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One of the most common parts of stone foundation repair is to repoint the stone foundation joints. By joints, I mean the “mortar joints” between the individual field stones that make up the foundation, commonly refered to Michigan Basements here in the State of Michigan. I wanted to share some ideas on the process of repointing stone foundations and the cost to repoint a foundation made of stone.
Repointing stone foundation costs vary mostly based on the prep work required and the current condition of the existing joints between the stones. To me “Repointing” is the actual process of installing a joint of port land cement, mortar, or lime mortar mixture where one is missing. When I think of repointing a stone wall, I think of actually “putting” the material in the wall. There is more to the process.
Costs of repointing a stone foundation.
Condition of current existing mortar joints.
The size of the stones used to construct the wall.
The overall size of the foundation that needs repointed.
Accessibility of the foundation. Is it a crawspace? Is it a basment?
Are the existing walls basically where they belong?
Are the joints missing altogether?
Have other repairs been made in the past, including previous repointing?
The location and logistics of the project.
The current condion of the foundation and the joints between the stones propabley affects the cost to repoint foundations the most. Repointing stone foundation costsgo up when the volume of material goes up. We often complete projects that have most of the joints missing altogether when we arrive. This can also mean large voids and holes that reach back into the the wall, and these take a lot of mortar to properly fix. Obviously a larger stone foundation costs more to repoint than a smaller one.
The size of the stones used to build the foundation is a significant factor in the determining the cost to repoint foundations. As a rule the smaller the stones, the more joints there are that will need repointing. The larger the stones the fewer the joints. So typically we find that the foundation repointing projects that have smaller stones tend to cost more. If we find that most of the joints have deteriorated are simply missing, we wont have a lot of prep work to do. We take this into account when coming up with the cost. Also is the foundation easily accessible. Some crawl space foundations are a bugger because of the low height making it difficult to work in.
Average Cost Of Foundation Repointing Based on Past Projects.
Based on past repointing work we’ve done on stone foundations here in Michigan I would say you could expect repair costs to fall in the $3500-$6,500 dollar range. It seems to me that most of the foundations we re-point fall in that range. Obviously if its a very small or quite large foundation it could easily fall outside of this range.
This average is purely based on the hundreds of stone wall repointing projects we’ve done. The national average of tuck pointing ( as its also called) is about $15 dollars a square foot according for Forbes. It is worth noting that the cost to repoint a stone foundation is significantly lower than costs of repairing a collapsed stone wall. Repointing is a smart way to maintain the structural integrity of your foundation.
If you would like more information on repointing costs of a stone foundation, feel free to send us a Note or give us a call. We would also be happy to take a look at your project.
I wanted to share some ideas and information on a recent stone foundation repair that we did on an old stone barn basement in central Michigan. I’ll try to share some photographs so you can see how we went about repairing the barn foundation collapse.
When we started the stone foundation repair project on the this barn in Central Michigan we had to clean and sort the stones from the debris that had fallen in with the stone. The stone foundation had a hole about 8 feet long by about 9 feet high, so there was a quite a pile laying on the barn basement floor.
Pile of Stone and Debris From a Stone Barn Foundation Collapse
Most of the Stone was already sorted out and cleaned off already in the photo above. We then removed this soil and debris so we could get started repairing the existing wall and re laying the collapsed wall to repair the foundation. We ran into a couple very large stones under this pile of dirt so we decided to actually pour a type of footing so we had a solid structural place to begin with the wall. The two large stones were in a few inches more than they were originally but we decided to pour them right where they laid as they were too large to move.
As you can see we also added a few pieces of re-rod an hammer drilled in a couple more. We also laid a sheer wall of block to stabilize the existing wall that was still standing after the collapse. This isn’t always needed, to be honest we did it more out of concern for our own safety as we completed the repair. So now we have sorted out the stone, removed the soil and debris, and created a starting place for re-laying and repairing the collapsed barn foundation wall.
Next I began to lay the stones back in to create a wall that joined the two existing walls on each side. As I worked at this my helper focused on removing and re-pointing loose, missing or rotten mortar joints that existed throughout the stone part of the barn foundation.
Rebuilding the Collapsed Stone Wall on this Barn Foundation
You can see here I began to lay back up the stone to completely fill in the collapse. I wish I’d taken more photos of the collapsed foundation on the barn, but seem to forget once I get going. I laid this wall all the way up and while doing that I used smaller stones and redi mix concrete behind to create a solid, strong wall. Once the wall reached a certain height I began to lay the outer wall so it would match the exterior of the barn. Below is a photo of exterior of the barn.
We do several stone barn foundation repairs each year, some have areas that have collapsed and some do not. Fixing collapsed foundations tends to cost more than tuck pointing and doing other repairs before the wall actually comes down. Something to keep in mind if you have an old barn with a stone foundation that could use some attention.
We’ve been repairing fieldstone foundations and Michigan basements for over 15 years and I thought I would shed some light on the stone foundation repair costs that we typically encounter. Projects vary widely and so to the costs associated with different projects but I think I can offer a general window of cost to fix an old Michigan basement.
Typically the stone basements we repair are between 400 square foot (approx. 20’x20′) and 600 square foot. Obviously some are larger and some smaller, but this seems to be the general rule. If it is an older foundation, say pre 1920, it is usually closer to the 400 square foot size. This is for a very pragmatic reason. Back “in the day” the excavation for the Michigan basement was by hand. So starting in the spring the goal was to dig the hole and get the stone foundation laid before the cold Michigan winter.
Fieldstone Foundation Repair Cost Variables
Here are some of the variables that determine the cost to repair a stone foundation:
size of the foundation
size of the stones used to build the foundation
current condition of the walls
current condition of the mortar joints
availability of water and electricity on site.
accessibility of the basement or crawlspace
When I consider the dozens of stone foundations we have repaired I would say that most of them fall in the range of $3,600 to $5,500 dollar range. We have done many that cost less, and many that have cost more, but I would say 70% of the stone foundation repair costs we encounter fall in that range.
Having said that, most of our customers contact us before they have wall collapses and usually most of the stone is in place and intact. The main issue is usually deteriorated mortar joints or maybe some loose or fallen stones. The projects we’ve completed where walls have collapsed or failed are always much more in terms of cost to repair.
