Slipform stone masonry can be an economical way to build a sturdy, attractive home. Meeting with success or saving money using this method, though, requires you to have ready access to a huge volume of sturdy stones. Purchasing stone from a quarry or gravel yard can be incredibly expensive. In rural Vermont, where I’m building my home, good stones are everywhere, but in some places, they may be less abundant. Here are a few ways that you can get your hands on suitable stone without paying through the nose for it.
Roadsides
A surprising amount of the stone that goes into the walls of my house came from the side of the road in Vermont. Many of the roads I travel are gravel roads – these roads have literally tons of great stone lurking just below the surface. Every few months, the county or town sends a great big grader down the road to resurface them and remove any ruts, potholes, or washboard that has developed. During the grading process, a goodly number of sub-surface stones gets kicked up and pushed into the ditch. Throughout the week, as I drive to and from work and the other various places that fill my life, I’ll pass these stones. It takes me just a few seconds to jump out, toss the stones into the bed of my pickup, and get on with the activities of my day. Whenever I think of it, I’ll swing by the job site and unload my precious cargo – usually about once a week. This isn’t speedy, but as my stone house is largely a weekend project, it works for me.
Online Forums
Pop into craigslist or another local or regional online forum and let folks know that you’re looking for stone. Many a gardener or farmer, tired of avoiding nasty stones in the yard, would be glad to have you come by with a digging bar and pull them out. What is a nuisance to the neighbors means sturdy shelter for you. I’ve received a number of responses from folks on out town’s online forum – none of them yielded more than a pickup truckload or two of stone, but it’s been a great way to meet some folks in town and to bolster my supply of stone.
Physical Bulletin Boards
If your town hall, grange, or general store has a bulletin board, why not tack up a notice letting the neighbors know what you need. This approach was actually my most effective means of finding stone, as a neighbor read it and was looking to have a stone wall running through the middle of her yard removed completely. The result was more stone than I could possibly use up, free for the asking and the considerable labor and time required to move it.
A Word of Caution
There are a few places where stone may seem incredibly abundant, and you may be tempted to mine these areas, but there are a few HUGE no-nos when it comes to harvesting stone. Never remove standing stone walls without permission. Many stone walls are considered a part of the land’s natural heritage and are classified as historic structures. Removing an old overgrown fieldstone wall could result in serious fines and even jail time. Make sure that any walls you do remove are taken with the owner’s permission, and that there are no laws preventing your actions. Another place to tread carefully is in stream and river beds. River stone serves an important purpose in slowing erosion and creating plant and animal habitats. For these reasons, and to preserve the natural appearance of streams and rivers, most of these areas are legally protected. As with historic stone walls, removing stone from a stream or river bed could have very serious legal and financial repercussions.
With a little patience and some creativity, you should have no problem acquiring enough stone to build a slipform stone house. The benefit to many of these approaches is that, in addition to being cost effective, they create a lot of opportunities to get to know your neighbors!