How to Build a Two-Story Stone House
Construct a durable two-story natural stone residence from foundation to roof framing using traditional double-wythe masonry techniques and heavy timber floor joists.
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🧰 Required Tools & Equipment
- ✓ Mason's trowel
- ✓ Stone club hammer and cold chisels
- ✓ Heavy-duty scaffolding tower
- ✓ Cement mixer
- ✓ Torpedo level and 4-foot box level
- ✓ Plumb bob and braided nylon mason line
- ✓ Rebar cutter and bender
📦 Materials & Supplies
- ✓ Quarried fieldstone or dressed building stone
- ✓ Type S structural masonry cement and sharp sand
- ✓ Structural rebar (#4 and #5 grade)
- ✓ Heavy timber beams (6x8 inch floor joists)
- ✓ Stainless steel corrugated wall ties
- ✓ Structural timber rafters and roof sheathing
⚠️ Safety Checkpoints & Warnings
- • Inspect scaffolding daily and secure all toe boards, guardrails, and base-plate footings on level ground.
- • Lift heavy stones using leg drive or block-and-tackle rigs to avoid catastrophic lumbar injury.
- • Wear hard hats and steel-toed boots at all times within the swing radius of stone staging areas.
📋 Step-by-Step Guide (6 Steps)
Excavate and Pour Reinforced Concrete Footings
Excavate trenches below your local frost line, widening the base to at least twice the planned width of your stone walls (minimum 24 to 30 inches wide). Build wooden formwork, place a continuous grid of #5 steel rebar elevated on concrete chairs, and pour a 3,000+ PSI concrete foundation. Screed the top surface flat and insert vertical rebar starter pins every 24 inches to tie into the stone base.
- • Footing surface is level and cured to a light gray finish.
- • Vertical rebar starter pins protrude 12 inches above the concrete pad.
- • Digging above the frost depth, leading to seasonal frost heave and wall cracking.
- • Pouring footings that are narrower than the required double-wythe wall thickness.
Lay Ground Floor Double-Wythe Stone Walls
Set taut mason lines between corner leads to maintain plumb and level courses across all perimeter walls. Lay two parallel wythes of dressed stone with a 2-inch interior cavity, backfilling the center core with mortar, small rubble, and vertical rebar while inserting stainless steel wall ties every 3 square feet. Build corner quoins using large, squared 'through-stones' that bridge the entire wall thickness every 3 to 4 vertical feet to lock the structure together.
- • Walls rise uniformly plumb with full mortar beds between all contact surfaces.
- • Corrugated ties and through-stones are visibly embedded across both wythes.
- • Creating continuous vertical joints instead of staggering stones by at least one-third their length.
- • Failing to wash dirt and organic debris off stones before setting, causing poor mortar adhesion.
Install Timber Floor Joists and Wall Corbels
Once ground floor walls reach ceiling height (typically 8 to 9 feet), set rough-sawn 6x8 inch timber joists spaced 16 inches on center directly into pocket recesses built into the stone wall. Wrap the embedded ends of all wooden beams in breathable building paper or bituminized felt to isolate the wood from direct contact with masonry moisture. Lay temporary 3/4-inch tongue-and-groove plywood subflooring across the joists to create a stable working platform for second-story wall erection.
- • All joists sit level and square across the span with wrapped ends fully mortared in place.
- • Subfloor platform provides a rigid, continuous walking deck without flexing.
- • Directly embedding raw wood into wet mortar, which accelerates timber rot.
- • Omitting diagonal bridging or blocking between joists to stop lateral deflection.
Erect Scaffolding and Raise Second-Story Walls
Assemble structural steel scaffolding along the exterior and interior perimeters, anchoring safety ties into the stone mortar joints. Continue laying the double-wythe stone walls up to the roofline (typically another 8 to 9 feet), narrowing the wall profile slightly by stepping the inner wythe inward 1 to 2 inches to reduce upper-level dead load. Frame all upper window and door openings with heavy pre-cast concrete or reinforced timber lintels extending at least 8 inches into the masonry on either side.
- • Second-story stone courses are plumb and flush with the lower floor profile.
- • Structural lintels bear solidly across broad, flat stone jambs.
- • Overloading scaffolding platforms beyond rated capacity with too many loose stones.
- • Failing to support green mortar walls against strong wind gusts before full cure.
Construct Stone Gables and Anchor Wall Top Plates
Rake the stone courses upward at the specified roof pitch (e.g., 8:12 or 12:12) to form rigid stone gable end walls. Embed threaded steel anchor bolts (1/2-inch diameter, minimum 12 inches long) every 4 feet into the final top courses of mortar along the eave walls. Drill matching holes into treated 2x8 timber top plates, slide them over the cured anchor bolts, and torque down large steel washers and nuts to create a secure roof tie-down interface.
- • Gable rakes match the planned roof angle symmetrically on both ends of the building.
- • Timber top plates are tightly cinched down flat against the top stone course.
- • Setting anchor bolts in dry or under-cured mortar beds that pull out under tension.
- • Inaccurate slope angles on gable ends that leave gaps under the finished roof plane.
Erect Roof Framing and Point All Masonry Joints
Hoist timber roof trusses or ridge beams and common rafters into place, anchoring them directly to the timber top plates using structural hurricane ties. Sheet the roof with structural OSB or plywood decking and install underlayment to protect the interior immediately from rain. Rake out any soft mortar joints on the exterior stone face to a depth of 3/4-inch, wash with clean water, and pack with fresh, dense pointing mortar struck flush or slightly concave for weatherproofing.
- • Roof skeleton is fully tied to the masonry core and sheathed against weather.
- • All exterior joints show cleanly struck, dense mortar lines without voids or loose rock.
- • Pointing joints in direct hot sun or freezing conditions, leading to crumbly, weak mortar.
- • Neglecting to brace roof trusses during installation before decking is nailed down.
Credit: inspired by an original tutorial by Vfuho — watch the original on YouTube.
Don’t have everything?
- No Plastic rebar chairs? Broken pieces of solid concrete pavers or non-porous brick chips
- No Mechanical concrete vibrator? A 4-foot length of #5 rebar vigorously tamped up and down in wet concrete
- No Factory stainless wall ties? Heavy-gauge galvanized steel strapping cut to length with both ends bent at 90 degrees