How to Install Veneer Rock

Lightweight veneer rock is easier to install than heavy rock.

Veneer rock adds the look of stone to your home for a fraction of the cost of thick-slab stone. Installing thin veneer rock is less labor-intensive than installing heavy stone, but the amount of preparation required to keep the stone adhered to the wall remains the same. A painted or a dirty wall will not allow the mortar to bond. This causes the veneer rock to bow from the wall, and the veneer will fail eventually.

Things You'll Need

• Pressure washer
• Natural citrus paint remover
• 4-inch paintbrush
• Metal paint scraper
• Roll of vapor barrier
• Swing staple gun
• Utility knife
• 18-gauge metal lath
• 2-inch framing or concrete nails
• Claw hammer
• Washed sand
• Portland cement
• Wheelbarrow
• Hoe
• Smooth trowel
• Sponge
• Water-filled plastic bucket
• Grout bag

Instructions

1. Clean the wall, starting at the top, with a pressure washer. Avoid spraying mud onto the wall as you spray along the bottom of the wall.

2. Apply a natural citrus paint stripper to the wall with a 4-inch paintbrush if the wall is painted. Allow the paint stripper to absorb into the paint. Scrape the paint from the wall with a metal paint scraper when the paint bubbles away from the surface of the wall.

3. Pressure-wash the wall to remove remaining loose paint. If the paint does not remove from the wall or if you are installing the veneer rock onto a framed wall, secure a vapor barrier to the wall with a swing stapler, cutting the barrier as needed with a utility knife.

4. Unroll the 18-gauge metal lath. Nail the lath over the vapor barrier-protected wall with 2-inch wood nails for framed walls or 2-inch concrete nails for a painted masonry wall with a claw hammer. Install the nails every 6 inches.

5. Pour two parts washed sand to one part Portland cement into a wheelbarrow. Add water and mix thoroughly with a hoe until the mortar has the consistency of whipped potatoes. Apply a 1/4-inch- to 1/2-inch-thick layer of mortar to the metal lath with a smooth trowel. Place horizontal scratches in the mortar with a scrap piece of lath. Allow the mortar to cure for 24 hours. Wash the wheelbarrow with clean water to keep excess mortar from curing.

6. Pour and mix two parts washed sand to one part Portland cement to a consistency of whipped potatoes in a wheelbarrow, using a hoe.

7. Soak a sponge in a water-filled bucket. Wet the cured scratch-coat wall and wash the backside of the veneer stone with the wet sponge.

8. Apply a thin coat of mortar to the back of the veneer rock, using the trowel. Press the veneer rock onto the scratch coat near the top of the wall with a slight twisting motion. Clean and apply mortar to each piece of veneer stone until the wall is covered with the material.

9. Remove mortar from the face of the veneer rock with a damp sponge.

10. Fill a grout bag with mortar. Apply mortar to the gaps between the installed veneer rocks. Tool the mortar with a damp sponge until you achieve the desired joint finish.

11. Clean all mortar from the surface of the veneer stone before it cures, using the sponge.

References

• Rolling Rock Building Stone, Inc: How to Install Natural Thin Stone Veneer