How to Install Stone Veneer On the Front Exterior of Your House - Easy DYI Steps

I am writing this Hub to let all readers know how amazing your home will look when you install Stone Veneer on the front exterior of your house. I have recently upgraded my home using two different types of Stone Veneer. In both cases I did all of the work myself. On the inside of my home, I used Ledgestone to upgrade my fireplace, and on the exterior wall on the front of my home, I installed Stackstone. This was indeed a labor of love.

If you ever want to meet everyone in your neighborhood and surrounding areas, upgrade the front of your home with Stone Veneer. I had countless people complement me on the new look and how great my home now looks. Some even pulled up my driveway and asked for advise on how to do it themselves. Several others remarked that I must really love my home. So, if you really love your home, read on. I will tell you exactly how to turn your home into the dream home you've always wanted.

I learned so much when I decided to install stone veneer to the exterior of my home. It was the most gratifying project I had done to date. The stone veneer made an incredible transformation to the look and value of my home. I have had some visitors who thought we had built from scratch as our home now looks just like the new homes built a few blocks away. Like all DIY projects it's always good to plan, plan and then plan some more. Ask lots of questions and there is nothing you can't do yourself. Always consult a professional to make sure you have all the right steps in place.

As noted above, I had chosen two types of Stone Veneer for the different areas of my home. The preparation will vary depending on the application.

For my fireplace, I needed to tear down the old brick mantel, remove the old wood fireplace box, and insulate the walls and ceiling inside the housing. Once the new fireplace was in place, fire retardent cement board was installed covering the fireplace bezel and surrounding area where the stone veneer was to be installed. The cement board usually comes is 3' x 6' sheets and is easy to handle without extra help. Just measure the size of the area and mark the board. A hand saw will easily cut the cement board as required. The cement board is secured to the fireplace bezel using self taping metal screws, and is secured to the adjacent wall areas using backer board nails. These are the same nails you would use to secure cement board in preparation of applying floor tiles over a wooden sub floor.

For the exterior of my home, the preparation was a little different. For the exterior of my home, I used manufactured stone. The big advantage with manufactured stone is it can be cut with a circular masonary blade, very quick and easy. Manufactured stone is made of stone but in a lighter composition. There are amazing styles and patterns to choose from. Depending on the style of stone, they can also come in various sizes and shaped, corner and other option finishing pieces are also available.

My home was a Tudor style and had painted wood framing surrounding all doors and windows. For my plan, I had to remove some of the wood planks and cover up others. Where ever I had removed the planks, I had to first install sections of Metal Lathe. The Metal Lathe comes in sheets 2' x 8' and is installed using 1" roofing nails approximately every 6". The Metal Lathe is also installed covering any remaining wood planks left in place.

Once all of the Metal Lathe is installed, a scratch coat of cement has to be applied before you can install the Stone Veneer. You must use S type Cement with a bonding agent. Check around for premixed cement. Premixed referring to a mixture of S type Cement, sand and bonding agent. This will save you loads of time measuring and maintain a good consistency with all your surfaces. For the scratch coat I also added a tint. This proved to be a wise decision as some areas of the scratch coat may actually be visible through the final stone application depending on the layout.

For mixing the cement, you can either use a big drum, packing drill and auger or a cement mixer. I tried using the packing drill and auger, but quickly changed to a cement mixer. These units can be rented for $40.00 per week depending on where you live. These mixers are well worth the cost. Let the mixer do all the work. Simply add a bag of cement to the mixer, a small cup of tint, and then a gallon of water. Mix the cement for approx 5 minutes. The cement should have a soft pliable consistency.

If required add a small amount of water then mix again until desired consitency is met. When tilted on its side, the cement should not easily slide off a metal trowel used to apply the cement. Important Note: Wash out the cement mixer frequently. Once the cement dries, it is extremely difficult to remove. if you had rented the mixer, the rental outfit will levy a steep charge to have the mixer restored to working condition.

Now you have to apply the scratch coat while the cement is in its soft pliable state. Simply take a pail and fill it up with some of the cement mixture. Using a cement trowel, apply at least a 1/2 inch coating of cement over the metal lathe areas. Be sure to push the cement into the metal lathe filling the holes. The final surface should be even. For areas adjacent to stucco surface, make sure the scratch coat is at the same level as the stucco. Once the scratch coat has partially dried, take a steel brush and rough up the surface. This will assist the adhering of the Stone Veneer to the scratch coat.

Now comes the fun part. This is where all the neighbors start talking, where complete strangers pull up your driveway for DYI advise.

Start with an inside section of wall to be covered. In my case, I had several surface areas to be covered, raw brick, stucco and scratch coat areas. The raw brick areas extended beyond the stucco and scratch coat areas, therefore I left them for last. You may need some initial support for the lowest level of stone, I used wood planks and old bricks, whatever you have handy will do. Measure the area, then layout your stone pattern on the ground first.

Mix a fresh batch of cement, exactly the same as the scratch coat including the tint. With your trowel, apply an even coating of the cement to the back of the Stone Veneer. This is like applying peanut butter to toast except you want the cement to be at least 1/2" thick. Then hold the brick to the wall surface for about 5 to 10 seconds. You should see the moisture from the cement penetrate the wall surface suround. The cement will create a suction to the wall and remain in place. Then you keep repeating this process until you have either used up all of your stone or run out of cement.

It is a good idea to do small sections at a time, including measuring and cutting the stone first. Then mixing the cement and applying. The reason for this is the unused mixed cement can start to dry and thicken before you have applied all the stone if you have to stop and measure and cut in between each stone placement. If it does start to dry a bit, you can add a little bit of water and mix with your trowel. In fact, I would fill a gallon size pail with the mixed cement from the cement mixer, then use all the cement in the pail. I would keep refilling the pail until I had used all the cement from the mixer. Once all the cement in the mixer has been used up, you must hose it down real well and so that no cement remains to harden inside the drum. Once the drum is clean, you can measure and cut another section of stone and then mix another batch of cement.

When all of the stone has been installed, the final task is to clean the Stone Veneer. The cement mixture can end up on the stone surface as part of the installation process. You want to remove this excess cement so all you see is the incredible stone facade. All you need is to use the steel brush and rub the cement off the stone surface. This is a quick and easy process. When you are all done, your home will look absolutely amazing. You'll be amazed at how many people will ask if they can hire you to transform their home too.

If you have any questions regarding any of the steps, I'd be happy to assist you in your DIY quest. I really hope the above steps help you as I had no prior experience, and it took some experimenting and plenty of questions on my part before I knew what to do. I had so many people complement me, both while I was in the midst of performing the work and after completion, I hope I can pass some of my experience on to those who may also be DYI novices.