Stone Skirting

[CPA]

I was thinking of making a stone skirting for our home by framing out some hardiboard and cementing thin stones on top of it. We have 25 acres of rock out here so there's no shortage of materials!

Has anyone done this and can they give me some helpful hints?

Jeff
www.tastyvenison.com/Rancho_Pequeno.htm

[Maureen]

Hi Jeff,

I know there are quite a few folks that have brick skirting on the board here. Maybe they can help.

Just remember to figure in plenty of areas to get down under when ya have to! More than one or two is always very handy. Also, make sure that you have venting and make sure that you can close the venting in the Winter. Venting and access are the most important parts of the project!

Maureen

[CPA]

Thanks for the recommendations. I will make certain to include a couple of access points and plenty of venting.

Is there a standard vent that I can build into the skirt facade?

[Yanita]

Hi CPA,

Mark sells some automatic vents in the book/parts link above.

As for the application you want to try I really can not see any reason why it would not work.

Should you do it please take lots of pics and let us see!

~Yanita~

[CPA]

I think I will be trying the stone facade. I have to design my frames to allow for some slope in the property and I am contemplating some cement pads to work off of.

For certain I will take lots of pictures. My web site is loaded with pictures of the entire process we have been going through in the total refurbishing of this unit.

We are particularly pleased with how the tile job on the kitchen island and counter tops came out. It was a ton of work but looks wonderful.

Jeff
www.tastyvenison.com/rancho_pequeno.htm

[JD]

Hey Jeff,

I know you have endless supply of stone but have you considered products like Z-brick and Brick-it? Z-brick has a stone front that is white random shaped stone. These products are 1/2" thick cultured stone and brick faces which use a lot of vermiculite in their mix, making the bricks very light weight. There are granular latex adhesives that have a true mortar look. This stuff would work well with the Hardiboard siding for backing.

http://www.z-brick.com/

http://www.brickit.com/stoneType.asp

As a side note, about 30 years ago, I built a 30' tall wall about 100' long to enclose the back of the Z-brick plant in Washington state. This was a 22' tall wall built on top of an 8' cinderblock wall. Quite the experience.

JD

[CPA]

That stuff looks pretty nice. Any idea of how pricey it is?

Approx cost per square foot?

[JD]

No idea of the cost. I have seen installations of it before and the brick stuff looked just like full sized brick. I would think it would be a lot cheaper than brick since it is made approx the same except with the vermiculite filler, lot's smaller, less freight and is packaged for handling. You probably would want to find the product that you could go pick up locally. Let us know what you find out, OK?

JD