Thinking about putting some Cultured Stone by Owens Corning or Eldorado Stone on my house near a heavily traveled walkway. Anybody had any long term info/experience on the fading characteristics of these products? I know you can’t power wash or scrape it as the color is only skin deep but how about normal everyday sun/kids/dogs/hose wash off. Don’t want to end up with a cement color after 10 years or so. Thanks.<!—-><!—-> <!—->
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
A standardized approach, quick-to-install hardware, and a simplified design make building custom casework cost-effective.
Featured Video
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
You need to go to a stone yard and look at what is available in the real thing. Half stone, precut corners, river rock precut, limestone from around the world. Get your monies worth or are u fixin to sell?
Edited 6/6/2008 2:47 pm ET by unionlabel
I think the warranty will give you a good idea of the life span.
Also, you haven't filled in your profile so I don't know where you are
but salt will eat that finish off pretty quick.
I'm inland in northern California so salt isn't an issue but just like the vinyl siding I'm replacing, I'm leery of a product that can't be painted if it gets stained. Eventually the area close to the ground along the walkway will get dirty and I want to make sure I can at least hose it off now and again. The warranty on the cultured stone is 50 years but does not cover staining and color fastness is at best a subjective evaluation for warranty purposes. I suppose I can seal it which would help but I don't know if I like the look of the sealed stone. The one picture I've seen of a sealed stone looked kind of shiny and "plastic".
There are products that seal with out that
varnish look.
Sometimes referred to as color enhancer.
Maybe some tile guy can speak up and give you a link. Well you can certainly hose it off if it gets dirty.
I know the warranty is subjective, but given the nature of
the product that is how long I trust it.
There's a stone manufacturer I've seen advertised locally that guarantees colorfastness forever... I can't for the life of me recall the name, but when I see the ad again I'll write it down and send it to you...
PaulB
I just had a look at the Owens-Corning website, http://www.culturedstone.com and I'm very impressed by the ledgestone product photos. They look a lot closer to the real thing than any man made stone facing I've seen in the past.
I can imagine featuring this product on one wall, exterior and interior, like an entry and foyer.
Do you have a general idea about price/sq.ft.?
Edited 6/7/2008 9:15 am by Hudson Valley Carpenter
I agree that ledgestone looks great. One thing to keep in mind is it is more time-consuming to lay up than some of the other shapes and, unlike some of the larger, flat profile artificial stones, like the riverstone shapes, it must be layed from the bottom up and is a little more time consuming to clean.I've had success in sealing artificial stone with Benjamen-Moore Clear concrete sealer. Others may have some other suggestions about sealers but the BM sealer is really durable and maintains it's "look" which is to enhance the color hues on the stone.The first job I did with artificial stone was about 12 years ago and there has been no evidence of color fade.And with a good sealer, it can be power-washed periodically with a 45 degree nozzle with good results. It may have to be resealed every 7 to 10 years....at least that's been my experience here in S. Oregon.I would agree with Frenchy about the "fake" appearance of some artificial stone products, but the ledgestone and shale types are pretty convincing.
I'm actually thinking of thier "stacked stone" (Eldorado stone calls it thier "pro fit" )since I don't have much (any) experience with stone work and I like the look of it.
Tomski57
The short answer is yes!
Plus it clearly looks like cultured stone and not the real thing. Over say Vinyl siding or other fake siding products it's an improvement but nothing like the real thing..
why do people comment and not answer the question?
the answer is yes the fake stone fades in hard sun light. speaking to the dealer or reading the warranty is not an answer!
came here for a fix for my faded stone, i can hold the warranty next to the stone but the stone can't read.
c'mon who has an fix...
fading fake stone
Yes it fades. Yes no one stays on topic. No one yet has answered this issue on the internet. Still looking.
Could be called fake stone's dirty little secret.
I agree it fades. We had several boxes of "mountain ledge" we got for free, not enought to really do much so we used it for facing some garden edging. I still had some left over that I stored in the shed. It is very apparent whick one was out in the sun and which was in the shed.
We are into another project right now and we are going with a natural stone product that works much the same way but will last forever.
http://nsvi.com/stones.iml?Cat=15
cultured stone - fading
For the cost of cultured stone there are now the real stone applications available
same idea with precut sizes and corners. Many colors and materials
No fading
on the other hand . . .
It may look fine when used indoors. We have cultured stone (flintstone) surrounding our fireplace and it looks fine (well, the same* at least) after 21 years.
*It will never look like genuine stone, but the color doesn't look like concrete.