Is Stone Siding For You?
There is something so rich looking about stone siding. Stone siding adds an earthy, here-to-stay feeling to any home. It used to be that only well-to-do home owners could afford to have stone siding installed on their homes. Real stone was very heavy and difficult to install. Truckloads of stone had to be delivered on site, and then the stone mason had to pick just the right stones to fit together in an attractive and durable manner. Stone facades can still be done in the traditional way, but there are more economical alternatives available today.
Your home can have the look of stone siding at a fraction of the cost and labor. There are many faux stone products that are made with materials like vinyl, cement and composites of recycled materials that have the rich look of stone, but not the weight or difficulty of installation. Faux stone comes in containers with shapes that are stone like, but able to fit together easier than real stone.These units are thinner than stones, but when properly installed, they look very much like the real thing. They can be installed where real stone would be too bulky or too heavy.
As just one example of stone siding, this video by Stoneyard.com features five different shapes of historic New England Fieldstone that are cut into thin veneers:
The key to success with real or faux stone installation is getting the right adhesive materials and installation instructions. Most stone products are adhered to the wall on a kind of backer board or wire mesh product. A special adhesive or cement mix is applied to the wall and the stone unit pressed into it. The container of stone is usually opened and the stone units spread out in a pleasant pattern on the ground before being adhered to the wall. After the stones are all adhered to the wall and the adhesive material dried, a form of grout is applied in between all the stones. The biggest challenge for the do-it-your-selfer is cutting stones to fit the odd little places and edges.
Even real stone comes in a thinner pre-cut form for ease in installing. In today’s marketplace, the variety and choices of stone products is amazing. You can get rectangular cut stone, natural shapes and everything in between. Two manufacturers of quality stone siding are NextStone and Champlain Stone. Their products have good track records, and they have great collections of stone products to choose from. The distributor you purchase your stone products from should be able to help you estimate how much product your will need to purchase for your job.
