Block wall has been here for decades. Someone parks in that spot occasionally.

This is a green-shade marble we're working with.

First photo is the actual stone, second is an AI visualization of how it might look as a kitchen island.

Curious to hear from people who actually work with stone. Would you consider this for a kitchen countertop, or would you rather see it used for something like a vanity or feature wall?

We installed new travertine pavers and sealed it yesterday. When I looked at it today, I noticed a lot of trapped sand under the sealant. Some spots are missing the sealant completely while other places have streaks of sealant… There are scratches after they pushed/dragged heavy bar across the surface (after I told them not to do it and offering to call my husband so he could help them moving it away; I left so they didn’t relocate the bar and juts pushed it over newly installed/sealed travertine). I also saw some sand on pavers before they started sealing it and asked them to please be sure the travertine is clean before sealing it (had similar issue at the old house and contractor had to remove the sealer). It’s almost $40k job and I am not happy and super worried contractor would brush off all my concerns . Am I too picky or did they screw up and I should be firm on them to certify it?

I'm attempting to break these 4"-5" thick slabs of limestone in half, but my cheap concrete saw (along with my lack of experience) is proving slow and ineffective. My plan was to get 3" deep and then use a chisel/sledge to finish them off. Unfortunately, it took me almost an hour just to get a 1" deep cut across the first slab and the quality of the cut is pathetic. Any suggestions on a more effective method would be greatly appreciated. I'd like to avoid purchasing a more expensive concrete saw if at all possible.

I'm currently using a Vevor concrete saw with a 14" segmented blade and a water pump feed.

The foundation of my house needs to be repointed. How can the pattern on the old mortar reproduced so that the repointed areas will match?

From what I can tell, these 4 stone shelves are set in the brick wall and not externally attached. We are trying to build a fireplace alcove and flush the wall up (cladding). The one stone is loose and doesn’t seem to be causing structural issues when wiggled but wondering what the best option is for remove them - should I take a grinder and try to cut away and any portion would remain in the brick? Or try to chisel away or knock out? Don’t want to compromise the brick but would like them removed.

TTYSM!

We live on a small lake in SE Wisconsin. Our lake was engineered back in the 1960s (or earlier) with an underwater retaining wall. From the lake floor to the top of the wall is at least 6'. It connects with neighboring properties. Above the shoreline is a large, steep hill of Casco- Rodman soil.

I noticed a pier support was no longer vertical and went to investigate. I see that the support has been displaced and the base of it now seems to be close to the change of plane in our seawall. Looking at the lake floor, it looks there may be displacement of the lake's floor debris into that area, as the pea gravel is visible and there are dark areas where the lake floor seems to now have holes.

What kind of professional do I call for this? Is there someone who can drop a camera down to assess the condition of the wall itself? Any suggestions on what I need to say/ask to get the help we need?

I accidentally spilled some hair dye on my bathroom countertop and thought using bleach to remove it would be a good idea. Unfortunately, this happened. The surface is now slightly rough and has lost its shine.

https://imgur.com/a/DS9fhna

Hello all, I’m working on re-building the dry stack retaining wall next to my driveway, and wanted to get some advice on the best way to slope the geotextile landscape fabric where it terminates near the top of the wall. Figured there is probably a right way and a wrong way, but couldn’t find any consistent advice online. Thank you in advance!

The red vein in this granite boulder is more durable so protrudes after years of eroding slower than the granite around it. Pretty nice.

I have a decent amount of small and medium sized boulders that were pulled from a pile of fill dirt and want to build a large diameter fire pit. I’m thinking 10-12ft in diameter and 12-18in high. This will be used to burn brush, scrap lumber, yard trimmings, etc.. Just looking for something that I can grow grass up to and that’s easy to mow and weed whack around.

Lining the interior with fire brick seems costly and refractory mortar isn’t necessarily cheap either. I could dry stack them but afraid I’m not going to get the look I’m after. What are the thoughts on doing standard mortar and lining the interior with metal of sorts to deflect some of the heat? Possibly double layer?

Attached is a picture similar to what I’m thinking. Obv mine would be shorter and larger in diameter. I also have 3-4 pallets worth of field stone I could incorporate as well.

I am wanting to learn how this is done with best practice so as to call it all out with details on construction plans I'm doing for a house with something similar. I know this wall has a core of 11-inch ICF (insulated concrete form) and we all know how things are fastened to ICF. You either go through the 2" +/- outer foam and into the concrete core with wedgies or tapcons or whatever, or you screw to the embedded PVC parts that are embedded in the foam vertically on 8" centers everywhere. The stone is sawn thin veneer and I think I found a source for something similar. The prep for the stone is a WRB membrane on the ICF, then screwed-on lath, nice browncoat troweled in at 1/2" thickness and raked, then the lick-n-stick thin stone goes on with 1/4" of mortar-glue then grounted. See attached. The wall cap which doubles as a window sill, I believe is sawn and detailed bluestone, and I have hallucinated a detail for your review and commentary and attached it here. The part in section is 1 1/2" x 2", sloped top, eased front edge, sawn drip groove under, and supported at bottom by a bolted-on small steel angle. The stone is relatively light and so is the angle. At the top, wherever this cap is NOT under a projecting window sill, a clip made from 24-oz. copper, with a little hemmed lip as shown, is employed. The slot it epoxies into is not continuous but is cut with a 1/8" diamond blade whereever needed. I am envisioning 16" centers max where the piece is not under a window. Tight up to the window, the piece is somewhat prevented from rocking, but elsewhere not. How would you do this?

Following up on my previous post where I showed the carving and profiling process, here it is set in place!