manufactured stone...friend or foe?



Cultured stone should mimic real stone construction.



This is part of our continuing series on siding products for your home.  Manufactured stone is a fairly new product.  It has risen to prominence in the "McMansions" of the early 21st century.  Manufactured stone (or cultured stone, or technically "adhered concrete masonry veneer") is essentially a concrete masonry product finished to look like quarried stone (real stone mined from the earth).  Concrete is poured into a mold, and then the appropriate amount of color and texture is added to create a product that looks like its associated real stone counterpart. 



If I put my personal bias aside, this product does have a broad appeal and some aesthetic qualities for use on your home.  However, when this product is overly used, used in way that defies the laws of gravity, or used in a manner that highlights the material as a fake stone, the application can feel unnerving and tacky.  Manufactured stone can provide the feel of permanence, sense of place, and mimic the beauty of natural stone if used tastefully.  I would suggest using the material exactly like you would be forced to use real stone.  Use it as a base to build the rest of your home from.  Real stone buildings are thick by necessity and manufactured stone is only a few inches thick so don’t highlight the fact that manufactured stone is of lesser substance.  Using manufactured stone as a surround for thin columns is an application that feels uneasy.  Using the material in large swaths is great, especially in a modern design, but if you are going to suspend this product off the ground than you better be bold.



Same home as above.  Nice use of stone in thick walls.

 The other issue you should be aware of is that this system appears to be prone to water damage if not installed perfectly.  With all building systems, time is what determines the ultimate success of new building technologies.  Manufactured stone has not been around long enough to know if this type of building component will fail when applied to a home for 50 years.  As I alluded to earlier, new residential construction over the last 10 years has seen a boon in this type of siding system and I would caution you in using this product.  See here for a great article from an inspection expert regarding some issues that have cropped up with the installation of manufactured stone.  The problem is that manufactured stone is applied to a wall like stucco (essentially glued with mortar to the outside of your wall).  If any water makes it past the face of this system then you are trapping water in your wall and, in turn, creating the potential for mold, mildew and rot.  Before installing manufactured stone on your home please ensure that either you or the contractor hired to install this product follows the guidelines provided by the Masonry Veneer Manufacturers Association.  Their website is here.


 

You see a ton of this with manufactured stone.



 

And more of the same.



 

And more...



 

Please don't ever do this...