I'm thinking about building a 1 level + loft cabin out of stone. I've got a 28 x 36 stepped, "capped" daylight foundation. It's been standing like this for 15 years.. Water has gotten in. It's heaved and hoed because it's in the NH mountains.. It's got a septic and well already piped in and ready to go.
All the wood framing and cap has to come out. It's very water damaged as you can imagine.
I've got lots of stone around that I can use for the walls. I really only have to build two where the framing/windows are. The other two are 8ft and in great shape. They are bermed up to about 6 ft and have a couple of windows. I'd like to do the walls myself.
Any advice on building with stone??
What should I use for roof trusses? I'd like to have a 4' knee wall and a loft. I'm thinking it calls for some big timber and a sip roof for insulation.
What should I do for a for a floor? It's got a hole for a subpump.
Is radon a myth?
The only answer I have to all tat right now, is that NO radon is not a myth. It is more prevalent in some locations than others. It's easy to test for.
http://www.radon.com/
http://www.epa.gov/radon/
http://www.epa.gov/radon/pubs/citguide.html
My county average is twice that of the national average >:( placing us in the moderate danger zone. A test indicated we have low levels. :D
Quote from: MountainDon on November 29, 2009, 09:37:02 PM
The only answer I have to all tat right now, is that NO radon is not a myth. It is more prevalent in some locations than others. It's easy to test for.
http://www.radon.com/
http://www.epa.gov/radon/
http://www.epa.gov/radon/pubs/citguide.html
My county average is twice that of the national average >:( placing us in the moderate danger zone. A test indicated we have low levels. :D
That's one concern I have out of living on the foundation floor. Well that and the water.
Slip form came to mind. Check this link: http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SolarHomes/Doug/SlipForm.htm
Here's my county levels..
About Radon Levels
in Carroll County
The average national indoor radon level is 1.3 pCi/L.
The average indoor radon levels of Carroll County, as determined by radon test results from Air Chek, Inc, is 8.7 pCi/L
Quote from: HomeschoolMom on November 29, 2009, 10:14:50 PM
Slip form came to mind. Check this link: http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SolarHomes/Doug/SlipForm.htm
Thanks for the link.
I would find some masons and listen closely to what they say----stone is an unforgiving material. If your walls are not designed and built properly your cabin can become a very dangerous place to be---they may weigh very heavily on your heads (pun intended) if they become unstable due to snow or other loading stresses. Insulation and moisture control will likely present some unusual challenges too. A structural engineer may be able to give you some guidance and if you need a building permit an engineered/stamped drawing will almost certainly be required.
Rubble stone walls are required to be a minimum of 16" thick, cannot retain more than 8' of unbalanced fill cannot restrain high soil pressure and cannot be built in seismic areas. So it'll take a healthy footing but if the other requirements are met it is a fine wall. I've built crawlspace walls by forming the inside and laying the outside. I mortared the face stone and simultaneously backfilled with concrete back to the form, laying in some rebar as I went up. BTW the code used to call for a minimum of 12" thick, I can only assume the thickness increased due to failures so I would err to thickness. It's fun work if you have the time and a good way to learn the geology of your area... we used to have beachfront property ;D.
Quote from: Don_P on November 30, 2009, 07:32:48 AM
Rubble stone walls are required to be a minimum of 16" thick, cannot retain more than 8' of unbalanced fill cannot restrain high soil pressure and cannot be built in seismic areas. So it'll take a healthy footing but if the other requirements are met it is a fine wall. I've built crawlspace walls by forming the inside and laying the outside. I mortared the face stone and simultaneously backfilled with concrete back to the form, laying in some rebar as I went up. BTW the code used to call for a minimum of 12" thick, I can only assume the thickness increased due to failures so I would err to thickness. It's fun work if you have the time and a good way to learn the geology of your area... we used to have beachfront property ;D.
That's good info for my application because the two 8' foundations walls that exist are retaining the fill and in good shapr. The walls I'm building will be freestanding, 8' daylight side with windows. I wonder if I can insulate between the timber framed exterior walls and the stone/mortar..
Can you tell me about the footing?
