Masonry Season

Weekend update. It's the springtime in the Northeast which only means one thing for my mom and me. Time to get a jump start on our annual traditions at my parents' house.

You're probably assuming I am talking about prepping the flower beds and planting the herbs… well not exactly!

It's time to get out our goggles, the knee pads and get our hands messy with a grinder, some chisels, mortar and bluestone tiles.

That's right – it's masonry season.

Each year, we are a well-oiled machine. First, we do the instantly gratifying work of power-washing the stones. Then we jump into our inspector outfits and check for any grout lines that have popped up or tiles that are loose. And finally, we then spend the following weekend(s) patching in.

However, this year was a different task.

So, for twenty years, everyone places their right foot on this one step of bluestone that leads you into the pool area of my parents' backyard. And finally, the stone said – I'm done. It started to delaminate and eventually crumbled into numerous pieces.

All the other major steps in the backyard have about a 2.5" thick piece of stone but this one step is just your typical stone tile. It was bound to crack at some point.

And this is where our minds came together and said we need to tackle this stone a bit differently. We need to swap out that one tile for a tile that would be slightly thicker. After some digging in the garage, we luckily found a tile that was the exact same size as the previous tile and hit our new requirement for its thickness.

From here is where the project takes shape. But we each knew what we needed to do.

Start with lifting the tiles and place them on the grass in the exact pattern they appear in the patio area. This ends up being a bit of a domino effect. You think you are only going to fix two tiles and halfway into the next few steps, you are on piece seven. So, knowing where the puzzle pieces go is useful.

Put those Breaking Bad style goggles on – you're going to need them. Grab an old straight edge screwdriver or chisel and chip away at any grout lines that are loose with a swing of your hammer. This is the easy part, but tedious.

Now the hard part. The area under the original tile is going to need to be roughed up a bit too. By this, I mean you need to chip areas under the stone where you can place a significant amount of new mortar for the stone to adhere to the cement.

Like I said before, this step project was a bit different. We grabbed our new grinder and made long "X"s into the cement base which allowed for us to chip larger chunks away for our new thicker stone tile.

After each run through with the grinder and chisel, we would place the new tiles in location to gauge where we needed more chisel attention. And we would continue this process for all the tiles that needed to be replaced.

This took hours. But knowing that if we didn't do this correctly, we would never have an even step with the seven tiles around it and the pitch could be off.

Vacuum up all the chips (and dirt). You're going to want a super clean area for the new mortar to adhere to. Our shopvac is clearly the best tool for this!

It's time to get mixing. First things first – clean water throughout this process is ideal.

Mixing mortar is like making buttercream – it can be too runny and slide right off the cake or it can be too viscous and harden in three seconds. You got to find that balance.

So, grab that 50lb bag of mortar, a trough (pan) and trowel. I tend to start with the mortar mix in the pan. A few handfuls and then slowly add some sponge squeezed water into the pan – just a little. You can always add more water. But sometimes, you just don't have enough mix. Like I said, find that Goldilocks balance that feels like you are about to frost a delicious red velvet cake.

Moving and lifting time. Start with the placement of tile that is adjacent to the most tiles. For us, we started at the top right because we had an edge to follow and two sides that we can gauge the positioning and sense of levelness.

Use a sponge to wet the backside of the stone tile – better grip for the stone.

Pour out all the contents of the pan onto the cement base and spread it out evenly. You're going to want this stone to grip completely, so it's okay to have a bit extra that will ooze into the grout lines. If you need to mix more mortar, get moving.

Place the tile down and wiggle it around until you find its perfect location. Now, stop and reset for your next tile.

Jump back to the mortar mixing phase and continue placing all the tiles in their puzzle locations. We had seven tiles that needed to be placed. As I mixed and lifted tiles in place, mom was washing down spills and adjusting placements.

Once all the stone tiles are in place, we can switch gears to filling in those grout lines. When I mix mortar for the grout, I tend to mix a bit of a watery mix compared to my buttercream frosting mix for stone placement. Is that right? Not sure, but that's how I do it.

I scoop out a little at a time, pour it into the grout line and bounce the trowel in the grout to pop any air bubbles. After letting that sit for a few minutes, it's time for mom's washing skills to take center stage.

She uses a clean damp sponge and, on an angle, wipes the excess grout off the edges of the stone. After going one way, it's time to go back in the opposite direction until the grout lines are smooth and the top of the stones are clean. Each time she cleans off that sponge.

And as all good spring traditions end, we watch the finished product set over acai bowls and put our feet up on the outdoor coffee table.

Until next time, keep swinging that hammer!