Bluestone Steps in Brooklyn?
I’m having a stoop in front of a frame house in the South Slope rebuilt and the contractor has recommended trying bluestone steps. All of the houses in the area have either limestone or concrete steps. Does anyone know of houses around that have bluestone steps so that I can get a feel for the…
I’m having a stoop in front of a frame house in the South Slope rebuilt and the contractor has recommended trying bluestone steps. All of the houses in the area have either limestone or concrete steps. Does anyone know of houses around that have bluestone steps so that I can get a feel for the appearance? Opinions on bluestone steps in general?
bluestone as a surfacing material is a beautiful and durable option. As a variety of sandstone, bluestone has a definite grain and will split/crack along those lines. How weathering will affect your steps depends on the cut of your stone, its thickness, and how the substrate has been prepared. If you happen to get three or four steps with a large amount of cross section, those are the ones that will weather badly.
Limestone being a calciferous material, is made up of shells. It does have a grain, but is mostly broken down by water and acid which causes pitting/cracking. I would say it is less prone to flaking than blues.
Concrete with rebar will show signs of weathering before bluestone or limestone.
Depending on the size of your shtoop, you can do the 10 year plan or the 100 year plan. I agree with Wber above, if you can’t do it properly in stone, it may cost you later if cracking/flaking becomes a problem. Then again, if it’s just three or four steps, the ten year plan 3x over 30 yrs doesn’t sound too bad.
Bluestone was often found pre-Civil War and then was very popular in the late 1800s, particularly on tenements and flats where they often spanned an areaway (i.e., had no supporting stoop underneath). But as Bond notes, they are large blocks, not flat slabs over another material. If you can’t do it properly in stone, I’d suggest concrete finished in stucco (how brownstones and the like are redone). It will look better.
DeanBH – Williamsburg Garden does bluestone sidewalks.
Not wanting to hijack your thread but wondering if anyone has recomendations for someone to lay some blue stone for our co-op?
we have 2 spaces 16×8 and 5×8
any ideas on what i should be paying for large blocks for this space?
By all means, if your neighbors have tacky cheap steps, feel free to put tacky cheap steps on your house.
You can’t say it will look out of place just because it’s in Park Slope. Houses in the South Slope are much different than the rest of the slope. A lot of them aren’t brownstones and a lot of the blocks (12th, 13th, 14th, etc.) have homes that are mix and match. You might see a Brownstone right next to a frame house with a porch and then right next to that you might see a 4 story 8 family limestone. On Blocks like these almost anything can fit in. You should make your choice based on price, durability and what you think looks nice. Have you ever seen a blue stone stoop? If not then google it and if it looks like something that fits in with the rest of your house and you can see yourself walking up and down those steps without wishing you had something different then GO FOR IT!
I prefer blue stone for use in back/side yards. They look great for walkways through gardens and I also love blue stone patios.
Bond,
I have those massive blue stone slabs in front of my greenpoint frame house. They are deteriorating , I would like to rehab them instead of replacing them , any ideas? They have a lot flaking and are showing some erosion .
Thanks,
Rob
people most often use bluestone flags for the treads and brick for the rest of the stoop. It can look rather suburban because every split level in LI and NJ feature steps like that.
It will probably look out of place in Park Slope. I don’t like concrete steps either, they look cheap.
Frame houses look nice with wooden steps and railings. In fact, it is a very appealing look.
Just wondering jk8, did you also get an estimate for redoing the steps in limestone/concrete and was there any significant difference in price?
Old bluestone stoops are gorgeous, but all the new ones that I have seen only use thin pieces of bluestone, not the old massive blocks that were used in the older stoops. I’ve never seen new bluestone treads with a bullnose edge, which is sort of what I expect on stair treads. I would imagine your contractor is going to want to use 2″ thick bluestone treads, the kind that have the rough hewn, chipped edge, on some kind of masonry base. This to me tends to come out looking very modern, not in a good way.
Me personally, I don’t like the look of the new ones that I’ve seen and I wouldn’t go with it unless the contractor had an example that he or she could show me, and assure me that it would come out looking the same.