Southern Stonemasons Canterbury are award-winning stonemasons, delivering exceptional stonemasonry and natural stone solutions in Christchurch and all over the South Island.
Stone offers beauty, strength, value and warmth. Maximizing the properties of natural stone is the art of modern stonemasonry. Our passion is pairing traditional craftsmanship and contemporary architectural design
Southern Stonemasons designed and built a sweeping basalt retaining wall on our steep hill section. It was efficiently built and has completely transformed a large difficult section into 2 beautiful usable areas that are now used for fruit trees. We really love the character and permanence of the stone and are planning to get them back for another matching wall!
I had Southern Stonemasons complete some work for me recently. The job was completed to a high standard and very quickly. Staff were fantastic; really helpful, friendly and the pricing was unbelievable. I would highly recommend Southern Stonemasons Lyttleton to anyone and I will be back myself. Thanks for your service!!
The only stonework to fail during these seismic events was either very old stone structures with poor foundations and substrates with little or no masonry fixings.
Or stonework where the substrate failed or where the masonry was constructed by unqualified stonemasons.
Southern stonemasons were engaged by many insurance companies after the Canterbury earthquakes to take down and rebuild badly damaged stonework installed by unqualified stonemasons.
We found nearly all masonry that had failed had been constructed with poor masonry practice. Our investigations into the these failed masonry structures lead us to believe that the builder or homeowner had normally chosen the cheapest price during the quoting process. This resulting in an unqualified laborer posing as a stonemason.
Many of these unqualified stonemasons soon disappeared after the earthquakes.
No doubt to avoid accountability.
Modern stonework when constructed correctly by a qualified stonemason whom has gained a qualification through a full term apprenticeship will be incredibly safe and will survive a solid seismic event.
The New Zealand building code has rigid specifications for the design and construction of stonemasonry structures to protect the home owners and their property from such an event in future.
Since the Canterbury earthquakes the engineering and designing of all structures around New Zealand has been vastly strengthened to a level where a home owner can be absolutely confident in having stone installed on their home or structure.
New Zealand stonemasons association was formed as a result of the Canterbury earthquakes to aid with the development of our stonemasonry qualification and our best practice guide for stonemasonry throughout New Zealand.
The New Zealand stonemasonry association has a rigid vetting system to ensure only true stonemasons are members. When choosing a stonemason I would strongly advise you to select a New Zealand stonemasonry member from your area from the NZSMA website https://www.nzsma.co.nz/
Southern Stonemasons Canterbury have invested thousands of dollars into the development of New Zealand's first and only seismic resistant STONECLAD stone tie.
Our qualified stonemasons have worked with engineers, BRANZ and some of New Zealand top architects to develop and test a revolutionary STONECLAD stone tie that has vastly improved bonding to the mortar and overall strength.
Our STONECLAD stone ties being of 316 stainless steel are not only incredibly durable but are also proven to hold over one ton of weight when pull tested in mortar. We install 8 per face M2, So that's the holding strength of more than eight tons on a cladding weighing about 300 kg.
These new STONECLAD stone ties absolutely guarantee our stone structures won't fail even in the biggest of possible events.
The STONECLAD stone ties are widely specified by the Christchurch city council engineers on public assets due to their durability, strength and ease of installation.
Those stonemasons that have started using them have commented that they are in fact a massive game changer in future protecting masonry structures from any potential future seismic events.
Two main things to insure your masonry project stands the test of time:
If you incorporate these two main considerations then you will not only have the absolute best stonemasonry money can buy but also the strongest stonemasonry that will one day become a heritage investment.
To achieve ideal outcomes in any project planning and communication is key. We work closely with council, builders, architects, engineers, designers and home owners to ensure expectations match outcomes in terms of quality, timing, cost and wow factor. We encourage you to get in touch with us as soon as possible for inspiration, expert advice and obligation free quotes.
