Saturday, May 7, 2016

4/2016 Millers Station Springhouse Foundation


4/2016 Millers Station Springhouse. 34 day build, 42 ' long freestanding dry laid stone construction. What a killer way to start 2016 year off!!! My neighbors John and Christina had asked if I could build a structure which would look like an old foundation. Me and John talked a bit about his vision of having a water feature coming out of the back corner of the tall walls. Yes in time this will be covered up. I sure can't wait to see what's in store for next chapter of this project.
Freehand sketch of illustrated design

As a team we discussed and planned with his vision in mind. I had suggested the placement of the structure be turned in order for it to be seen easily when looking from inside or when sitting inside the closed deck.


Wall specs: Primary stone Butler Stone which is a quartzite material - super hard. Mixed with West Mountain and PA colonial blue stone. From right to left 5' H x 12' L, Back wall 5' H x 16' L, 4' H x 6' L, left wall 4' H x 8' L. 2 cheekends (wall head), 3 corners, 12 tie stones, 2 window frames, 1 bench made up of 3 stones cantilevered from wall, 1 lental. Batter angle 1:8 with 16" tops 32" base on tall wall with 39" protruding foundation set below grade on earth. 


The PA Colonial tie stones set at 18" high centered on 3' and staggered at upper level.


Building cheekends (wall head) or any kind of corners requires stone which are referred to as squares and rectangles. This project was all primarily palleted local Butler stone from Butler Maryland. While Butler stone in general is very pricy by the ton.  Squares and recs are all produced by cutting the chosen stones with a guillotine splitter. To some the price of this produced stone can seem out of space. But the truth of the matter, one can spend all day hunting and hoping the right stone is somewhere on a pallet. Or you can stop wasting valuable time and just purchase what you need! After all time is money - your time is not FREE!!


I like to think of building a wall like baking a pie. YOU have to have all the right ingredients before you start. Knowing what you're going to build and how you plan to build it is key. I'll talk more about this in the future blog on this project. 




This is the corner section where the water feature will coming down into a large pond in the front. 




If you look at each corner, cheekend or window you will notice a dovetail weave with stone. Just like well built wooden drawer.  Take a closer look and you will see every other stone goes length into the wall. This helps tie the stones into the structure. 


This is the 4' section. I love the angle of the wall section with the floating benches.


The 20" lentil was built as a feature in the 6' wall section.  Giving a little more light in and a bit of zing as a hidden surprise. 


One incredible project with lots of technical challenges. Pushing me to build at the highest level of my ability.  What a pleasure it was to create. 

Let me help you build your dreams!

Many thanks to John and Christina for believing in what I do!


Top of 5' cheekend a level never lies.