# Forum Home Renovation Brickwork  Facing Bricks and Stone Veneer  -  15-20mmm thick?

## seriph1

Hi All 
Just wondering if anyone knows who makes/supplies facing bricks (not sure what they're really called) that can be applied like tiles to a substrate, to look like full size brick ..... would need corner bricks as well  
Also, I am looking for truly convincing 'stone' veneer  -  I have found an excellent sandstone looking applied product, but am also interested in exploring how to get a more random look with manufactured stone veneer products that are available in Australia. (all pics except the sandstone are from US firms) 
any clues/ideas much appreciated

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## autogenous

Hi Seriph 
I think youd be looking at mushrooms. The images you are showing are commonly referenced as rock face.  
Generally the term for random is a 2,3 or 4 part random.  
The product you have chosen appears synthetic or reconstituted so I don't think you can alter the sizes easily.
I dont know of anyone in your state. Do Boral do some in a random? 
Your probably looking at a 40mm external width.

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## stone

Hi Seriph, read your question re artificial/reconstituted stone. There are a lot of companies who manufacture stone cladding. Most are in the States, a couple are here in Oz. Almost all of them make a lightweight product using crushed pumice as aggregate, with cement. One or two add waterproofing agents. The Australian manufacturers use a locally sourced aggregate, a lightweight scoria, in different grades of sand size agg.
Generally the product weighs around 35 to 50kg/m2. Of course, the weight of the mud to lay it on the wall has to be counted in the over-all weight, when factoring the ability of the wall to hold the weight.
The stone can be laid on walls made of brick, concrete block, and even over timber stud frames. I laid random rubble manufactured stone to a whole house near Goulburn, NSW, out in the country. The owners wanted the house to look like an original stone house in the area. It does.I will try to send pics of it, and other manufactured stone profiles I have laid, if I can work out how to put them on the forum.
Some manufacturers are;
Cultured Stone- USA, and sold here in Australia, head office in Melbourne.
Craftstone- Singapore. Lighter in weight, less convinving, cheaper.
Email me if you intend to go ahead with the project. There are a lot of things to be aware of.
Stone

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## seriph1

thanks for replying  -  the projects are definitely getting further research as I am undertaking it for bushfire affected regions. The products I am familiar with are Eldorado stone out of the US and country stone out of Sydney. I see Hoobler stone around a lot and find it unconvincing. Pics one and two are country stone and it looks great up close but being a sandstone look, isnt always appropriate for Victorian homes. 
It seems to come down to how good the maker is at emulating accurate colouring, the aggregate size and the number of moulds used .... country stone has 8 I believe, which makes 16 once you turn them upside down etc. I have now thought through various ways of making them as good as possible, but am keen to know more before committing to something that won't deliver  -  our people in this area need stuff that will work, not more disappointment. 
Clearly, design of the building is critical, but also how the stone is laid and pointed. The ultimate aim is to build what for all intents and purposes looks like an old cow-cocky's homestead in rendered stone so the more 'finished' stone is gaining interest. But I do love that home in pic three and think it would sit on our region's landscape nicely.

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## pawnhead

G'day Steve
I was going to use that Country Stone on a job about five years ago, but the client went for render to save a few dollars. I got them to send me a sample, and it was quite convincing. It was just a tile the size of a house brick, but it was uniform in colour. There's no striations or colour differentiation in it. 
Here's some pics of some tiles I made myself for my barbie here;      
They've gone a bit mouldy in the weather, but I reckon that adds to the character. I could clean them up with a hose and scrubbing brush if I wanted. I made a straight mould to cast four blocks at a time, and a corner mould, 200 X 200 X 400 X 35mm thick, filled it with yellow brickies sand, scraped it 10mm shy of the top of the mould (using a straight stic with a small 10mm block attached), pressed a 'bull' into it using a piece of rock, then filled it level with a mix of yellow brickies sand and off-white cement. I was going to experiment with oxides, and striations but I didn't get around to it. I could have left a 10mm gap between the tiles to appear like a mortar joint (in which case you'd have to make the corner moulds 190 X 190 X 400 X 35, and the straight ones 190 X 400 X 35) but I have dry joint stonework flower boxes nearby so I wanted to maintain a dry joint look. The 'lintel block' tile over the door openings was cast in one piece after I removed the dividers from my multiple straight block mould. The slab on top was poured afterwards, and when it was dry, I just cut some grooves in the top to line up with the 'block' joints so it looks like they're solid 400 X 200 X 200 blocks. I'm going to stick that gas bottle underneath when I get a nice shiny new barbie, or I may get a mains gas connection eventually. 
Of course there's a bit of time involved in making them yourself, but it costs next to nothing, and time wasn't an issue for me.

