Varieties of decorative stone, the positive and negative aspects of the material, advice on decorating rooms for different purposes, the technology of laying on the surface. Decorative stone is, in fact, a concrete finishing material based on mineral binders (cement, gypsum, etc.), imitating the shape, structure and color of natural stone. The construction market is saturated with different types of artificial stone, and it is sometimes difficult to determine which one to use. In order not to make a mistake with the choice, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the properties of popular types of this finishing material and the technology of their installation on the wall.
Advantages and disadvantages of decorative stone for walls
This finishing material appeared on the domestic construction market recently, when people began to massively build country houses.
In addition to its beautiful appearance, the fake has other advantages:
- Decorative stone on the wall is cheaper than natural stone by an order of magnitude.
- The material is very durable, and it is impossible to accidentally damage it, because the structure is uniform throughout its depth.
- Artificial stone is much lighter than natural stone, and no foundation reinforcement is required before finishing the wall.
- A decorative stone has one side flat, and the tiles have regular geometric shapes, which makes it easier to create an even masonry.
- When finishing work, ease of processing and pliability when sawing are appreciated.
- To facilitate the installation work, manufacturers make internal and external corner stones, as well as samples with various cutting options.
- Artificial material can be used to decorate various surfaces - wood, concrete, brick, etc.
- Samples can be used to decorate walls in rooms for any purpose, because they are not afraid of fungus and mold, sunlight and temperature changes.
- The material has little water absorption, so stones are often used to decorate the walls of the bathroom and shower.
- Artificial stone blends naturally with different types of finishing materials and looks good in any interior.
- There is a huge range of products on the market that differ in texture, color and are able to satisfy every user.
- Decorative stone is difficult to distinguish from natural.
- If the tiles are damaged, they can be easily replaced or restored.
- The material is distinguished by antistatic properties - the surface repels dust and grease. Stone care is simple: wipe problem areas with a clean cloth dampened with detergent. Can be cleaned with a brush.
- Artificial stone is made from environmentally friendly components and does not emit hazardous substances during operation.
- The material is easy to transport due to its low weight and regular geometric shapes.
The disadvantages of decorative stone are difficult to name, they mainly depend on the composition of the material. Some stones wear out quickly and require protective coatings, while others are afraid of high temperatures and chemicals. Facing made of artificial stone is inferior in durability to a wall made of natural material. The stone itself is capable of serving for many decades, but its fasteners will become unusable much earlier.
The decorative coating is more susceptible to sunlight, moisture, temperature fluctuations than natural materials, but it can retain its presentation for several decades. But if you know in advance the features of each type of stone, then you can find its use in a room where the flaws will not be visible.
The main types of artificial stone for walls
Modern technologies make it possible to create artificial building materials that are outwardly difficult to distinguish from natural ones. The compositions of decorative stones of different types differ, therefore each sample has its own properties.
Porcelain stoneware
The composition of the tile includes clay, feldspar and components to give the desired shade. In manufacturing, the material is first pressed and then fired at a high temperature. Thanks to this technology, the coating does not absorb moisture and is able to withstand severe frosts.
The characteristics of porcelain stoneware are suitable for covering external walls and ventilated facades. Inside the premises, such tiles are used to cover the walls of wet rooms - bathrooms, showers. It differs from other materials in the same color and structure throughout the sample cross section.
The material is produced in the form of tiles with different geometric shapes. If you cut it, you can see streaks and specks, like a natural stone, but they are arranged in an orderly area. On this basis, decorative stone is distinguished from natural. Porcelain stoneware is made glossy or matte, polished, with different textures. The material can withstand temperature changes well, but chemicals can damage the surface.
For cladding partitions indoors, tiles with a size of at least 30x30 cm and a thickness of 8 mm are used. The outer walls are clad with 14 mm thick tiles.
Agglomerates
They are made of filler (quartz sand, granite or other rock chips) and a binder (polyester resin). For coloring, special pigments are added. Ready-made samples are indistinguishable from slate, marble and other natural stone. The properties of the product depend on the filler.
