Stone Veneer

[Danny Pritchard]

Looked at this new home today.The first picture is the stone wall.The 2nd shows no mortar joints between the stone. The 3rd shows pressure treated plywood behind the shutter.The mortar base butts the plywood.I know this picture is hard to see.

The rest of the home is stucco which has been stopped above grade.The stone goes down to the ground.

I don't like the plywood behind the shutter or lack of flashing above the window and at the plywood.I'm not sure about the lack of mortar joints.

Any thoughts?

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[kurt]

Is this adhered mfg. stone? It looks like it. That would make a difference in what I had to say about it.

[Danny Pritchard]

Kurt,

Yes it is.

[Brian G]

The lack of mortar joints is no problem with manufactured stone, they call it "dry stack". My house is covered in it. There should be a thin coat of mortar behind it (filling nailed-down galvanized screen), but that's all it needs.

I agree about the plywood behind the shutter. It won't last forever. I would have capped it with metal flashing, like the aluminum they use in conjunction with vinyl siding.

I can't tell much about the window.

Brian G.

[kurt]

Basically what Brian said; the stuff is kind of hard to mess up too badly.

Even if it was real stone, drystacking can be wonderful if you know what you are doing. I built an entire house on St. John, USVI, w/drystacked stone. Given the lousy workmanship of most of the masonry I see, drystacking looks better to me anyway.

The plywood behind the shutter (w/no flashing) is sloppy, but if there is a decent eave overhang above the window that provides minimal protection, it will probably perform adequately.

[Paul MacLean]

A couple of months ago I inspected a house that had dry stack stone on some walls and mortared stone on others. I wrote it because I was able to stick my screwdriver completely through the drystack stone (about 6"). The builder yelled "drystack" because of my report until I mentioned the screwdriver penetration. Never heard anything else about it.