The City on the Lakes
Laconia is a city, not a town, and its motto is the City on the Lakes. Winnipesaukee meets it at the Weirs, Paugus Bay and Opechee Bay run through it, Lake Winnisquam sits on its edge, and the Winnipesaukee River ties them together.
That gives Laconia two kinds of houses that need stone. There are tight city lots in the older neighborhoods, and there are lake houses on the bays. Kevin does both, and they are planned differently.
Downtown and Lakeport
Downtown grew up around the mills on the river, and the Belknap Mill there dates to 1823. A fire in 1860 burned most of Main Street, and the Great Lakeport Fire of 1903 took much of Lakeport, so parts of both neighborhoods were rebuilt after.
On an older city house, veneer goes where the street sees it: a stained or patched foundation, a porch base, the posts by the front door. Veneer can often go over old brick or block too, once it is cleaned and checked. City lots are tight, so Kevin works out where stone and mortar can sit before the work starts.
Lake houses on Paugus, Opechee and Winnisquam
The bays are a different job. Where a lake house has a walkout side facing the water, natural stone on that foundation looks better from the water and the dock than painted concrete ever will. These walls get wind off the water and more freeze and thaw at the bottom, so the drainage at the base of the veneer gets extra care.
Above the Weirs
The Weirs is Laconia's busy summer end, with Weirs Beach, the pier and the train station all along Lakeside Avenue. Houses on the hills above it look down on Winnipesaukee and Paugus Bay. On those streets the wall worth facing in stone is whichever one looks toward the lake, because that is the side people see from Lakeside Avenue and from the water.
Plows, salt and city winters
City streets and driveways get plowed and salted. Snowbanks pile against foundations and front steps, and the salty melt soaks in. Salt is hard on mortar and on some softer stones.
Stone veneer near a driveway or sidewalk should sit up off the pavement with a proper edge at the bottom so water can drain away, and the stone should be dense enough to take it. Ask about that when you pick the stone.
Walls, walkways and painting in Laconia
In the city, the other stone work is usually smaller in scale: a garden wall around a small yard, a few stone steps to the front door, a short flagstone walk, a patio out back. Lake houses on the bays get the bigger retaining walls. Kevin handles interior and exterior painting as well, from a Lakeport porch to a house on Winnisquam.