Quartz agglomerates are popular among users. Quartz chips give the stone special strength, resin provides elasticity, as a result, samples are obtained that are superior in hardness to granite. A quartz agglomerate is used for external finishing of floors.
Concrete and plaster products
The most common decorative building materials are cement, sand, plaster and various additives. Thanks to modern technologies, samples acquire special strength. Indoor wall cladding with decorative concrete and plaster stone is very popular.
Common to stones made of concrete and gypsum is the method of manufacture by casting into molds, but the performance characteristics are different:
- Plaster stone is processed with hand tools, concrete samples are cut with a grinder.
- Gypsum elements weigh 2 times less than cement ones. The thinnest gypsum specimens weigh 5 kg / m2 against 9-10 kg of concrete. The light weight allows you to fix gypsum stones on plasterboard sheets.
- Concrete stones are usually smooth, and are also used for exterior wall decoration, in contrast to plaster products.
- Plaster stones are 10-15% cheaper than concrete ones.
- Gypsum stones covered with a protective waterproof layer are called gypsum polymer.
- If artificial stones are impregnated with acrylic varnish, then acrylic stones will be obtained that do not absorb moisture and are protected from contamination.
Features of the choice of decorative stone for wall decoration
The combination of a large number of positive properties of the stone allows you to use it in any premises. But this material is visually heavy, and reduces the comfort of the room, if used without restriction. To harmonize the interior, study the recommendations for the installation of this simulator.
Decorative stone reduces lighting, and if not taken care of, the room will turn out to be gloomy. The problem is solved by setting up additional lamps and alternating stone areas with light wallpaper or plaster. Due to illumination problems, it is not recommended to decorate narrow rooms with stone, where it is already bad with light.
In the bedroom, stone is used to create a Provence style interior, because a rough surface is typical for a rustic style. The stone wall at the head of the bed looks good - the main place of the room immediately stands out. Another option is to decorate with tiles the part of the wall where the TV will be installed. Large pebbles on the partitions transform the room into an original bedroom, and a wall made of this material with an artificial fireplace increases the comfort of the room.
Decorating kitchen walls with decorative stone is used to create an "apron" before the sink, highlight the dining area or erect vintage walls.
The bathroom is finished with stone due to the water-repellent properties of the artificial material. Bright stones with different textures look good here. In the bathroom, you should not finish all the walls, it is enough to arrange separate areas - a mirror, a sink, a shower. You can use medieval motives. The bathroom will turn out luxurious if you choose marble or granite tiles.
The most successful decorative stone fits into the interior of the hallway. This is the most visited room in the house. The room is distinguished by a large number of doorways, blank walls are not always there. Due to the small size in the hallway, it is not recommended to trim all walls with stone. The decorative stone of the wall in the hallway looks good in various combinations with other finishing materials: shell rock with small inclusions of corals together with a rough chip; stone wall of any texture plus stretch ceilings; a combination of rough stones with smooth tiles.
The most popular options are stones and a painted wall. In this case, it is necessary to select the color of the wall so that it looks harmonious in the interior. A surface made of stone looks good in combination with living lush vegetation, glass or metal in the presence of good lighting. In the hallway, the surface of the stones is often covered with a matte or semi-matt acrylic varnish to protect against accidental damage.
No winter garden is built without stone walls. In this room, the main factors are good lighting and the right colors of the stone:
- Rough light stones emphasize the airiness of the winter garden.
- If the drawings on the camps and the floor overlap, you will get a stylish and interesting room.
- Light stone walls in combination with brown window frames enhance the coziness of the conservatory.
Decorative stone wall decoration technology
Wall decoration with decorative stone is carried out in several stages. These are simple processes that differ little from decorating a wall with tiles. Let's consider the main points of stone laying technology.
Preparatory work before installing artificial stone
For the convenience of laying the stone and obtaining a beautiful surface, the base wall is carefully prepared. The pre-treatment of the wall is as follows:
- Clean the wall from old plaster, dust.
