expertProject details
Skill
3 out of 5ModerateAlthough even small bluestone slabs are rather heavy
Cost
Estimated Time
In this video, This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook upgrades an old brick with bluestone slabs.
Steps:
1. Use a brick chisel and 3-pound sledgehammer to loosen the old flagstone and mortar from the landing.
2. Cut down into the existing concrete with an electric rotary hammer fitted with a chisel bit. Finished height of the concrete must be 2 inches below the surrounding brick.
3. Clear away all the chipped-up concrete debris with a shovel and stiff-bristle brush.
4. Scrub the concrete’s surface clean with a wet sponge.
5. Remove any loose bricks from the landing.
6. Pour a bag of mortar into a wheelbarrow, add water and mix well with a shovel.
7. Brush bonding agent onto the underside of each bluestone slab.
8. Shovel some mortar onto the concrete landing, then spread it level with a pointed trowel.
9. Set the bluestone slab into place, then use a rubber mallet to tap it down even with the brick border.
10. Repeat Steps 8 and 9 to set the remaining bluestone slabs.
11. Mix up a new batch of mortar, only this time pour a little latex additive into the water.
12. Use two pointed trowels to pack the latex-fortified mortar into the joints around and in between the bluestone slabs.
13. Replace any bricks removed earlier using the same mortar.
14. Smooth and tool the mortar joints using a ½-inch jointing tool.
15. Clean off the bluestone and bricks with a wet sponge, making sure you don’t disturb the tooled mortar joints.
Tools
Brick chisel- Rotary hammer with chisel bit
- Square shovel
- Wheelbarrow
- Wide stiff-bristle brush
- paint brush – 3-inch
- Pointed trowel
- rubber mallet
- Brick jointer
- sledge hammer – 3-pound
Source: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/masonry/21017312/how-to-install-a-bluestone-landing-on-a-front-entry
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