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Building our new house:
Foundation stonework

We are covering the poured concrete foundation with stone -- the masons installed the foundation stone on the house today (21 May); they'll do the garage and chimney on 22 May and will lay the same stones on the hearth when the fireplace is installed.

Here is a photo of one of the masons working on the stone.

The stone is Chardonnay Ledgestone laid dry-stack.  That is, mortar is applied to the concrete foundation then the stones have mortar applied to their back sides and are stuck to the foundation wall.  No mortar is visible in the joints between the stones.

Here's a close-up.  Note that there is no stone between the top edge of the stone and the bottom of the siding.  There is a special capstone that will be installed in that space -- it has a sloped top that makes rainwater run away from the house.

Front view of the house.  The space in the stonework in the center of the front porch is where the front stairs will be installed.  Note the tarp wrapped around the chimney -- one of the masons installed metal screen lath and a mortar bed on the chimney then some dark clouds appeared -- he wrapped it in a tarp and plastic to protect the mortar -- we got a few drops of rain then the sun re-appeared.