Hi, all.

My wife and I are revamping our master bedroom this spring. As part of that we are throwing around the idea of adding some faux stone panels to one of the walls in our bedroom. Our home has some stonework on a few sections of the exterior, and we also have stonework on the floor-to-ceiling fireplace. We're thinking out continuing that theme on one wall in the bedroom.

Does anyone happen to have experience with doing this? There appears to be several brands of stone panels and different methods of installation. The wall we'd be installing these on is an interior drywalled wall that is painted.

Any recommendations for specific brands that are good to go, or specific installation methods, do's and dont's? I've watched a few videos and it sounds like a pretty straightforward DIY project. Thanks for your time!

Chris

We have specified a few of them but I think I like Coronado stone the best.

I believe you'd either need to tear out your drywall and replace with cement backer board OR you could put up a metal lath over your drywall and then a scratch coat and then mortar to that. If you don't use lath, you need to use a particular kind of mortar (polymerized) which gives it some flex to resist cracking.

Would I really need to tear out drywall and replace with cement backer board, and/or use mortar? I've seen videos of just applying directly over the drywall with special adhesive and nails.

quote:

Originally posted by Chris17404:
Would I really need to tear out drywall and replace with cement backer board, and/or use mortar? I've seen videos of just applying directly over the drywall with special adhesive and nails.

Perhaps there are products that you can do that with. I guess I'm not familiar with those.

If installing directly on drywall, perhaps add additional drywall screws to make sure drywall is really secure to studs.

Seems like a lot of weight to be held up with drywall. I’d probably feel better with the backer board. I’m looking to install some of this on the exterior entryway.

Guys, the OP said faux stone. I think most of this stuff is foam so weight shouldn’t be an issue. Adhesion could be….

We used a faux stone to do our fireplace. We put it over plywood that had a mesh wire covering. A type of mortar adhesive was used. Don't kid yourself, this stuff is fairly heavy. I have a 3X2 foot box left over in the basement and I can barely lift it.

But then I'm old.

quote:

Originally posted by Bassamatic:
We used a faux stone to do our fireplace. We put it over plywood that had a mesh wire covering. A type of mortar adhesive was used. Don't kid yourself, this stuff is fairly heavy. I have a 3X2 foot box left over in the basement and I can barely lift it.

But then I'm old.

We just finished a fireplace on frame we used cement board and mortar mix. It really depends on what type of faux stone you use. Go by their instructions. My stone was heavy.

quote:

Originally posted by Ozarkwoods:

We just finished a fireplace on frame we used cement board and mortar mix. It really depends on what type of faux stone you use. Go by their instructions. My stone was heavy.

Your fireplace came out very nice. Here is a pic of ours.

Guys we've done this many times in the homes we've built. DO NOT use drywall. You can either use a cement board or OSB with roofing felt on top followed by a lathe coat.

The fake stone I'm used to seeing is made out of concrete. It is not light weight material. And if the substrate deflects the mortar will crack and the "stones" will fall off.

There are two different categories of the faux stone- first as the OP asked about, panels that range in size that are made out of a polyurethane material. These can usually be intalled via screw directly over existing drywall for interior non-wet/humid locations. The other would be the individual faux stones that need to be installed in a more similar fashion as if was actual stone or brick. As mentioned having a solid substrate is key, just follow manufacturers recommendations.

Thanks for all the feedback and recommendations! Appreciate it. Here's the type of faux stone panel we are considering installing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGMmwVYnMCE

It's nice to see Ron Hazelton again! Looks like a pretty easy DIY project. Now to decide on the exact style of stone...