Why We Choose The Slipform Stone Masonry

Why We Choose The Slipform Stone Masonry? Building stone houses is a work of passion. The procedure is time-consuming, actually difficult, and time-draining. It's not a prospect that your average owner/builder should take on without doing a lot of research. This said, building your own stone house using the method can be one of the most satisfying experiences of your life, given you know what you're getting into. As a strong proponent of stone masonry, I thought I would share five ideas that you might consider the system. Stone Houses Require Little Maintenance Various specialists guess that a well-built haybale home will have a useful life of about 80 years - a few hundred-year-old haybale structures do exist and are still in use. Mother Earth News shows that even a neglected cordwood house can be required to last a hundred and fifty years. In contrast, there a many, many stone houses in use that are well over five hundred years old, and a number of thousand-year-old stone houses throughout Europe have been continually inhabited since their construction. Couple this with a modern metal roof (with a required valuable life of a hundred years or more) and you can expect you from home to shelter your family in comfort for generations. Stone Houses Are Valuable If you're thinking about building with stone masonry, you are likely also analyzing a number of other alternative and owner/builder options including Earthships, Hay Bale, Cordwood, and Post & Beam. With the possible exception of a traditional build post and beam house, a stone house is the only option that will be as valuable or even more valuable than a traditional stick-built house. The market value of an attractive stone house generally exceeds that of other homes. Stone is lasting, stately, and speaks of permanence. These features attract buyers, and whether the housing market is struggling or not, that will give you an edge over other sellers, and a SERIOUS edge over those looking to sell alternative homes - typically among the most challenging houses to sell. Stone Is Attractive For All Financial Factor If I talk about the Stone Masonry in Northern Virginia, it's attractive for all financial factors. To considering all things on a purely aesthetic basis, stone looks great. The appeal of other popular owner-builder techniques is pretty subjective - some like one approach, others like a different one. Earthships, for example, are very attractive homes to me, while my wife describes them as \"weird-looking.\" No one would describe a stone house as weird or unattractive, adding to the appeal of the style. Stone Masonry is Easy to Learn Just as any building procedure needs care, attention, and a bit of trial and error to master, building with slip forms does require a bit of effort to master. Even so, if you can use a level, move some rocks, and count, you can learn the basics of building on a weekend. If your corners are square, your forms are plumb, and you pay attention, the craft is more forgiving than many techniques, and lends itself well to learning as you go.