Stone veneer can instantly improve your curb appeal and make your home’s exterior look pleasant. Installing real stone veneer is extremely costly but there are many manufactured stone veneer options that are affordable and look like real stone. All you need to do is hire a masonry contractor and select the color and pattern of the faux stone veneer for installation.
If you want to cover your concrete wall with stone veneer and improve its appearance, follow these steps.
Things You Will Need
- Pressure washer
- Drill
- 5-gallon bucket
- Pointed brick trowel
- Notched trowel
- Circular saw
- Hammer
- Whisk broom
- Stick
- S-type veneer mortar mix
- Mortar hawk
- Leaf blower
- Wheelbarrow
- Rubber mallet
Instructions For Installing Stone Veneer On A Concrete Wall
- The first step is to clean the wall. Using the pressure washer removes dirt and debris from the wall. This step may seem unnecessary but stone veneer panels need a surface that they can easily be glued to. Dirt and grease on the wall will impact the bond of the glue resulting in stone panels coming off the wall or not sticking to the wall altogether.
- After pressure washing, use a right-angle grinder with a wire brush to clean anything still left on the wall.
- When done cleaning stains and paint from the concrete wall, dry the wall with an air blower.
- Take a paintbrush and use it to apply the bonding agent to the wall.
- Take one part of masonry cement and three parts masonry sand and mix them. You can use a shovel for mixing and if you don’t want to mix it on the ground or floor, do it in a wheelbarrow.
- Take a bucket, add water and acrylic polymer to it, and mix it. You should, then, pour this mixture into the masonry cement and sand mixture. Make sure to mix it well. You can add more polymer mixture if required.
- Take some mortar out and place it on a mortar hawk using a pointed brick trowel.
- Now, you need to apply it to the concrete wall. Make sure that you apply a half-inch layer of mortar to the wall. You can use a notched trowel. Then, smooth out the surface.
- As you want the stone veneer panels to stick to the mortar, the surface should be notched. Use the notched side of the trowel to make horizontal notches in the mortar. Start from the bottom and go all the to the top of the mortared surface.
- You can begin the installation of the stone panels. However, before starting this, make sure to clean the back of the panels with a cloth so they stick firmly to the mortar.
- Apply half inches of mortar on the back of the stone panel and install it to the wall.
- Use wood shims half inches thick to hold the panels in place.
- Take a rubber mallet and tap the stone panel to make sure that it sticks to the mortar well.
- Perform the same steps for installing all the stone veneer panels to the concrete wall with mortar between them that will act as glue.
- You may need to cut some of the stone panels if they don’t fit at the end of a course or at the top course. For this, use a circular saw.
- Apply about 1-inch-thick mortar on the top of the wall and also install the capstones.
- Similar to the panels, tap the capstones as well with a rubber mallet so there is a 3/8 inches space between the capstone. Use mortar to fill that space.
- Let it dry.
For Painted Or Sealed Concrete Walls
If you want to install stone veneer on a painted or sealed concrete wall, you will need to use a metal lath and masonry anchors for attaching it to the wall. You should apply mortar on the metal lath so the stone veneer panels can stick to it.
Wait for at least 2 days for the mortar to dry. Once it’s completely dry, use the above steps for stone veneer installation.
Conclusion
Installing faux stone veneer panels to a concrete wall requires medium-level masonry skills. You will also need more than a dozen tools during the installation process. Therefore, it’s best to hire stone veneer contractors port jefferson for any type of stone veneer installation.
