Adding a 2 car garage addition to the side of this house. The addition will extend 8′ out from the front facade. The 8′ of new garage wall will join into existing wall of the main house perpendicular to the stone front . What would you do with the stone where we have to connect to the main house? One framer said “let’s just butt up against it (the stone) and caulk the heck out of it” Initially, I thought I could take a diamond blade and cut out a 4″ section but my concrete guy said that the stone is too hard. I guess, my other alternative is take a cold chisel and chisel out the grout and remove enough stone to make the connection and then have the mason reset the stone when he does the front of the new garage (the short 8′ side wall will be siding (hardie).
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If you could sketch out a plan of the existing structure and add in the new structure, it would help me to visualize exactly what you are trying to accomplish.
If you do not have a scanner, use your digital camera to take a pic of the sketch. You can then crop the part of the pic that does not need to be sent by using paint or some other editing program.
Diamond blade will cut it but you will not be able to reach the full dept of the stone with a circular saw -- reach maybe 2" -- I just put up 75 sf of similar stone and needed to tailor each one -- lots were too wide so needed to rip -- However, if you cut all as deep at you can and then use a 3-4" brick chisle and a 4 pound hammer they should all break in a straight line -- some of yours almost look 4" in width so you might just tke them out an rip on a table -- may need to repoint the area around the stones becase it may work lose -- alternatively you could rent one of those gas powered diamond blad saws and cut right through to the sheathing
That looks like fake er a cultured stone . That stuff cuts with a butter knife ,well sorta . A diamond blade will do just fine . use a demo saw to cut the full depth that way you will not have to do any pounding that will loosen ajoining stones.
That's what I was thinking.
based on the other siding .. and the corner ... it's cultured.
Just cut away.
circular saw or grinder.
that'll give a clean ... ie ... straight corner.
me ... I'd be inclinded to pop some stones and tooth in the new work.
would look less like an addition.
one old side ... one new side ... work your way up or down.
weave it.
real stone walls don't have perfectly straight corners.
JeffBuck Construction, llc Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
Thanks for the advise everyone! Nope, the stone is the real deal...about 4" to 5" thick. (house is 30 y.o so i think it's pre precast stone days) I'm going to try cutting it with a diamond blade. Good point about the blade leaving an clean/unnatural line, but the siding on the side wall is going to but up against the stone so it shouldn't be an issue. Cutting it back a good 4+" will allow me to properly flash etc in the corner. If the blade doesnt work plan B will be reweaving.
Jim
Last week, I cut a new door into an 8" basement wall using a gas-powered Stihl concrete saw. I think it about a 12" or 14" blade. With one person holding the saw and one directing a stream of water at the blade with the garden hose, it took about 15 minutes to cut the entire door from two sides. I would like to think that it would be less work to cut through the stone. If the stone is too hard for that, it might make more sense to simply use a stone chisel to chip away 4".
One thing still not clear to me is the roof line on the current house. Is there a gable over the stone facade? If so, how are you going to adapt that into the garage? This would affect any decision I would make to modify the wall so as to leave the stone in place. For instance, it might make sense to place the forward portion of the garage offset from the wall which you plan to extend forward. The roof line would be a major factor in that type of adjustment.
Edited 10/3/2004 10:48 am ET by Les
Actually it's a gambrel roof (see photo) The small mud room on the left connects to a one car garage. Both are coming out and a new 2 car with finished space above is going in. The ridge of the new addition will fall about 1' below the ridge of the main house. The new roof will be 10/12 and end 8.5' out from the main house. The roof of the new garage has 2 false dormers to match the main house. The back side will have a 6/12 allowing for more space on the 2nd floor.
The way i was going to lay it out is cut away the overhang of the gambrel siding (about 8") and run the addition out from the existing wall. Haven't figured out what to do yet with the "pocket" that will be created where the gambrel overhang will run down onto the new roof. I guess I'll leave a small gap so water doesn't get trapped like a dam effect.
Real stone can inded be straight cuts. See tjhe backs of the stone at end of wall? They are irregular backs. Fake stone has flat backs and are not as thick of a wall. The colouring also looks real to my eye.
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An alternative is to use a vertical board and scribe it for a tight fit. It would become a piece of vertical trim against which you'd butt the siding.
A material like a Trex deck board would be easy to work with and won't present any rot problems like wood would. It could be painted the color of the siding, to reduce it's visual impact, or in the trim color, to accent it.
If you're having the mason finish the work, call him in now to pop selected stones in which he can make his work easier then as well as yours now. It'll take him but a few minutes and ultimately be done right.