4 Reasons to Choose Slipform Stone Masonry for Your Home

Building slipform stone houses is really a labor of love. The technique is frustrating, physically difficult, and time draining. It isn't a prospect your average owner/builder should undertake without doing a lot of research. This said, building your own stone house using the slipform method could be one of the most satisfying experiences you will ever have, provided you know what you're getting into. As a strong proponent of slipform masonry, I thought I'd share five reasons that you may consider the technique.

Slipform Stone Masonry is Easy to Learn

Just as any building technique requires care, attention, and some trial and error to master, building with slip forms does require a bit of effort to understand. Even so, when you can use a level, move some rocks, and count, it is possible to learn the fundamentals of slipform building in a weekend. If your corners are square, your forms are plumb, and you give consideration, the craft is more forgiving than many techniques, and lends itself well to learning as you go.

Stone Houses Require Little Maintenance

There is a lot to be said for permanence. Many experts reckon that a well-built haybale home will have a useful life of about 90 years - a couple of hundred year-old haybale structures do exist and are still in use.  Discover more here  indicates that even a neglected cordwood house should be expected to last a hundred and fifty years. In contrast, there a many, many stone houses used that are more than five hundred years old, and a number of thousand year-old stone houses throughout Europe have already been continually inhabited since their construction. Couple this with today's metal roof (having an expected useful life of 100 years or more) and you will expect your slipform home to shelter your loved ones in comfort for generations.

Stone Houses Are Valuable

If you're thinking about building with slipform masonry, you are likely also considering a number of other alternative and owner/builder options including Earthships, Hay Bale, Cordwood, and Post & Beam. With the possible exception of a traditionally build post and beam house, a slipform stone house may be the only option that will be as valuable or even more valuable than a traditional stick-built house. The marketplace value of an attractive stone house generally exceeds that of other homes. Stone is lasting, stately, and speaks of permanence. These qualities interest buyers, and if the housing market is struggling or not, which will give you an edge over other sellers, and a significant edge over those seeking to sell alternative homes - typically being among the most difficult houses to sell.

Stone Is Attractive All economic considerations aside - considering things on a purely aesthetic basis, stone looks great, also it looks great to everyone. The appeal of other popular owner-builder techniques is pretty subjective - some like one approach, others just like a different one. Earthships, for instance, are very attractive homes to me, while my wife describes them as "weird-looking." No one would describe a stone house as weird or unattractive, adding to the selling point of the style.

Whether slipform stone is for you or not isn't a decision you can create predicated on any online article, but as soon as you make the decision, there are a lot of reasons to feel great about stone. With luck, this short article has given you food for thought, or served to reaffirm your commitment to stone building.