Decorative stone for outdoor decoration: types and technology of installation

Decorating the facade with decorative stone is a long-known and widely used technique for decorating the outer walls of a house. The variety of textures of the facing material allows you to transform the building beyond recognition. Thanks to the decoration with decorative stone, you can make the old building stylish and modern and artificially age the new building.

Types of decorative stone

There are only two main types of decorative stone:

• natural;
• artificial.

Each of these finishing materials has its own merits.

Natural stone has a solid, presentable appearance and has a special energy that gives the building a peculiar aura of reliability and prosperity. But finishing the facade with this material is an expensive pleasure. Therefore, many homeowners choose an equally spectacular, but inexpensive artificial stone.

The following types of natural stone are most popular:

• marble;
• granite ;
• dolomite ;
• shell rock ;
• limestone ;
• travertine ;
• sandstone.

The strongest and most durable are granite and marble.

They are also the most expensive. Therefore, they are rarely used for full-fledged facade cladding over the entire area of ​​the walls. Most often, granite and marble are used to decorate entrance lobbies, window openings and individual building elements.

Travertine is widely used to decorate buildings in the antique style. This stone has a porous structure, so its surface is covered with a special mastic, which prevents cracking and significantly increases the service life of the finishing material.

Some types of travertine outwardly resemble the bark of an old tree, dotted with winding cracks.

Shell and sandstone are malleable and affordable. These natural stones, along with dolomite and limestone, are most often used for cladding the facades of old and new buildings. This finish is able to withstand the harshest conditions, strong and durable.

Artificial decorative stone is an excellent alternative to natural.

It has an equally long service life, capable of imitating all the features of natural stone. In addition, artificial has several advantages:

• it is much easier to make shaped elements for facing corners and openings from it;
• despite its solid appearance, it has much less weight than natural ;
• has a wider color gamut and the widest range of textures.

Price for decorative stone

Decorative stone

Tips for choosing natural stone for facade cladding

Natural stone for facade cladding is sold in the form of hewn slabs polished on both sides, or stones processed only on one back side. In the second case, the unique natural texture of the surface is preserved, and at the same time it becomes possible to easily glue the stone to the facade.

The main difficulty in choosing a natural finishing material lies in the uniqueness of the color of each product.

There are no monochromatic natural stones. Each has several contiguous shades of the base color. When facing large areas, you need to purchase several lots, the color of the stones in which may differ significantly. This will significantly complicate the work of facing the facade.

Experts advise to proceed as follows: select several stones as a sample and check how different the color range of products in different batches.

To do this, the stones must be placed next to each other. If you evaluate the difference in color from a distance, there is a high probability of error.

What color of stone to choose for the facade?

Each color has been proven to have an impact on the psyche and create certain visual effects. For example, blue and green marble is used to emphasize the official and business atmosphere of office buildings.

Brown, yellow, beige, pink are considered "warm" shades.

Stones with this color will give the building a residential and cozy look, provide the flavor of friendliness and hospitality. No wonder that shell rock and limestone are so popular in the decoration of houses. In the color range of these stones "warm" tones are predominantly present.

There is one more argument in favor of choosing a finishing material of lighter colors: such stones heat up less under the sun's rays. Therefore, during the summer heat, it will be cooler inside the premises than when decorating the outer walls with dark-colored material.

Facade cladding with natural stone: all aspects

The primary task that will need to be solved is to prepare the facade for finishing with natural stone. This material is heavy, so the supporting base must be strong. To fix the stones, use special adhesive mixtures based on cement and water-soluble polymers.

Reinforcement of the walls

If the house was built a long time ago, reinforcement of the wall surface will be required. This process includes several stages.

1. Visual assessment of the condition of the facade.
2. Removing old topcoats.
3. Strengthening walls by sealing cracks and crevices.
4. Installation of metal mesh.

The method of preliminary plastering is most often used to strengthen the facade.

It includes several stages.

Step 1. First coat - spraying with slurry. A mixture is prepared from 1 part of cement and 3 parts of sifted sand, water is added until the consistency of liquid sour cream is obtained. Apply the solution by spraying with a paint or whitewash brush.

Leave until complete set.

