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 costs go 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.
