Stone Hardener?

[Bob W]

I'm wondering if there are any products on the market designed to harden or solidify stonework? Our historic home has some sandstone sills that are crumbling and flaking. Any paint peels off, and I'd rather they weren't painted anyway.

I've been using wood hardener, a resin product from MinWax, on the rotten window frames and exterior woodwork and it's worked great so far. Even if matching modern replacements were available (they usually aren't), the wood hardener is much less expensive and much easier.

So I'm hoping to find something similar for the stonework, but I haven't come across it yet.

Any ideas are appreciated.
-Bob

 

[mete]

Our Catskill Mtn bluestone never crumbles !!! There was a 'This Old House' program where they made concrete replacements for rotting sills but that might not be acceptable to you.Otherwise I have no advice for you .

 

[Bob W]

Yeah, I've seen people smear concrete over the old stone. Sometimes it works out, sometimes not. What I've often seen is the concrete seperates a bit from the stone, creating a crack where water gets 'stuck' every time it rains.

I've actually done historic masonry restoration on a carnegie library that was made with local sandstone similar to the stone on my house. The work we did is rather beyond the scope of what a homeowner could do. We started by using an air-chisel to remove all of the soft sandstone. Then we used a stone replacement product that's imported from Switzerland or somewhere. You actually send them a sample of the natural stone from the structure and the company sends a cement-like mixture that's an exact match to the natural stone.

I'm not wanting to go that far for the small project I have.