Façade stone is a fantastic, universal decorative product that has many advantages. First and foremost: the stone is a natural, solid building material. This means it will last for an eternity.
Natural stone cladding is a process of applying durable stone to a given surface. Whether it’s slate, greywacke, quartzite, granite or gneiss, the point is to enhance the beauty of a surface, at the same time providing it with that reliable durability, a known quality of stone. Almost every rock is incredibly resistant to moisture, frost or fluctuating, drastic temperature changes. Most importantly, a stone never loses its beautiful colour, so even with exterior stone cladding, the exposure to sun and UV light will not damage the surface.
Of course, it would be too ideal if every stone out there boasted such amazing physical properties. Some rocks are exempt from the aforementioned attributes, unfortunately being of slightly inferior quality.
Sandstones, limestones, marbles or travertines for example. This material can be used in construction and in the form of decorative stone, but sadly not in the form of external stone cladding. Marble, travertine and sandstone are porous rocks with a lot of natural pores. This excludes them from being used as natural façade-exterior stone. After all, a bit of absorption and a fluctuating change of temperatures may cause the water to expand inside the stone, splitting it apart or making vulnerable to chipping & breaking.
These rocks are neither frost resistant. Of course you can use appropriate sealants or impregnators to protect these materials, but this is only feasible in outlet centres or patios. If you utilise them for bigger projects, but above all exterior stone cladding, they might not last. Impregnation with special agents can also be a very expensive and repeated over and over again. At this point it’s far more affordable to utilise a more durable exterior stone cladding.
Natural stone tiles are a much better material for facades than artificial stone equivalents. As already mentioned, natural stone wall cladding is far more durable, beautiful and has better physical properties such as scratch resistance and frost resistance. You may apply natural stone to buildings, pavements, stairs or any surface imaginable, indoor or outdoor. There are endless possibilities.
Façade stone imitations are usually composed of cement or concrete that’s properly coloured. One advantage of this material is the price. Tiles imitating natural stone cladding for walls are a little bit cheaper than true, organically sourced stone, but in the end, the imitations grant us a max lifespan of roughly 2-3 seasons. After that time the risk of colour fading and quality loss increase by twofold. Real stone cladding is slightly more expensive, but it is installed once and remains in that state for generations, exactly as it was mounted on the day of fitting.
We make stone cladding in Manchester, Cheshire, and all surrounding areas.
