The Unturned Stone

Last month, Storey Publishing released the latest book by old-school builder, restoration guru and Fred’s mentor Charles McRaven. Titled Stone Primer, it is the most comprehensive and beautifully photographed book on stone masonry available. It truly is a primer, covering the myriad ways that stone can be used in construction and as artistic accents in the home and garden. It features work by masons and sculptors working across the country, including Fred, who is featured as a one of a handful of “Rock Stars.” The book introduced me to the work of a mason based somewhere in the southwest named Doug Bryant, whose work challenges Lew French’s for pure, perfect joinery and inspired stone choices.
Avilable on-line and in the big box bookstores, we encourage you to check your neighborhood library or to order Mac’s new book through a locally-owned bookseller.

Having a summer cold is no fun at all, but it is letting me clear out some pictures and update the blog.

This is a set of steps that leads into a formal garden in an Asheville neighborhood. This image is looking down the steps at the gentle curve of the pathway. The arc of the pathway allows us to work with the slope. If you get too far ahead of the slope, you end up building the steps in mid-air, which requires a lot more stone and structure and looks weird- very imposed on the landscape. If you get too far into the slope, you have to dig everything way into the hillside and be more concerned with preventing the cut banks from caving in onto the steps. Working with the slope, using landings and short flights of steps together allow you to create a path that is easy to walk and transitions nicely into a garden visit. The stonework and bank are integrated and look natural together.

We replaced three worn and uneven concrete steps at this house in Asheville earlier this summer. The stone for the steps was chosen to match the existing foundation stones-seen in the side wall to the right. This type of stone, commonly used in old Asheville construction, is no longer available.
The most interesting- and sometimes disheartening- thing about tearing out old work like this is what lies underneath. In this case, the top step of the original flight was floating in air, suspended only by the side walls at each end. There were two metal pipes bracing the bottom of it, but both had rusted through years ago and no longer reached the ground below. It still took forever to remove.

Here’s a fetching image of Ursula, taken by K.J. weeks ago, loaded with 8″ by 8″ timbers at Stone Mountain State Park. These days Ursula is running stone into the cabin site.

Found this mantis patrolling a client’s garden on a rainy afternoon. It’s probably a Chinese mantis, but I can’t be sure. It was about three inches long.

We are sad to report the passing of Sioux-Dog, our longest serving executive and most reliable chaser of sticks, squirrels and rabbits. When I started here in the fall of 97, Sioux was on the job everyday patrolling the site for varmints, monitoring snacks and lunch and leading ‘dogger breaks’ which invloved stick-toss or furry naps in the sun. He was a very good dog and is sorely missed.

On a clear day, our new office space allows us miles of views. Most days we can watch the afternoon thunderstorms roll through the valley. Sometimes though, they sneak up from behind us and send us scurrying for shelter.
Follow the cabin’s progress on the new Cabin Panoramic page. It’s very image intensive and can take a while to load.

The south wall is reaching window height.

There have been butterflies everyhwere: monarchs like this one, swallowtails and yesterday a mourning cloak drying its fresh wings on a batter board.

A short section of the “The Hundred”, a tall, winding flight of 103 steps on the Deep Gap Trail in Mount Mitchell State Park.

There she is, rising up. The batter boards give shape to the stone walls to come. No matter how many times I drew their pictures, from this-that angle, with scale people standing around looking so nonchalant, nothing prepared me for the immensity of these walls. It moved my emotions to walk around in the space, still wide open, but for the first time, seeming to be contained. Concert hall, cathedral, cabin. I could feel the ceiling floating over my head.

The area within the footer has been packed with gravel and run over in endless loops behind the tamper.

Three long tapes and a simple formula squared the cabin. Laying out the rectangle within the square took more consideration.

Masonry screws hammered drilled into the footer secure the batter boards, as do additional braces. We stretch strings taut along between level points. These walls will taper eighteen inches over nine feet.