Modern style interiors often contain materials that have natural textures, since the use of natural wood, stone and brick is not affordable for everyone. Decorative stones are placed on the wall to endow the atmosphere with respectability, and the variety of shapes and color palettes allows them to be used in all sorts of stylistic design directions. Like any building material, decorative stones have their own installation features and product selection rules. What does a layman who decides to bring natural decoration to his interior need to know?
Types of artificial products
Limited natural resources and difficult ways to process them make natural building materials expensive. And the desire of people to equip premises in an eco-style does not fade away. What did they come up with to replace natural materials for wall cladding? Decorative stone effect tiles are a modern solution for decorating walls orindividual elements of the room. So, brickwork has become a familiar decoration of apartments from the inside.
The artificial cladding material is made from gypsum, cement, sand and various additives. The output is a product that is not inferior in its performance characteristics to a natural analogue. Outwardly, it is difficult for a non-professional to distinguish, for example, a decorative gypsum stone from sandstone or slate.
Popular textures of artificial building materials are imitation of slate, brick and wild masonry. There are also products for internal and external work. The thickness of the stone varies from 1 to 8 cm. Depending on the purpose of the material, it is also used for flooring and landscaping.
Material quality
In order not to make a mistake and achieve the desired effect of a noble interior or exterior, it is necessary to carefully study the decorative stone offered on the market, the price of which, although lower than for natural material, is not so small as to neglect the quality.
The front side of the product should not contain black blotches. These are such micropores formed during improper casting. Through these holes, during operation, water gets inside the material, and when the temperature drops, which is typical for cases of external use of decorative stones, it expands. As a result - cracking of the plates.
When choosing a decorative stone for interior decoration, one shouldcompare the texture of products with the size of the premises. Small textures (slate) can visually expand the space, and such as brick look great on large areas.
Important! The material is supplied in packs, it is packaged in 1 square meter. A sign of quality is the absence of externally repeating stones in one batch. But the size of the tiles must be the same.
Basic mounting rules
Laying decorative stone provides for the implementation of some installation rules:
- Facade cladding starts from warping with an indent of 10 cm. If you lay the tiles without fulfilling this condition, you can expect that in winter, after the ground freezes, the lower masonry products will disappear. When interior finishing the entire wall, you also need to remember about the indentation for the plinth.
- The base and back of the product must be treated with concrete contact, primer or other similar solutions for better adhesion. A metal mesh should be stuffed onto brick and wooden walls and covered with cement mortar, and then treated with soil. Decorative stones are laid on the wall after the plaster mixtures have completely dried.
- The adhesion of the material to the base occurs through special adhesives recommended by manufacturers of artificial stones.
- Processing the facing with a water repellent is mandatory. This is a tool that protects the porous structure of the stone from moisture.
Tool
Laying artificial material does not require any special tools. For cladding you will need:
- level;
- roulette;
- cord for installing horizontal beacons;
- metal brush;
- electric drill with a mixer for the preparation of grout and adhesive solutions;
- paint brush;
- trowel;
- Bulgarian;
- rubber mallet;
- Syringe gun for filling stitches;
- wood rods, approximately 12 mm thick.
Some of the listed tools may not be used when working with a seamless method.
Styling Tips
Decorative stone tile is mounted on a prepared wall. As with wallpapering or ceramic tiling, the substrate must be even. Although artificial material is lighter than natural, it still creates a large load on the wall. Therefore, facing plasterboard partitions with decorative stone is not recommended. It is better to replace them with OSB sheets, on which the material is easily mounted with liquid nails.
Works are carried out at positive temperatures. On particularly hot days, it is necessary to moisten the wall and the back of the plates with water. After three minutes of drying, you can start styling. If the reverse side of the stone has cement laitance or a glossy layer, it should be cleaned well with a wire brush.
Unlike ceramic tiles, the laying of decorative stone begins with its pre-laying on the floor. As mentioned earlier, the products are externally different. Therefore, laying out 1–2 squaremeters on the floor, rearranging and swapping tiles, you can achieve the best combination, which then remains to be transferred to the wall.
Styling technology
Tiled elements can be glued from top to bottom and vice versa. Both methods have their advantages. If the cladding is started from above, it is possible to avoid the mortar flowing onto the layer laid below, which is typical when laying from the bottom up. When installing the stone from below, the likelihood of tiles slipping is reduced.
Decorative stone for interior decoration, imitating brick, laid with an offset. That is, the vertical seams between the rows should not match. Then the wall or corner element will look natural.
The prepared solution (glue) is applied to the base and to the back side of the plate with a spatula. The calculated thickness of the adhesive layer should not exceed 10–12 mm. Then the decorative element is pressed with some force to the surface of the wall. It happens that the stone moves, the liquid solution may be the reason for this.
