Cultured stones are widely used in interior and exterior home decoration. Building and decorating interiors and exteriors with stones, gives a classic and elegant look to our home. Natural aggregates, cement and iron pigments are used for making these stones. These stones are given the natural shapes using molds of different shapes and sizes. The greatest advantage of using cultured stones is that their installation is fairly easy. In spite of the ease of installation, they give a timeless, rich and expensive look to the house. The stones are available almost for one-fourth the price of real stones.
Cultured stones are used to embellish interior, including fireplaces, bathroom walls, bedroom walls and wine storage racks. The exteriors that can be adorned using the cultured stone are terrace, corridors, veranda and window sills. There are various types of stones that are available today for beautification your house.
Steps to Install Cultured Stones
The installation of cultured stones require some basic equipment and material as follows: Hammer Wheelbarrow Trowel Weather resistant barrier Metal lath Galvanized nails Mortar Let us take a look at the steps to install the cultured stone:
Step 1
The basic step before you install cultured stone is the estimation of the amount of stone and mortar required, depending on the wall area that is to be covered with the stones.
Step 2
If you are installing the cultured stones on a wooden wall, it is necessary to apply a weather resistant barrier to the wall before the installation. However, you can directly install the stones on the walls made of cement.
Step 3
The weather barrier is then covered with metal lath using galvanized nails. The nails must penetrate inside the wall, at least 1 inch.
Step 4
When you are done with the installation of metal lathe, make a preliminary plan to make a template (usually made of newspaper) of the style that you wish to use to install the cultured stones. Remember that even if you prepare a newspaper template, it may not be possible to place the stones in the same manner as you have imagined due to the abrupt variation in the size of the stones. The colors, size and texture of the stones must be varied from time to time when you make the template.
Step 5
The mortar should be mixed in the wheelbarrow uniformly. A small portion of the mortar must be first tested on the metal lath. The quantity of water and mortar you have used for the first time should be same for every batch. The consistency of the mortar should be maintained throughout the installation process.
Step 6
The mason's trowel is used to apply the mortar to the metal lath. The stones must be installed from the top to the bottom. Otherwise, the mortar will drop on the initially installed stones and the stones will lose their original color.
Step 7
The entire metal lath is covered with a layer of mortar. Then, apply mortar to the flat side of the stone and start placing the stones on the mortar.
Step 8
Sometimes, the stones will not fit exactly as you have decided in the template. You may require a hammer to cut the corners of the stone, so that it fits on the mortar as you had decided earlier. Each stone must be held in the mortar for few minutes so that the mortar holds the stone with a much tighter bond.
Step 9
The remaining spaces must be filled with small pieces of stones. The grout is prepared for this purpose. The grout is made from mortar and water, but is somewhat thinner than the mortar mixture we prepared. You can apply the grout using a grout bag (which is just like the icing bag used to decorate cakes) to the spaces where the stones are not installed.
Step 10
The excess grout must be cleaned, once it is dried (thumb print dry), with a dry whisk broom.
The cultured stones installed must not be cleaned with acidic cleaners. This is the way in which you can design your fireplace or the veranda to give it a classic look.
