Stone boulder sign - help please

[marsaday]

Has anyone had any experience of buing and placing a stone boulder lettered up ?

As a community group we want to get a boulder and create a flat piece on which lettering will be carved. We will get the quarry to do all this work for us. The boulder will be about one cubic metre in size.

We also have to create a flat concrete base in the ground on which to sit the sign so it stays level.

We have had a quote from a local stone mason and it is way off the charts - £1200 for the boulder lettered up and delivered. £750 for him to do a base and position it.

I have had a quote from another quarry for £500 for the stone lettered up so i know we can do it cheaper. Our budget is only £800 and so i think we will have to do it all ourselves (concrete base i mean).

Has any one got any info on doing this - costs, pitfalls to look out for etc. thanks

 

[RedHerring2]

Two options:
Set the boulder in soft concrete and support it at the correct level until the concrete is set. It will then form it's own base out of the concrete to conform to the shape of the boulder.

Set the boulder on a pre-cast plinth, support it at the correct level and pour additional concrete to provide permanent support.

You might be lucky enough to have it hi-hab'ed off the lorry onto the concrete.

I would have thought that a properly prepared hole in the ground, perhaps about 200mm wider all round than the boulder with 150mm compacted hardcore and 150mm concrete plinth would suffice.

 

[marsaday]

Thanks for that, i will go with the hardcore and concrete base. We want it level so the lettering reads level you see. I will get the quarry to saw the bottom section off so it has a nice flat bottom.

Do you think we will need to secure it in place ? It will probably weight 2 T you see, so not sure if this is necessary. We could use some L brackets to hold it in place. These could be screwed into the concrete base and would be hidden when we soil and seed over this base.

 

[r896neo]

I wouldn't worry about holding it in place, nothing is going to move it unless it gets hit by a vehicle? I assume it will be wide and low rather than tall and thin which would of course need a little more involved solution.

 

[marsaday]

yep, something no bigger than 1m high.