One of our specialties of Carved Stone Creations is the design and installation of natural stone window, door, and entryway surrounds. Stone window and door surrounds provide durability and beauty that will long outlast conventional wood or vinyl surrounds and really tie in the look of the house when stone veneer or stucco is used on the exterior of the home. While some may be comprised of relatively lightweight sectional pieces which can be attached to the exterior of the home with only epoxy and clips, some surrounds are much larger and heavier and can require careful planning and support structures. The following article will walk you through the installation process for a large scale home entryway. The massive entryway you see below needed much more structural considerations and planning for installation then a typical entryway. The owner of this Door County Wisconsin home wanted to really make a statement with the Entryway of the house. The legs and the top of the entry were significantly heavy, even with the top deck of the entry being made from stone slabs attached to an internal structure instead of being made from a single solid slab. We worked closely with the architect and building contractor to design an internal steel framework that would adequately support the weight of the entryway and create attachment points for the stone work.
Here you can see the wood framing and the additional steel beams supports for the entryway.
A closer look at the steel beams.
A look at the entryway framework from the outside of the house.
The steel beams extend outside the house and create a structural support for the balcony as well.
The heavy leg bases are prepared to be put in place.
Applying epoxy to the tops of the legs to prepare for installing the corbels.
The corbels were raised up by fork lift and then secured to the hoist straps so they could be moved horizontally in to place. By keeping an open gap in the balcony deck framing we were able to thread the hoist straps through it and better control the movement of the corbels.
Setting the corbel into place.
The rest of the legs and the large stone slab that makes up the bottom of the balcony are in place.
In order to further secure the heavy slabs beneath the balcony we infused a steel support flange into the slab with epoxy before installation, and bolted the flange to the support beams.
Additional steel flanges in the slab also used steel straps to further secure the slab to the balcony framing.
Here you can see that we are drilling holes into the top of the front facing slabs of the balcony to insert pins to hold the top profile trim into place securely. Notice the red circles also where we bolted the front facing slabs to the steel frame structure as well. Steel straps with the bolt threads were fused to the slabs with epoxy prior to installation. All overhead slabs were mechanically fastened to the balcony framework in some manner to prevent the possibility of them ever falling from the house.
And here’s the finished result. An impressive feature of the home that truly stands out.
Please Note: This article is only a general overview of the installation process and is written for informational purposes only. Proper adhesion methods vary based upon the material, weight per slab, building substrate, and state and local building codes.All installation work should be done by licensed professional builders or masonry installers.Consult with Architects and Construction Engineers to ensure that the Installation methods will meet code and safely support the weight of the stonework.
Interested in something similar for your home? Contact us today to see what we can do for you.
Carved Stone Creations is located in Kaukauna, WI and our convenient Central Wisconsin location means we can design and install architectural stonework all over the state from Appleton, Green Bay, Milwaukee, Madison, and Eau Claire to vacation homes in Door County, Lake Geneva, Minocqua, Green Lake, etc. Our convenient centralized location allows us to bring all of the tools and heavy equipment we need to tackle any installation job. Consider us as your source for natural stone fountains, fireplaces, staircases, statuary, etc in Wisconsin and the Midwest. We understand the affect our harsh Midwest winters can have on exterior stone work and we design and install architectural stonework like stone fountains, stone statues, exterior stone veneer, etc with those factors in mind. Well make sure the stone work we install for you stands up to the weather and the test of time! Outside of the Midwest? We can install there too. We have done work from New York to Florida to California as well.