Artifical stone on house

[GoatsRus]

Anyone have experience with putting up artifical stone - (the individual man-made to look like stone products) on the outside of their home? We're thinking of replacing some of the wood siding as it's warped. We're getting to the point where we don't want to have to restain the whole house every so many years and are looking for a little less maintenance. This would only be on two of the outside walls. The other wood is under-porch and not a problem.
I'm having someone come out and give us an estimate, but I need to know if there are any problems with this type of exterior. I was told to make sure if we have it done, that the contractor used 2 layers of tar paper instead of just one. PROS....CONS ????

[PyroDon]

Originally Posted by GoatsRus

Anyone have experience with putting up artifical stone - (the individual man-made to look like stone products) on the outside of their home? We're thinking of replacing some of the wood siding as it's warped. We're getting to the point where we don't want to have to restain the whole house every so many years and are looking for a little less maintenance. This would only be on two of the outside walls. The other wood is under-porch and not a problem.
I'm having someone come out and give us an estimate, but I need to know if there are any problems with this type of exterior. I was told to make sure if we have it done, that the contractor used 2 layers of tar paper instead of just one. PROS....CONS ????

Its doubtful in this day and age they would use ant tar paper , more than likely Tyvex would be used

[GoatsRus]

We already have the Tyvek on the house. I asked this guy and if they would put the tar paper over the Tyvek and he said yes. BTW, it's not the guy that's coming to give an estimate that told me that, it's one of the guys I work with here. He builds houses on the side.

[pheasantplucker]

I'll probably do the foundation to my cabin when I scrape the money together. Right now, you see "ice block" which is a type of foam they used as a mold when they poured the basement walls (with rebar). I've done some reading on the subject, and there are a few companies out there right now that are putting out pretty decent looking stuff. Not cheap. but still more cost effective than using real stone. A neighbor down the road is doing his chimney with ones he made himself, using a rubber mold with cement. It's looking pretty good.

[T-Bone 369]

We put on cultured stone (the proper name for it) on probably six or eight jobs a year - done correctly it will hold up fairly well in an exposed area but it is not maintence free. As to what to wach for in the installation:
1. It does not tollerate any movement. We put on a vapor barrier (tyvac or visquene usually) then screw (not nail) on concrete backer board. On top of the backerboard we again screw (not nail) plaster's mesh into a thin scratch coat of rich mortar. Over the wire we apply a scratch coat and a top coat of mortar allowing each to dry between applications. If it is drying too fast we use a brush and water to prevent cracking. This is the best base we have found to apply it to (even on concrete the only thing we omit is the backer board).
2. When the cultured stone is applied we butter the back with rich mortar (instead of 14 shovels of sand/bag 11 or 12 works better). Rich mortar sticks better to both the stone and the prepared wall. Be sure to keep the working surface damp so the mortar does not dry too fast. All (and I mean all) voids in the contact surface must be removed. Put the stone and the mortar into contact with the wall, push gentley and twist slightly. You have to hold the stone in place for a moment or two (the bigger the stone the longer it takes to adhere). If it does not stick either the wall is too dry or the mortar too sandy.
3. We have found that it is easier to set the entire field then come back after the work has had a day or two to set up before we fill the joints. We use "pastry bags" you can get at the masonry supply house and regular strength mortar (rich mortar has a tendency to shoe shrinkage cracks in the joints). We wet down the work, fill a section of joints then use a tuck pointer to compress and tool the joints. Once it dry enough not to smear we use a fairly stiff brush to get any excess off the stone and blend any tool marks out of the joints. Make sure that there is no cracking in the joints from shrinkage - if there are cracks now they are not going to get any better. It is tempting to leave quite a lot of relief in the joints (the mortar recessed from the stone faces). That looks good and if your doing inside work where there will never be water in the wall it works well (think fireplace fronts). Outside, it's an invitation for water to find a way into the work - we fill pretty much all the way up and try to fill any place where water may stand.
4. After everything has had a couple days to dry we clean any work that needs it then waterproof the entire wall. This is pretty important as any moisture in the wall will cause it to fail eventually. We also look for any cracks or gaps that may allow water in. This is part of the maintence of the wall - it need to be re-sealed from time to time and checked for cracks.
5. Places where we have had the most trouble with failure were places where something didn't get sealed well, where there was a movement problem (these were on a collumn that was soaking water up the wooden center post then swelling causing cracks which let in water) and once on a foundation in a flower bed where the home owner came back and added dirt which was physicaly below the bottom af the stone (we set a 2" gap between the top of the ground and the bottom of the stone) which heaved the next winter and you guessed it cracked the work and let water penetrate. I guess the overriding story here is keep water out.

Cultured stone really looks nice when it's applied correctly, and stays that way if you perform a little upkeep. It is rather expensive work to have done (very time consuming even if the material is not as expensive as natural stone) but if you find someone that knows what they are doing it should last a great many years.

[GoatsRus]

Wow, Thanks T-Bone. That was the kind of information I was looking for. I'm hoping the cost won't be really bad, or we won't be able to do it.