- Consider the location of electrical wires, sockets, switches and other electrical accessories.
- Check the flatness of the base wall, which should be less than 0.2 mm / m. It is not recommended to lay smooth stones on an uneven surface, this can affect the appearance of the coating.
- If the stones are rough, of different shapes and sizes, the unevenness of the wall is leveled by the texture of the building material. But the protruding tubercles should still be cut off.
- Seal cavities and cracks with a depth of more than 5 cm with plaster. After rough processing, the entire wall is leveled with putty.
- If necessary, level the entire wall or individual areas with plaster and reinforcing mesh. The more carefully the wall is finished, the easier it is to carry out the installation.
- The ideal solution for leveling a wall is plasterboard cladding.
- After finishing the surface in one plane, prime the wall with a solution intended for processing the material from which the partition is built.
Draw a sketch of the wall to scale and show the location of the tiles on it, taking into account its size, shape, presence or absence of seams, etc. According to the picture, you can determine the amount of a whole tile, corner, stone with special cuts. You can visit your friends, take a photo of a wall made of decorative stone and use it as a sample for creating your own picture.
Place the stones on the floor and create the pattern you plan to create on the wall. Thus, non-standard samples can be detected and rearranged to inconspicuous places.
With all the variety of artificial tiles, there is one way of fixing it - with glue. A properly prepared solution will fix the stone for a long time.
The decorative stone is fixed with a special tool for such building materials. To prepare the solution, the powder is poured into water, while stirring the mixture with a mixer. The proportions of powder and water are given in the instructions for the adhesive. Adhesive solutions are used to fix heavy and bulky stones.
Usually, the instructions for the means for fixing building materials describe how to glue the decorative stone on the walls. For fixing the tiles, other substances are also used - liquid nails (for small samples), glue for ceramic tiles, cement-sand mortar with the addition of PVA glue.
Laying decorative stone on the wall
The decorative stone compares favorably with its ease of installation. Use our tips for the correct fixing of the material to the wall:
- Inexperienced builders mark the wall with beacons and a cord before work. Lighthouses are special stones at the corners of the wall to which a cord is attached in a horizontal plane to create a base surface.
- When laying decorative stone on the wall, the upper end of the tile must coincide with the stretched cord. The glue is applied to the wall with a trowel and comb over the entire length of one row. They start laying tiles from the corner using one of three methods: special corner stones, which are more expensive than conventional samples, but the corner turns out to be beautiful and builds quickly; the tiles can be overlapped if the texture of the stone allows; the ends of the tiles are cut with a grinder at an angle of 45 degrees, the joints are beautiful, but the laying time increases.
- After forming the corner, the remaining stones are glued to the wall, pressing them to the already fixed elements. Fitting stones to size is carried out by cutting off excess parts with a grinder. The glue that is displaced by the samples must be removed quickly, otherwise it will spoil the appearance of the coating.
- To obtain a uniform seam, crosses are placed between the tiles.
- After fixing the first row, the beacons with a cord are raised to glue the next one. The top row is glued after the previous one has dried.
- It does not matter where to start gluing the tiles - from above or below, the strength of the masonry and the quality of the surface will not deteriorate. But if you start from the bottom, the glue can get on the already fixed tile.
- Some tiles need to be laid with an offset, for example, samples imitating a brick wall.
- After 2 days, the glue dries up and the gaps between the tiles can be repaired. To do this, use cement-glue mastic or putty.
- When chips, cracks and other defects are detected, they are masked with an airbrush. A solution for masking defects is prepared from acrylic varnish, water and a color additive.
- In some cases, the stones are covered with a protective layer, for example, a water-repellent substance, if the work was carried out in the bathroom.
Watch a video about decorating walls with decorative stone:
Decorative stone is not intended for continuous wall decoration, but it looks spectacular in combination with other types of coatings and when highlighting functional areas. Materials that are correctly selected and placed on the walls can turn a room into an exquisite space.
