Natural and Faux Stone Exterior Siding

Natural and Faux Stone Siding for Your Home

Natural stone siding is perhaps the most attractive and appreciated siding material available. Natural stone comes in an amazing variety of colors and textures. Stone looks great when combined with other materials and is often used as accent with lesser expensive siding. Stone is incredibly durable and like brick typically lasts the life of the building. Stone requires very little maintenance and if a repair is needed it will likely be the mortar and not the stone that is in need.

Natural stone is a heavy material of course and this adds certain complications to it's installment. Having the material transported to the house is certainly a more troublesome and expensive operation than most other materials. But more importantly the building will have to have additional support built into it in order to withstand the additional weight. Natural stone is definitely a higher end siding materials and thus you will need to be prepared to spend on the upper end of the siding cost scale.

Due to the cost of natural stone it has never held a large share of the market. In fact the added expense of the material is likely it's only downside. One answer to the cost concerns is to use natural stone but as a veneer. Thin slices of natural stone are now sold reducing the cost and of course the weight of the material. Natural stone veneer is typically about 1 inch thick, compare that to the 6-8 inch thick natural stone and you can see a huge savings of weight.

Natural Stone:

Longevity: Life of the building

Maintenance: Hose washing 1-2 times a year, possible mortar repair much later.

Cost: Much higher than average

If you love the look of stone but natural stone and veneer seem out of your price range than faux stone siding may be the right alternative. Faux Stone Siding has been around for a number of years but has been gaining in popularity particularly in the last decade. The added popularity can be traced to the increasingly natural and realistic appearance of the faux stone. In many cases you may have to even touch the material to determine if it is natural stone or man made. Faux stone can be made to look like almost any style of stone siding, in fact faux stone molds are typically made using natural stone. It is a long lasting material like natural stone, is much lighter and easier to install. Long term maintenance of faux stone may be even less than natural stone another big selling point for consumers.

Faux stone typically runs about half the cost of natural stone. Even at half the cost faux stone is not an inexpensive material and is between the middle and upper end of siding costs .

Faux Stone:

Longevity: Life of the building

Maintenance: Hose washing 1-2 times a year.

Cost: Higher than average

If you're looking for more low maintenance siding options consider looking at brick , vinyl , stucco or seamless steel

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