I found some Granite slabs that are 3 inches thick and about 14 inches wide. they vary in length from 5 ft. to 3 ft. What I want to do is drill a couple of holes in them Bolt them in place with 1/2 inch stainless steel bolts and lay them Flag style along the foundation. While there isn’t a brick ledge to support them there is foam that could be removed to provide frost heave protection. What I want to achieve is something other than cement block as a foundation. Will this work?
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If you really want to pursue this, I highly recomend that you find a marble mason to advise you. Installing stone like those is extremely time consuming and difficult in general.
Moreover, if your CMU foundation is not "grouted", that is, the cores filled with concrete, you will not have much luck anchoring something such as your stone to it.
Luckily I'm removing the house so I can pour concrete into the cores, but you bring up a good idea. Rather then using lead expansion plugs I'll use bolts with largish washers and nutsand then pour the concrete into the cores.. should be more than strong enough.
HA! you talk about time consuming! I'm building a double timber frame house. Every timber inside and out needs to be planed, sanded and erected. In addition to ensure the quality of the timbers, I dried them for three years prior to the start! In addition all of the wood used on this house was purchased rough sawn. Roof, floor every board is planed, sanded, and milled by me. I started with 36,000 bd.ft. of White Oak, Black walnut, Cherry, Burl,Hard Maple, Tamarck, Eastern White Pine etc. Since then I've purchased another 4,000 bd.ft. (I have this addiction problem)
Putting up a few slabs of granite in the time scheme is nothing... HA! Nothing I say, won't take but,, well just a few, well ummmm, weeks? Uh shoudn't I use a granite guy rather than a marble guy? (we lack marble guys and have more than a few stone masons)
If you are a union mason and set cut stone slabs like granite, you are still called a "marble mason" and that is what it says on your card. Not all guys who can lay stone are trained in "mechanical set." Having said that, it is not brain surgery(but they will make you think that).
Thanks! one more bit of knowledge.
Will this actually dress up the house, or will it just look like some dude bolted stuff to his house that obviously doesn't belong there? I can't see it, so I don't know in your case, but the wrong material can look really out of place...
Maybe stucco your foundation, and use the granite someplace you can really show it off--counters, fireplace mantel, flooring...
Or better yet, let me come take it off your hands. :-)
You won't see the bolts, they will be below grade once it's back filled. The house is timberframed with Black walnut beams and brick infills. Heck Granite isn't rare here in Minnesota, we grow it, all ya gotta do is pull it outa the ground and shape it the way you want. (actually it sells for $310.00 a ton milled into slabs)
What about synthetic brick veneer. It comes in sheets, resembles hardi-plank in texture and applies with a trowled on mastic. It looks like real brick...at least from the street.
Son, you have no taste!
Next you'll have me use plastic siding to cover the Black walnut beams or rip off that copper because it's libal to turn green!
NO TASTE!! What should be brick to grade is now kitchen counter material with lag bolts!!
Son,
Counters are polished, this isn't, it's flamed.giving it a rough texture like natural stone. Didn't you read where the bolts are below grade? What's the problem? bricks going to grade have a habit of needing frequent tuck pointing. In addition Many upscale homes use Granite as a foundation material rather than exposing concrete blocks. the differance is I'm retro fitting them instead of pouring a ledger to footings.
Frenchy,
You asked for suggestions, I mentioned one...didn't say it was the best choice...even offered a caveat...that it looked like brick...from the street. If you don't like a suggestion ignore it, don't dump on someone.
By the way...I got your son.
Fair enough, I apologize if I offended you. I'm probably overly sensitive about this since so many people I deal with have the slap-it-up-and-get-paid mind set. I jumped at theassumtion that was what you were offering.
frenchy - 3" exceeds the 'normal' stone veneer thickness for such an application, meaning that they are going to be very heavy for their size, which is relevant. The exposed fasteners will look funny, I think.
T. Jeffery Clarke
Edited 5/2/2002 9:05:58 AM ET by Jeff Clarke
the fastners wouldn't show, only about 8 to 9 inches of the granite will be exposed. the Stainless steel bolts will be below that. They don't seem that heavy, I mean I'm not particularly strong and I held them up into place. Granted not for long, but they would sit on the foam while I draw the bolts up tight. Since the fastners are rated for well over 25 times the weight of the stone I fail to see where there is an issue with failure.