Part of the fun is always the cleanup. We had to get rid of all the mortar chunks that came out of the wall. We also needed to move the radiator in order to build the forms to pour concrete. The area of the floor that was rotted out is where the radiator was sitting. We have no idea how it never fell through. That thing is heavy!

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We had to do this area twice. The first time we put all the stones together, the last one didn’t quite fit. After taking all 14 stones back down and moving them about 1/2 an inch, they all went together very well. Next stone will be the big one that makes the sill of the 2nd floor window.

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We couldn’t resist putting out a before and after picture. It looks so much better without the crack. The great part is that it is also structurally sound as well.

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We added 5 more stones to the wall. The stones that were just squares and rectangles were a little easier to replace. With all the different shapes it’s a little more difficult. Each mortar joint has to be exactly the same size as it was before. We are managing though.

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We repaired one of the stones instead of replacing it. We would have had to take down even more stone in order to get to this one. With epoxy and rebar through the center, it should last as long as the others. We will have to get some special materials to make the break disappear. It’s something that is readily available at mason supply places.

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One more corner stone and concrete. We only poured about a foot of the concrete in order to start tying everything together. We are replacing the hundreds of clay bricks that were there. This is an area that will be hidden behind the final finishes so we will never see it.

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Only 2 stones in this blog but they were a couple of duesies. The large stone that goes over the window opening is called a lintel. It is about 5 feet long, a foot high and about 9 inches thick. Our telehandler, Bertha, put that stone up to the window with no sweat. Kerry was the operator and she did a fantastic job of putting it exactly where it needed to go. We are not sure what to call the other stone. Frank has been calling it one of the window posts. Both of them are circled in the picture so you can tell which ones we are talking about. It was nice to be able to maneuver the big lintel into place and have it work out. It bodes well for the rest of the wall. =)

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Frank had to make room for the lintel stone to go back in. There is way too much brick and stone above this area to be hammering without a hard hat on. Doesn’t the hat shade look fancy? We bought a few of them at a bin store for 50 cents before we even had hard hats or knew anything about the Mooreland House. It must have been a premonition.

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Another 11 stones made it back into the wall of the Mooreland House! With the story tapes we made and the fact that we numbered the stones, it is going back together quite well. These stones have been relatively small. The next few are going to need the forklift. For scale, Frank is working on top of 10 feet of scaffolding.

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When we went back to look at the stones we had taken down from the dormer we found that the “permanent” marker had faded from the stones. We marked every stone so we could figure out where it came from and where it needed to go back. Before we tore down the entire stone front of the house we decided to put things in some kind of order to make sure we could get it back together if we took it down. Just one more step in the process of making the Mooreland House something to be proud of again.