Step 2. Attach the metal plaster mesh to the wall. To do this, first drill holes for dowels. For 1 m ² area, 10-16 dowels and the corresponding number of holes are required.

The mesh is attached with an overlap of 5-7 cm.

Step 3. Prepare a solution from 4- x parts of sand and 1 part of cement. Throw this mixture over the plaster mesh. The consistency of the solution should resemble soft butter.

For mixing, quarry, pre-sieved sand is used.

In order to fill all mesh cells, apply the first layer of mortar with a trowel or spatula from top to bottom. Then a new portion of the solution is collected and applied with movements from side to side: from left to right and from right to left. The layer thickness must be at least 10 mm.

Step 4.

After 20-25 minutes, until the solution has hardened, give the plastered surface a relief appearance. To complete this task, you will need a special trowel with a serrated metal blade. It is held at a slight slope to the wall and carried over a slightly hardened layer of cement-sand mortar.

Rectangular grooves will remain in the plaster. They will provide high-quality adhesion of the facing stone to the wall surface.

In this way, walls in need of reinforcement are prepared, not only for sticking natural, but also artificial stone.

Preparation of finishing materials

Natural stones do not have the correct geometric shape. Therefore, their preliminary adjustment and revision will be required.

Step 1. The first stage is the selection of stones.

To do this, take a polyethylene sheet and spread it on a flat surface (it is possible on the ground). The stones are laid out so that the distance between them is at least 8 mm. Some facade decorators leave finger-width gaps. For the top and bottom rows, select stones of the same height. In this case, the cladding will look more harmonious.

Step 2. Refinement of stones.

Corner pieces are required for the facade. In order to make them, a grinder with a diamond disc is used. A stone of suitable thickness is selected and a cut is cut in it in the form of a right angle.

If necessary, knock down protrusions and other excess fragments with a hammer and chisel.

Align the back of the stones in the same way. The one that will be adjacent to the wall of the house. If the protruding part of the stone is too large, make preliminary cuts with a grinder. Then they hit this place with a hammer from top to bottom.

The split should be relatively flat.

Laying natural stone on the wall

For fixing stones, cement-based adhesive mixtures are used. The most popular are the following:

• "Hercules Strong Extra";
• "WEISBAU Strong";

  

  WEISBAU STRONG

• "Stone Grasp";
• Litokol LITOFLEX K80;

  

  LITOFLEX K80

• Ceresit CM 17;
• "Kreps" product line;
• "OSNOVIT MAXIPLIX T-16".

  

  Maxiplix T-16 professional dust-free glue for marble, granite, porcelain stoneware and natural stone

To improve the adhesion of adhesive mixtures with plaster perform priming of walls with special priming solutions.

It is necessary to select compounds intended for external work.

Primers of this type are distinguished by higher moisture and frost resistance, resistant to temperature extremes. These are the primers "Osnovit", "Betonokontakt", "Facade Grunt", etc.

The primer is applied on the walls with a spray gun, roller or paint brush. The adhesive mixture is prepared for use in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions.

Stones are glued as follows:

• Moisten the back side and allow water soak (leave for 30-60 seconds);
• in an even layer, no more than 1.

  5 cm thick, apply a solution (glue mixture) to the back of the stone, use a trowel or spatula;

  

  Applying glue to the stone

• with the corner of the trowel or spatula blade make several longitudinal grooves in the solution;
• press the stone against the wall and hold it position for 5-10 seconds;

  

  Gluing the stone

• glue the following stones, leaving gaps of the selected width between them.

  

  Bonding stone

  

  Wall decoration

If during the gluing process the glue mixture gets into the gaps between the stones, remove the excess solution. Do not allow glue to get on the face of the stone. If this happens, remove the stains with a damp cloth before drying. When facing the corners of a house, the same distance is left between the stones as when decorating the walls.

Prices for various types of glue Basin Maxiplix

Glue Basin Maxiplix

Grouting gaps

The gaps between the stones can be filled with the same adhesive or special grouting mixtures. For filling the gaps, special bags for grouting are used. These are cone-shaped products from which the grout is squeezed into the gap. The tip of the bag is cut so that the width of the hole matches the width of the gap between the stones. To squeeze out the mixture, the top of the bag is twisted or squeezed.

