside, and then filled in with concrete. Is that right?

Did you end up building interior walls on your concrete side? Insulation between that and the finish walls?

__________________
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

well texican, it seems that I tried a variety of methods. when I started the walls in the footer, In was using flat stones in the slipforms and I wasn't happy with the look and the mess oozing down. My dad suggested laying the stones up in a more traditional method and filling in behind them (between the stone and form) with concrete. this worked pretty well, but there was a lot of pointing to me done on the stones...fixing the mortar joints, and it took a lot of concrete. I stopped about halfway up for the winter, thats when I read the book "the art of building a stone house" there they recommended going back to the slipforms, but laying a bead of sand between the form and the stonework in the front. also about this time, I decided to stop using the flat stones from the stone wall out back, and started using a lot of stones from the lake...my sister has property along lake ontario, and her and her neighbors end up with a great amount of stone on their boat-docks after the winter, that they have to remove. I took my pickup up kids, and cleaned off every boat launch I could...once I started one their neighbor would ask me to do theirs...and so on. I even had one guy bring me a dumptruckload of stone he had been piling up for years. These rocks were beautiful, round, clean and smoothed from years of rolling around in the lake. These stones, in conjunction with the new method, really made a difference my second year of laying stones. f you look at the photos, the stones under the windows are different than the stones to the sides of the windows. also I made the big wall inside the house out of lake stones.

Also, to answer your question. the inside walls are studded 2x6 construction with insulation. all said and done, I think I spent a lot of extra money because I really have 12" thick concrete and stone siding, but I know it will never go anywhere...and I've already told my kids they have to keep the house forever annd tell their grandkids how we built it together.

sorry for rambling, but I'm glad to be able to breath new life into this old posting...anybody want to share any "new" photos of their projects... love to see them.

sure wish I would have found these posts when I was building.

Well, shades of Christmas past.... the lady known as Rose Garden is my second cousin. Her father and my father are first cousins, so if I'm not mistaken that makes us second cousins, and we practically grew up together. She married a handsome Mennonite widower with children and now lives in Nebraska. I believe they have no computer access. I get cards and letters occasionally. When I send them a Christmas card I will try to remember to let her know her old post has come to life again. She would be tickled, I think.

Kenny, your photos are just incredible. What a beautiful house you have built, I bet it will last for generations. I really admire folks like you who do such beautiful work, it's just amazing.