Stone work and stone repair in White Bear Lake, where Don is based

Old cottages by the water, ramblers further out

White Bear Lake is a city on the shore of White Bear Lake, northeast of Saint Paul. The oldest houses are near the water and around downtown. Many of them are lake cottages and houses from the early 1900s, and a lot of those sit on limestone or fieldstone foundations laid in soft old mortar. Some still have their stone or brick chimneys.

Further from the lake the houses come later: ramblers and split levels with block foundations, brick or stone on the front and a brick chimney. And a lot of the lake lots slope down to the shore, so getting down to the shore takes steps, and keeping the yard in place takes walls.

What winter on the lake does to stone

Water does most of the damage. It soaks into a joint or a crack in the stone, freezes, grows and pushes the joint open a little. Then it thaws and runs deeper, and the next cold night it freezes again. Fall and spring in White Bear Lake bring that cycle over and over, and each round leaves the joint a bit wider.

On a lake lot the ground behind a wall and under a set of steps stays wet longer, so frost has more to work with. Road salt from the street and the driveway soaks into stone steps and makes each freeze do more harm. And snow piled against a stone front all winter melts straight into it when spring comes.

Stone work Don takes on

Stone is the work Don does first. Around a White Bear Lake house that covers setting new stone and putting old stone right.

• Stone on the front of a house, set new or reset where it has come loose
• Stone steps and landings that frost has lifted or cracked
• Stones that have worked loose or fallen out of a stone wall
• Loose stone and sandy joints in an old limestone or fieldstone foundation
• Worn mortar in stone joints cut out and packed with new mortar that suits the stone

Soft stone, soft mortar

Old stone laid in soft lime mortar needs new mortar soft enough to match it. Hard mortar packed into soft old stone can crack the stone around it, because the stone ends up being the part that gives. But when a wall keeps moving, a foundation bows in, or a crack keeps growing, some jobs need a structural engineer to look first.

Brick, chimneys, block and concrete

White Bear Lake houses have plenty of brick fronts, brick chimneys, block foundations, block walls and concrete steps too. Stonecrete Inc is a stone business first. If your job is one of those, call or text Don and ask whether he takes it on before you plan around it.

How a White Bear Lake job starts

Text Don two photos: one from far enough back to see the whole step, wall or front, and one close up of the worst spot. Say where the house is, whether down by the lake, near downtown or further out, and how long it has looked that way. That gives him a fair picture before he comes to see it.