Give Your Home a New Look with Stone Wall Cladding
If you are looking to improve your home’s visual appeal, add value to your humble abode and spruce up your dull walls with something fancy, wall cladding is the most cost-effective and simple (to a degree) way to start your renovation project.
In this article we will look at the types of wall cladding available, review their particular features and benefits and share the best ways you can use them in your home.
But first things first…
What is Wall Cladding?
Wall cladding is a thin layer of natural stone with a flat backing, making it easy to adhere to a retaining wall, planter box, the outside wall of your home and any other flat surface. Wall cladding, compared to building a wall with natural stones from scratch, is a simpler and more cost-effective way of decorating a dull wall and transforming it into a stunning feature piece. As well as adding beauty to your home, another benefit of installing wall cladding is that it protects the wall from environmental factors and varying weather conditions that can cause damage and deterioration.
Wall Cladding is available in a variety of colours, textures and types of natural stone: there is literally something to suit everyone’s tastes from modern to traditional homes.
The reason so many designers and architects gravitate towards natural stones is that they add a timeless appeal and organic look that is equally striking when installed inside and outside. In this sense, natural stone is extremely versatile and there is something to match a variety of tastes in design, not to mention that natural stones are quite durable and long-lasting.
To make the installation process even easier, you can invest in matching corner and capping pieces. These will enhance the finishing touches to your wall’s design and enhance the aesthetic of your overall space.
Before investing in your wall cladding, it’s important to know which form would best suit your home. There are four types available and below we will review how they differ.
Organic free-form cladding, when installed, looks like the wall was assembled by random stones found around the house. Essentially organic free-form cladding is made of loose pieces of stone with naturally occurring split surfaces and chipped edges. These individual pieces are assembled in a jigsaw-like manner to create the final masterpiece. Organic free-form cladding gives you, the renovator, more flexibility with creating your desired effect for your feature walls, retaining walls, fireplaces and other projects.
To enhance your wall’s finish with a classy and natural touch, our free-form cladding is available with matching full corner pieces. Each stone piece also has a sawn back, which allows for easy and quick adhesion to your substrate.
In a nutshell, sky’s the limit with free-form cladding!
The only word of caution we will offer here is doing your due diligence to find an expert installer who not only knows how to work with organic free-form cladding, but also has an eye for design and detail. Once it comes together, an organic free-form cladded wall is truly a piece of art so you want to make sure that it is installed by someone who appreciates this craftsmanship enough, to do it the right way.
Z-Panel Interlocking Cladding:
Like the name suggests, Z-Panels are Z-shaped stone panels.The beauty of this particular wall cladding product lies in its simplicity to install whilst also resembling an authentic stonemason’s drywall.
Our Z-Panel wall cladding range is manufactured overseas and includes multiple small pieces of natural stone assembled together on a concrete backing.
This is definitely a more ‘do it yourself’ type of cladding and the trick is to make sure your vertical lines don’t line up. You want to steer clear of this so that the final design doesn’t look unnatural.
In terms of installation, Z-Panels are very easy to install. Simply apply glue to the back of each stone panel and then apply the glue to your substrate and off you go! In next to no time, you will have your completed cladded area.
While there are a variety of z-panel stone offerings, the ones we have found to be the most popular are Rustic Granite, Mica Schist and Toad Limestone.
If you love a wall styled like a mosaic, then individual crazy wall cladding is definitely for you! This type of wall cladding is made of a mix of small and large pieces that, when assembled together, create a unique design. As such, this is a very versatile form of wall cladding.
Preparing to install geometrical crazy wall cladding can be challenging because you need to have an eye for the bigger picture. Actually installing the stones is a fairly straightforward process because each crazy paving stone is attached to a mesh backing, allowing each tile to interlock with its surrounding pieces and be simply glued to the suitable substrate. If you need to create a unique sculpted stone, you can chip away at it to shape it accordingly.
If you want to create a modern and cutting edge look for a modern or contemporary home, geometrical crazy wall cladding is ideal! We have this wall cladding available in a variety of materials including Quartzite, Bluestone and Slate. These are durable and hard-wearing natural stones so they will be able to stand the test of time, look exquisite and protect your wall in the process.
Classic stacked stone panels are ready-to-install stone veneers where each individual stone is glued onto a panel and the final product has a 3D appearance that resembles natural stone. When installed, classic stacked stone wall cladding creates a beautiful and eye-catching feature wall.
Along with feature walls, this type of wall cladding is also used to decorate fireplaces and water features.
Stacked stone wall cladding panels are manufactured in a light-weight manner in panels that are 600x150mm in size. If you want to give your wall a ‘complete’ stone-wall look, we have stacked stone wall cladding panels available as corner pieces. To install, simply glue each panel to the wall like you would do when installing tiles and you’re ready to go!
Easy to install, beautiful and strong: classic stack stones are definitely a cost-effective way to build a stand-out feature wall.
Now that you know the four different types of stone cladding available to you,
let’s review where you can install it in your home for maximum effect:
1. Home Exteriors – Wall cladding can spruce up a bland front wall of a house with a cutting edge contemporary look and – depending on the type of stone used – it can add a unique vibe to the wall. For example, sandstone adds a warm and welcoming façade, while grey bluestone is much cooler in tone and exudes a more sophisticated presence.
2. Interior Walls – A stone clad feature wall in a study or conservatory adds a sense of sophistication to the space which can boost productivity. Meanwhile, adding stone cladding in an entrance hall or corridor is an excellent way to extend the exterior of the home into the interior design, blending inside and outside in a seamless manner.
3. Fireplaces – Stone cladding is ideal for decorating the walls around fireplaces and barbecues as it adds a depth and primal appeal with its raw and natural texture, to what would otherwise be a flat and un-captivating wall.
4. Garden Walls – When decorating your garden substrates, wall cladding can serve as a landscape feature in its own right or as a natural backdrop to the garden or a water feature. Wall cladding adds an elegance to low retaining walls around gardens or sloping grounds.
5. Floors – If you want to add a rustic look to your kitchen floors or narrow hallways, stone cladding is an excellent way to create the illusion of space. As a durable and easy-to-clean material, it’s the perfect solution for those areas that are prone to high traffic.
In Summary
As your home is the place where you and your family spend the most part of the day, both physically and emotionally, it’s important that it is designed in such a way that brings you joy and peace.
If you feel it’s time to upgrade your dull walls with the beauty and texture of wall cladding, you deserve to do so! Remember, you’re not just adding value to your home: you’re adding value to your life as well.
If you have questions about the types of wall cladding available or would like to order your panels, please reach out to us at 1300 560 560 or online.
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