You may have seen beautiful displays of veneer stone or natural stone on the walls of homes or businesses.
How can you tell the two apart?
What Is Veneer Stone?
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Cement lends stability to the product and iron oxides provide pigments.
Lightweight
Easy to cut
Easy to obtain
Homogeneous appearance
Color may fade
Brittle
What Is Natural Stone?
Natural stone can be wholly real in shape, such as rounded river stones.
Veneer stone can hold up its own weight, but it cannot carry additional weight.
Veneer stone is never used for flooring.
Real stacked stone is never found with veneer stone since veneer stone is just that: a veneer.
However, veneer stone can successfully mimic the look of stacked stone.
Natural stone can beused structurally, though this is becoming a rare practice in modern building.
When you want authentic stacked stone, you must use natural stone.
Some natural stone, such as slate, is too brittle for structural uses.
Natural stone, such astravertine, is commonlyused for pathways, flooring, and walls.
A sub-category calledthin stone veneerranges from 1-inch to 2-inch thick.
Veneer stone face sizes can be as large as 14 inches in diameter.
Veneer stone is about half the weight of natural stone of the same size.
Natural stone on the wide consumer market mostly comes in two sizes.
Though veneer, this is still 100-percent natural stone and measures about 3/4-inch to 1 3/4-inch thick.
Natural stone is far heavier than veneer stone.
Appearance and Color Fastness
Veneer stone’s colors can fade over time.
Inexpensive, inferior manufactured stone can be a tempting purchase, but often, its appearance is lacking.
Be sure to read the manufacturer’s specifications before purchasing and order samples.
With veneer stone, quality tends to be consistent.
Natural stone is never repetitive, and generally it has a pleasing appearance.
Quality can sharply vary, though.
In terms of installation, the main differences between manufactured veneer stone and natural stone are weight and density.
Manufactured stone is far easier to handle and to cut than natural stone because it is porous and lightweight.
Manufactured veneer stone lends itself to do-it-yourself installation more so than does natural stone.
Natural stone can be installed directly on porous concrete, stone, or block.
Grout is added between the stones.
Alternatively, the stones can go grout-free for a dry-stack appearance.
Natural stone cannot be installed on drywall or other thin materials.
Due to its density, natural stone is difficult to cut.
What Is Metal Lath?
Metal lath is generally a jot down of mesh made out of a metal sheet.
Should You Install Veneer Stone or Natural Stone?
Why use man-made veneer stone if the resulting product is more homogeneous than natural stone?
And why do this if the installation process is roughly the same between the two?
Predictability is one reason why DIYers prefer manufactured veneer stone over natural stone.
Manufactured veneer stone comes in predictable sizes that are easy to carry, cut, and hang.
For high-end or historically accurate installations, natural stone may be your best choice.
