Decorative Masonry Touch

A TITLE MORE APT for this chapter might be "Masonry Unlimited" for it takes nothing more than a little imagination to fit natural and manu­factured masonry materials into landscaping and interior decorative schemes. We use the term "masonry" in a very broad sense to include even the rocks and stones that are "carefully-carelessly" placed in a garden to imitate nature's own landscaping techniques. This touch is not limited to rock gardens. Even some very formal planting arrangements can benefit by the inclusion of a very large stone placed as if it had been there to begin with.

Masonry touches are not, of course, limited to the outdoors. Exposed brick walls are being used more and more in modern homes. The great strides in design and manufacture of solid and pierced masonry units have brought this outdoor structural material inside the house as well.

Colorful, easy to use materials add a Rembrandt touch indoors or out

It is easy to include such schemes in the plans for new construction. Where the home already exists and you want to add a masonry wall, for ex­ample, you must plan a suitable footing to take the extra weight. On the other hand, there are lightweight materials available which can be used to do the job supported by only the existing structure. Slim brick faces, cast around small metal loops, are available and are simply nailed (through the loops) to an existing wall, the spaces between filled with a regular mortar. The result? A "brick" wall with only a small percentage of the weight a true brick wall would have.

The use of special molds permits you to .cast your own brick facing using economical plaster of Paris. These molds (one type is Brie-Mold made by the Official Decorator Mold Company) are styled so that you can produce either decorator brick (2x71/2 in.) or Roman brick (l2x11 in.). The process is so simple that you can actually make the plas­ter of Paris tiles (brick faces) in your own kitchen and, since you can buy the casting material for about $1.50 per 100 lbs., the whole procedure is very economical. It takes 100 lbs. of plaster to produce 600 to 700 bricks. About 700 bricks will cover an 8x10 wall. What could be cheaper?

Masonry makes an attractive transition from house to grounds in left photo. "Care­lessly" placed stones blend nicely with the concrete patio and low brick veneer wall. Roman "brick" wall is faced with ¼ in. tiles cast in plastic molds with plaster of Paris. Application is with wall tile adhesive or mastic. Materials cost less than $1.

Intriguing wall at right was constructed with masonry units made by the Besser Company. Three dimensional effect, nat­ural texture and shadow play make a very attractive in­stallation. A job like this can be done by patient amateur.

Artificial stone (Perma-Stone) is used both indoors and out. Applied as a veneer, the stones are about l1/4 in. thick, come in light gray, dark gray, umber, dull gold, brown, etc. Indoor application of the ma­terial is shown opposite, top.

Among the many unique, dis­tinctive materials available are the small precast blocks (washed to expose an interest­ing surface aggregate) at right. Many times the choice of ma­terial can lift a project (or even a home) out of the ordinary.

An indoor installation of Perma-Stone is shown above. Structure can be built with sound plywood halving long ones; comers are fitted as above.
Artificial stone is flexible to work with, can be easily cut and fitted. Short stones are made by over frame and then veneered with this material.

Area adjoining swimming pool is made with manufactured materials, yet they blend nicely with regular stone and plantings making the whole area perfectly natural and pleasant and easy to live with.

The cast tiles are about 1/4 in. thick and can be placed on a wall with any standard wall tile adhesive or mastic. Since plaster of Paris sets so rapidly, it is possible to use a single mold (makes four brick tiles at a time and costs $3.00) to cast hundreds of brick tiles in a single day. Complete in­structions for making and using the tiles are included with the Brie-Mold patterns. Plaster of Paris can't be used outdoors, but you can use the same molds to cast tiles with a more weather-resistant masonry material.

Imitation Stone

Perma-Stone is yet another masonry material that can be nailed in place. This is a precast product which has steel rein­forcement in the form of a grid with steel loops extending beyond the edges of the stone to permit attachment to a wall with screws, nails, staples, etc.

Perma-Stone has the same appearance of grain, cleavage and contour as the origi­nal stone from which the mold was made. The color is introduced into the entire mass of concrete at the time it is mixed for pour­ing into the molds. This means that the coloration runs all the way through the stone; definitely advantageous at times when the stone must be cut to produce a specific shape or size during application. The weight of the "stone" is only about 72 lbs. per square foot, and it can be ap­plied to any smooth, level surface such as plywood, wood sheathing or other smooth siding. Space between stones is filled with a mortar consisting of one part mortar ce­ment and two parts of fine mason's sand.

There are many ways to utilize manu­factured or natural masonry materials in and around the home. The purpose of this chapter is to present some ideas to help stimulate your imagination.

Bring the outdoors indoors? Below is an example. A small pool which can be a fish pond, loose aggre­gate plus decorative concrete projects and natural stones do the job effectively as the photo shows.

Filion Photo

Touches of loose aggregate can be used to highlight interest area—the white rock here is normally used as a roofing material. Building paper over soil keeps weeds from coming up between the rocks

Brick patio below was saved from monotony by constructing planter with walls made with ma­sonry units stood on end on a 4-in. footing. Touches like this should be considered for large patios.

Post and wheel are on a base of used brick set on a small footing. Interior was filled with dirt and rubble, smoothed over with concrete and topped with brick. Post, wheel were set in the fill.

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