Stone Cladding

Stone cladding is a thin layer of stone or simulated stone applied to a building or other structure made of a material other than stone. Stone cladding is sometimes applied to concrete and steel buildings as part of their original architectural design.

Stone cladding often refers to lightweight simulated stone products with a concrete type base. These stone cladding products are often fitted to light weight substrates to reduce the material cost of construction.

A lightweight substrate would typically be a timber stud frame, it would then have a waterproof barrier attached, then fibre cement sheet, expanded metal mesh, a mortar scratch coat, and then using a mortar mix, the stone cladding would be adhered to the wall. A detailed example of typical (Australian) stone cladding installation. In the USA, a typical installation on a lightweight substrate would use ply bracing as an alternative to fibre cement sheet. An example of the typical (USA) stone cladding installtion method

Stone cladding can also be a natural stone that has been quarried and then cut into thin pieces to reduce weight. These heavier style stone cladding products often need mechanical fixing to be adhered to substrates. Mechanical fixing could be using shelf angles, or perhaps a product called stone clip.

Retrofitting stone cladding (particularly to brick-built homes in terraced developments) can be regarded as inappropriate where it makes properties appear out of character with their surroundings.