How to Install Stone Veneer on the Front of Your House

UPDATED: Oct 21, 2024 1:26 PM EDT

Adding Stone to Front of House: A Guide

I am writing this article 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 compliment me on the new look and how great my home now looks.

Some even pulled up my driveway and asked for advice 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.

Exterior House Stone for Everyone!

I learned so much when I decided to install stone veneer on 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.

Prepare the Surface for the Stone Veneer

I had chosen two types of stone veneer for the different areas of my home. The preparation will vary depending on the application.

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, a fire retardant cement board was installed, covering the fireplace bezel and surrounding area where the stone veneer was to be installed.

The cement board usually comes in 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 boards in preparation for applying floor tiles over a wooden subfloor.

Home Exterior

The preparation was a little different. For the exterior of my home, I used manufactured stone. The big advantage of manufactured stone is it can be cut with a circular masonry 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 the stone, they can also come in various sizes and shapes; 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. Wherever 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.

Mixing the Cement for Stone Veneer

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 refers 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.

How to Mix Cement

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 the desired consistency 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.

Apply the Scratch Coat

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 the 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.

Install the Stone Veneer

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 surround. 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 really 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.

Cleaning the Stone Veneer

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 compliment 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.

Questions & Answers

Question: What did you do to prepare the brick before the stone veneer was added? Did you place any wire mesh or a scratch coat on the brick?

Answer: As long as the brick is clean, you can apply the veneer right over top. If the brick has any coating you would have to clean it with a brick cleaner solution, found at your local home improvement center.

Question: Did you have to prepare the painted stucco surface before applying the stone over it?

Answer: In this case, the stucco was not painted so no prep-work was required.

Question: I am beginning installation on the base of my house, under vinyl siding. The sills are heavy, did you support them first and did you install from the bottom up?

Answer: Definitely support them and install from the bottom up. I made a brace support using 2×4 wood studs,

Question: My builder applied the stone veneer but left a 6″ or more area under the lowest course. I know soil cannot touch with the bottom of the lowest course, but it looked strange having the gap under the stone to the soil 6″ plug under it. Any suggestions?

Answer: This is normal for sure. This is where your landscaping skills come into play. You can dig out a garden area for flowers, bushes, special lighting. Time to use your creative talents for sure. Check out on line resources too for ideas.

Question: How much did you spend on the exterior stone veneer?

Answer: it was several years ago now, but at the time I believe the cost was approx $3000 for the stone, and likely another $1000 for the cement and other materials.

Question: can scratch coat dry solid as long as the surface has been brushed (roughed up)?

Answer:

Yes, the scratch coat can definitely dry solid once the surface has been roughed up. It is important to rough up the scratch coat before it dries. Once it has been roughed up, it can be completely dry before applying the stone veneer.

Question: We were about to have ledgerstone installed on the front of our house and we had a heavy rain so my question is do we need to let the scratch coat dry prior to installing the stone?

Answer: You do not have to let it dry, moisture is good.

© 2011 Paul Cronin