Quote from: rwanders on November 30, 2009, 01:43:39 AM
I would find some masons and listen closely to what they say----stone is an unforgiving material. If your walls are not designed and built properly your cabin can become a very dangerous place to be---they may weigh very heavily on your heads (pun intended) if they become unstable due to snow or other loading stresses. Insulation and moisture control will likely present some unusual challenges too. A structural engineer may be able to give you some guidance and if you need a building permit an engineered/stamped drawing will almost certainly be required.
I'll talk to some masons about it. Thanks.
Typically the footing projects half the wall thickness beyond the wall, for a typical 8" thick wall we shoot for a 4" projection. In this case that rule of thumb gets pretty excessive, so I went back to the book. "Footing projection shall be at least 2" and shall not exceed the thickness of the footing." If it's good soil I'd go with 4" projection so 24" wide and 12" thick with a couple of #4 rebars in the lower third of thickness under the wall. Too much projection on too thin a footing and the wall "punches through" the footing.
Designwise an engineer establishes the compressive strength of the soil and figures the weight of the structure bearing on the soil. Dividing strength per square foot by load per lineal foot gives footing width needed.
If we figure stone weighs 180lbs/cubic foot you'll have roughly 2,000lbs per lineal foot of wall weight. Running the loft and roof loads in my head generously they come to about the same. I would be comfortable in average soil with that footing.
You can insulate between the masonry and the TF, I'd look into foam for that.
The old timer's rule for stonework is that the stones should be placed 1 over 2, 2 over 1, in other words no vertical seams. The stones should be laid so that the wall would stand if no mortar was used, use gravity instead of thinking of mortar as glue. My oldest codebook called for a bondstone through the thickness of the wall in every 3'x3' section of wall if the wall was less than 24" thick.
Steel toes ;)
I have a couple of books that might come in handy in your quest for a stone cabin.
The first is "Living Homes, Integrated Design & Construction" by Thomas J. Elpel. (hopspress.com)
He has an interesting chapter on tilt-up stone masonry. He formed a wall on the ground, laid the stone in, added rebar, poured concrete, let set and then raised it, making a stone outside face and a conrete inside face.
There's also a chapter on slipform stone masonry.
This book covers home building from A to Z and is an interesting read. I bought the book originally because of the chapter on the details of a masonry stove, but found the whole book to be very well done.
A second book is: "Creative Country Construction" by Robert Inwood & Christian Bruyere.
A found it a Half Price Books and is less sophisticated than the first, but still an interesting read.
The chapter on stone wall buiding is primarily for a foundation, but he does have some info. on higher walls. His design is basically stone inside and out with concrete between.
I second the motion on steel-toed shoes. 8)
Quote from: poppy on December 01, 2009, 01:19:28 PM
I have a couple of books that might come in handy in your quest for a stone cabin.
The first is "Living Homes, Integrated Design & Construction" by Thomas J. Elpel. (hopspress.com)
He has an interesting chapter on tilt-up stone masonry. He formed a wall on the ground, laid the stone in, added rebar, poured concrete, let set and then raised it, making a stone outside face and a conrete inside face.
There's also a chapter on slipform stone masonry.
This book covers home building from A to Z and is an interesting read. I bought the book originally because of the chapter on the details of a masonry stove, but found the whole book to be very well done.
A second book is: "Creative Country Construction" by Robert Inwood & Christian Bruyere.
A found it a Half Price Books and is less sophisticated than the first, but still an interesting read.
The chapter on stone wall buiding is primarily for a foundation, but he does have some info. on higher walls. His design is basically stone inside and out with concrete between.
I second the motion on steel-toed shoes. 8)
Thanks for the book leads. Tilt up sounds like what I'm looking to do.
in 96 I think, Fine Homebuilding fan an article on a guy in Montana who built a stone/concrete house in a week. He formed up for a concrete slab the shape of the walls, put sand in the forms, laid stone face down, set rebar with lifting points, and poured slabs. After the forms came off, he let the cement cure for a week or two, then hired a crane to lift the walls up and place them. Basically he built a tilt-up concrete house with a stone face. It was extremely cool. You might be able to get them to send you a PDF of the article. It seemed to be a very easy way to do a stone house.
I like the Scottish Blackhouse Al told us about.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d184/glennkangiser/blackhousesection.gif)
in the thread below - more conversation on it there.... not likely what you want but interesting
http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=4530.0