Thus, the grout moves to the corner cut, from which it enters the gap.

Then the grout is left to harden for 50-60 minutes. Readiness is determined by pressing a finger. If there are no dents on the seam, it is ready for leveling. Excess grout is removed using any suitable tool or device.

You can use flat sticks of wood or plastic, the width of which matches the width of the gap.

The seams are made in two ways:

• slightly deepen relative to the surface of the stone;
• are aligned flush with the stone cuts.

After completing this stage of work, the seams are cleaned with a brush with stiff bristles.

If the natural stone has a relatively loose structure, the lined walls are treated with any of the water repellents. This will significantly extend the life of the finishing layer.

Facade cladding with artificial stone

Using decorative artificial stone, you can transform a house so that it becomes outwardly distinguishable from a solid mansion. To do this, you need to choose and stick the finishing material correctly.

Any artificial stone for external work is made of cement, sand, various fillers and dyes. Thanks to the use of special forms and technologies of vibrocasting and vibrocompression, products are obtained that accurately repeat the color and relief of natural stones. Moreover, artificial ones are just as strong, beautiful and durable.

Decorative stones made on the basis of gypsum or acrylic resins are not suitable for facing facades ... They (stones) are suitable for decorating walls and decorative elements in the interior of the house. Therefore, when making an independent decorative stone for a facade, only those technologies that involve the use of cement and polymers are considered.

The manufacturing process of such products consists of several stages.

1. Mix all the necessary components and prepare the molding sand.
2. Fill in special forms with it.
3. Place the forms on a vibrating table and shape the stones within the time specified by the technology.
4. Send the forms to the drying chamber.

5. Take out finished products from the molds.

With the help of vibration casting technology, stones with correct geometric shapes are obtained. This greatly facilitates the process of laying them on the walls of the house. When choosing artificial stones, it is important to pay attention to the following points:

• the product must be painted throughout its entire thickness;
• the front and back surfaces must be smooth;
• chips and cracks.

Video - Production of decorative facing stone

Types of artificial decorative stone

Clinker

Decorative clinker stone is made in the form of facing bricks or tiles imitating brickwork.

All these products are moisture-resistant, frost-resistant, capable of withstanding significant temperature changes. Among the advantages of these products are UV resistance, due to which the color of bricks or tiles does not change when exposed to the sun's rays.

All manufacturers of artificial stone produce collections of products, including stones with different surface relief and made in different colors. So, the same stone, imitating, for example, natural sandstone, will have a different name, depending on the name of the collection.

Artificial granite and marble

Artificial granite and marble is made from a cement-sand mixture with the addition of pigments and polyester resins.

This composition has its own name: polymer concrete. Production is carried out in accordance with TU 4940-001-00284581-2002.

Artificial decorative stones are highly durable and outwardly indistinguishable from their natural counterparts. Artificial granite and marble have a solid weight, therefore all manufacturers strive to make slabs as thin as possible, but not to the detriment of the technical characteristics of their products.

Characteristics of artificial marble

Such kind of artificial granite as porcelain stoneware is especially popular. It is made from a mixture of several types of clay, colorants and mineral additives.The surface of the slabs can be glossy, matte, embossed.

All products have the correct geometric shape and are easy to install. But experts draw the attention of the consumer to the fact that porcelain stoneware is rather difficult to process due to its relatively low impact resistance.

In this regard, trimming the slabs can cause the formation of chips and cracks.

Slabs made of artificial marble and granite are suitable for cladding walls, plinths, entrance groups, architectural elements of a building, window and doorways. These artificial stones can be used to pave paths and make a blind area around the house. Mosaics are laid out of multi-colored fragments of marble on the walls of the house, spectacular panels and paintings are created.

The use of marble and granite in facing guarantees an excellent aesthetic effect, protection of walls from dampness, high-quality thermal insulation.

These artificial stones are suitable for cladding buildings built in any architectural style. Marble and granite give the building a solemn and austere look, bring an accent of solidity and well-being.

Manufacturing technology of molded artificial marble and granite is almost no different from the technology of production of paving slabs. The main difference lies in the components used to prepare the molding mixture and their percentage.