The seamed installation option provides for the presence of wooden rods of the same thickness. They are installed end-to-end between tiles, forming the same joint width over the entire surface.
Stitching
After the decorative stone in the apartment has seized the surface, on the fourth day it is recommended to start grouting. Compositions for filling the inter-tile space must be selected according to the instructions of the manufacturer of artificial stone.
The grout is placed in a syringe gun or a dense plastic bag, from which an angle is then cut off along the thickness of the seam. In order for the masonry to have a pronounced relief, filling is carried out to a depth of no more than 5 mm. The grout depth depends on the artistic concept of the design.
After laying the mortar in the seams and the beginning of its solidification, the stage of leveling begins. Use a curly spatula or spatula for this. The remains of the grout are cleaned with a brush.
Final stage
Decorative stones on the wall can be laid inside or outside the room, and after installation they should be treated with a hydrophobic composition. Such impregnation can further protect the room from cement dust, which is released from untreated artificial materials, and give expressiveness to the texture of the stone.
If it is necessary to embody the artistic intent of the designer associated with painting the stone, then the characteristics of the product allow the application of paints and varnishes on them. Especially such a final stage requires a decorative stone made of gypsum.
Mistakes
Knowing the technology of laying artificial stones and having experience in ceramic tiling, it is difficult to install decorative elements on your own without errors. To check the quality of the masonry, you can remove it after ten seconds at the time of gluing the product and look at the places where the material adheres to the base. If the back side of the tile is not completely smeared and there is a trace of glue on the wall that does not correspond to the area of \u200b\u200bthe back side of the product, thensuch masonry is doomed to failure.
The fact is that the solution is applied to the entire back side of the tile and when it is mounted on the wall it is well pressed down. Thus, part of the adhesive protrudes on the sides of the product and forms a single surface with the seam. The presence of voids can be traced by tapping on the lining with a rubber mallet. Drum sound is a sign of marriage.
Material properties
Tile "Decorative stone" is made of gypsum, stone chips, alabaster, which indicates the naturalness of the components. This material is not hazardous to he alth, since it does not emit harmful impurities. The advantages of artificial stone are high thermal insulation properties, frost resistance, moisture resistance. This is all the same that is inherent in natural stones. In addition, the decorative material is superior in quality to the natural counterpart. Firstly, it is cheaper than natural and lighter. And secondly, artificial stone products are easier to process and install.
Various compositions of man-made stone products enable the consumer to choose the scope of their application. There are heat-resistant samples that are suitable for laying fireplaces. Decorative stone in the kitchen as an apron must be resistant to moisture. Also applied material for bathrooms: both on the floor and on the walls.
Stone in the interior
The decorative material fits so harmoniously into modern apartments and is combined with other building materials that ideas with its use have become available to everyone. When planning a renovation, a person looks at examples of interior design for inspiration in order tothen realize your favorite designs in your apartment.
Having studied the catalogs with repairs of modern apartments, we can identify popular places for decorating with stone material:
- columns, bar counters, arches;
- fireplaces;
- decorative stone in the corridor;
- kitchen apron;
- slopes, corner elements;
- balconies, loggias;
- baths and pools;
- house facades.
Decorative stone: price
In the building materials market in 2016, artificial material, which is not inferior in its properties to natural stone, costs around 1 thousand rubles per square meter. The invoice "rock" and "slate" will cost the consumer 1350 rubles. Cheaper will be imitation brickwork. Its producers estimate it at 850 rubles per square meter.
Corner elements with the listed textures can be purchased separately. Their cost is calculated per linear meter and varies from 1200 to 1300 rubles.
In Russia, the idea of creating a business for the production of artificial stones has been flourishing for seven years now. There are programs for calculating the economic model for the production of facing material, secret technologies and even special molds for casting.
Material reviews
People who are faced with the self-laying of man-made stone material, talk about the incredible painstaking installation. Firstly, it is difficult to customize it in size due to the thickness of the tiles. Secondly, the seams between the elements of the masonry are not so easy to wipe, as is done when laying ceramic tiles. Another difficulty isdocking stone with wallpaper. The forum members come to one conclusion: it is better to lay decorative stones on the wall by contacting a specialist for help.
As for the sensations from the interior after high-quality lining with artificial material, the opinions of consumers are reduced to a single epithet - "luxurious". The practicality of the application is also traced. Stone corner pieces, especially in high traffic areas, look neat.
And yet, the material is good in all respects, but this is not a reason to use it in every room. Otherwise, the sophisticated idea of modern design will turn the room into a cave with stone walls as a result.