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## seriph1

Thanks for showing me what can be done by a gifted DIY'er ... very interesting! As we have a solid render expert (period exteriors, trained in the UK) as well as a stone mason (again UK trained on period buildings) I am going to look into some locally made blockwork  -  I went to DESIGNEX yesterday and again saw cultured stone and Eldorado stone  -  these people really do themselves a disservice displaying small squares of the material, but I feel for them as it would be hard to work out how to show their stuff off to the best advantage  -  personally, I'd display A2 or even A1 posters of finished jobs, or better yet have a 60 inch Plasma scrolling through the finished jobs. Considering the applied stone is coloured concrete I am honestly impressed with it, but it still doesn't really look like stone to me..... this is probably because by the way they display it, it clearly isnt stone  -  I dunno. 
The hunt continues! Oh and we also have a concrete block maker in the next town (big plant) so the possibilities are starting to emerge.

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## pawnhead

I was looking into this a while ago, and there's a guy who specialises in making artificial rock for ponds and steps. He sells a 'how to' guide for DIYers as well, but I can't find the link now. I suppose I could search a bit harder if I wanted. 
Have you looked at Craft Stone? (4Mb pdf)
They look pretty convincing from the photos.

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## stumpjumper

There's an Australian company that supplies WA Limestone (Moore River Limestone) in various thicknesses and finishes, plus corners. 
My own preference would be for real stone rather than reconstituted 'stone', unless there is an unnacceptable cost penalty. 
Have a look at http://www.adelaidestone.com.au/products.htm

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## stumpjumper

Seriph1, unless the cost blows the budget, I'd go for real rather than reconstituted stone. 'WA Limestone' should be available in Melbourne. It's supplied in SA by Adelaide Stone:  http://www.adelaidestone.com.au/products.htm 
There are veneer and dimension (building) stone thicknesses, and corners in real stone.

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## seriph1

would be keen to know more  -  thanks for the link too  -  I looked at craft stone and am pretty sure it is the same as cultured stone, which is a nice product. I am thinking of making some of my own seeing as it looks like this stuff is more than $140 PSM!

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## pawnhead

> I am thinking of making some of my own seeing as it looks like this stuff is more than $140 PSM!

  I used 'bricktor' reinforcement in my tiles, pushing it into the wet mortar about 5mm. The sample I got from Country Stone didn't have any reinforcement in it, but I thought it was better safe than sorry, especially with the corner blocks. I left them in the moulds for two days, then gently prised the  the corners of the moulds apart slightly to break the bond, before turning it over (holding a sheet against it to stop the tiles from dropping out and breaking) and lifting the mould off. I swept all the sand off them and collected it for re-use.  
Concrete and cement mortar gets stronger quite rapidly over the first few weeks up till about 21 days (the usual minimum time required before stripping support away from a suspended concrete slab) when it starts tapering off, but it keeps gaining strength for decades at a reducing rate. Bear in mind that for the first few days the tiles will be much more fragile than when they are fully cured.

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## autogenous

> There's an Australian company that supplies WA Limestone (Moore River Limestone) in various thicknesses and finishes, plus corners. 
> My own preference would be for real stone rather than reconstituted 'stone', unless there is an unnacceptable cost penalty.

  About $40 - 60$ pm2 (30mm) " if " you look around. Having it transported to the Eastern Seaboard might add a bit of cost.

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## seriph1

BY the look of the documentation on the limestone firm's site, the cladding material is diamond cut, therefore smooth face ... maybe not but that's what it looks like to me so it wouldn't be the type of thing I am looking for. Bummer

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## stumpjumper

I think you'll be pushing to find reconstituted or moulded stone in rough/quarry finish cladding rather than solid stone.

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## autogenous

> BY the look of the documentation on the limestone firm's site, the cladding material is diamond cut, therefore smooth face ... maybe not but that's what it looks like to me so it wouldn't be the type of thing I am looking for. Bummer

  You want quarry face which they dont supply.  :Smilie:

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## Jackson

[S]Our company can supply the brick veneer that you need.
[/S] *Banned Spammer*

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## seriph1

Jackson  -  OK.... please send me a PM so I can get your contact details

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## watson

G'day Steve,
Its a long way to get 'em from China mate, Jackson is a banned spammer, and a software glitch is leaving some banned posts up and viewable.
Will be fixed soon.

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