Agglomerates

Agglomerates (or quartz agglomerates) are artificial decorative stones, for the manufacture of which a mixture of quartz sand, dyes, binder and crumbs from natural stones (mainly from marble and crushed stone).

Agglomerates in their technical characteristics are closest to natural stone. The reason is the small amount of polymers that make up the quartz agglomerates and the significant content of natural components.

Artificial stones of this type are made by vibrocompression. Depending on the fraction of stone chips and other raw materials, the surface of the products can have a very different texture. Agglomerates can mimic the appearance of any natural stone.

A distinctive feature of these products is their low abrasion resistance and high strength provided by the quartz included in the composition.

Features of decorative artificial stone laying

The durability of the facade cladding directly depends on the condition of the house walls. If they are plastered, the tapping method is used to check their strength. With a weak impact, a high-quality surface should produce a sufficiently high and sonorous sound. If the plaster has peeled off, the sound will be muffled.

Such places must be cleaned and re-plastering.

One rule to remember: natural and artificial stone should not be placed on wet plaster. The moisture content of the wall should not exceed 5%. There is another point to be aware of: a wall that is too dry will draw moisture from the glue mixture and the glue hardening process will be disrupted. Therefore, it is not recommended to lay stone on walls heated by the sun.

It is advisable to carry out facing work in warm, but not hot weather.

There are two options for laying decorative stone: with jointing and without joining. If it is decided to use the first method, a galvanized or plastic mesh is taken to strengthen the wall. If the stone needs to be laid on a new concrete wall, it is pre-treated with a sandblaster. This is necessary in order to remove the specific "wax" film, which is typical for new buildings made of concrete.

When performing masonry work, you need to be extremely careful and accurate. If the glue or grout mixture gets on the face of the decorative stone, these stains will be difficult to remove. Especially if the surface has a deep relief. When sawing artificial decorative stone, it is necessary to take precautions: wear safety glasses and work gloves.

Laying artificial stone without jointing

Because artificial stones have the correct geometric shape; no preliminary layout is required.

The basic rule that must be followed when laying without seams is the dressing. It consists in shifting each next row by 1/4 or 1/2 stone. In this case, there will be no through longitudinal and transverse seams, which not only spoil the appearance of the masonry, but also significantly weaken it.

For gluing artificial decorative stone, use the same adhesive mixtures as for natural. The laying of these facing materials is not much different from the laying of tiles.

The seamless method is faster and easier, since the stages of filling and joining the gaps are excluded.

Seamless masonry technique

Step 1. Prepare the wall according to the recommendations above.

Step 2. Priming the wall.

Step 3. Start laying from the bottom of the wall. In order for the rows to be even, draw a horizontal line with a pencil or marker.

Step 4. Prepare the masonry mixture, observing all recommendations from the manufacturer's instructions.

The amount of the mixture is kneaded at a time so that it can be used before the solution begins to harden.

Step 5. Moisten the back of the artificial stone with a brush, sponge or spray.

With a notched trowel, apply the masonry mixture to the back side of the corner decorative element. Distribute it over the surface with a uniform layer 3-5 mm thick.

If the wall is uneven, the layer thickness is increased to 1 cm.

Step 6. Glue the corner stone so that its bottom edge rests on the horizontal line drawn on the wall.

Step 7. Press the stone to the wall, slightly swinging it from side to side.

Thus, a certain amount of masonry mixture should be squeezed out. It will fill the space between this and the next stone.

Step 8. Moisten the back of the second stone and apply glue to it.

Step 9.

Apply the stone to the wall so that it adheres closely to the already glued corner piece.

Step 10. Press the stone and swing it slightly.

Step 11. Remove excess squeezed out mixture with a damp sponge.

If instead of small stones, massive decorative plates are used, additional fastening with dowels is required. To do this, before applying the adhesive mixture, holes are drilled in the corners of the slab. Then they apply this product to the wall and make marks with a marker through the holes in the slab. In these places, holes are drilled for dowels. Then the slab is glued in the same way as stones.

Then the dowels are screwed in for additional fixation.

Prices for Ceresit glue

Ceresit glue

Video - Laying artificial stone on the facade