Houses and gardens
Building stone
Walls, fireplaces, thresholds, sills and entranceways in schist and limestone, for houses and gardens.
The work
What it involves.
The third of our work that is not memorials or restoration is stone for houses: schist walls, limestone entranceways, hearths, thresholds, sills, and the occasional set of steps.
Almost all of it is real stone rather than veneer. We will lay veneer if the structure will not take the weight and the budget will not take the alternative, and we will tell you which of those two it is.
Schist is laid dry or on a bed depending on what the wall has to do. A retaining wall is an engineering question and gets an engineer; a garden wall is not and does not.
We work across North Otago, Canterbury, Central Otago and Southland, and we quote the cartage separately so you can see what the distance is actually costing you.
How the work goes.
- 01 Site visit To see the ground, the access and what the wall is next to. Stone is heavy and access decides half the price.
- 02 Stone selection In the yard. Schist varies enormously between quarries and photographs flatten all of it.
- 03 Sample panel For anything over about eight square metres, a metre of wall built and left for you to look at.
- 04 Building By hand, by our own masons. We do not subcontract stonework.
The stone we use
- Central Otago schist
- Bendigo, Cromwell and Alexandra. Each has a different gold in it.
- Oamaru limestone
- For entranceways, sills and thresholds. Carves beautifully, and does not belong in a retaining wall.
- Waikato river boulder
- For the softer, rounder walls people ask for after they have been to the North Island.
Enquiries
Come and see the stone.
The yard is on Severn Street and there is no charge for talking something through, however long it takes.
03 434 7712- Yard and office
- 18 Severn Street, Oamaru 9400
- Open
- Monday to Friday8am – 4.30pmSaturdayBy appointment
- Working across
- North Otago, Canterbury, Central Otago, Southland