Stone veneer or cheaper option?

Maybe I can offer a little insight to something you may not be thinking about; time and labor.

I installed stone veneer over my existing brick fireplace. I used natural stone which was all individual. I looked at the exact product you have pictured. Keep in mind, it is installed more like a tile and the labor time will greatly be reduced compared to what I did. It's also a lot easier to cut!

My Home Depot also sells a few samples of that style of veneer. Just about every one had chips and cracks. After I completed my project, I discovered my local tile store carried a huge selection of that style veneer. One of the benefits of buying from a tile store is you'll get pieces that are near perfect.... at least at my tile store. So keep that in mind. You wouldn't have to deal with digging through boxes at HD.

If I did it again, I'd probably use what you have pictured just for the labor savings. But it doesn't really compare to a thicker stone that you can control the pattern of.

One more thing.... I don't remember the square foot price of my project, but the total cost was about $800 as I recall, which included the hearth stone. Pretty sure it was more expensive than the veneer you are looking at. The stone corner pieces were crazy expensive, but you don't have any corners.

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Slate tile is cheap and natural. Easy to cut.

Highbeam said:

Slate tile is cheap and natural. Easy to cut.

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I agree with this, and think it looks the business. I just finished off a new hearth with this slate from HD. Relatively affordable at $3.20/ft2. After buying the grout (on sale) and the sealer, I'd say the whole finishing (slate + grout + sealer) cost me about $150 for about 28ft2. And I have 9 slate tiles left over for another smaller project.

HD or Lowes is not going to be the nicest, or cheapest stone veneer out there. I found natural stone veneer on Facebook market local, which I got for less than 1/2 the cost as a dealer charges. I covered the existing brick. 16' x 7' total cost for the stone was $300.00. Not including mortar & lath, still way cheaper than purchasing stone from a dealer.
I've gotten great deals on Craiglsist also

For me, the fireplace is a major focal point, although I did it more inexpensively, I didn't go cheap on it so to say, with cheap products, just found good deals, as I tend to do. I am very happy with the outcome.

Definitely learning a lot from this thread. Thanks, fellas!

Hogwildz said:

HD or Lowes is not going to be the nicest, or cheapest stone veneer out there. I found natural stone veneer on Facebook market local, which I got for less than 1/2 the cost as a dealer charges. I covered the existing brick. 16' x 7' total cost for the stone was $300.00. Not including mortar & lath, still way cheaper than purchasing stone from a dealer.
I've gotten great deals on Craiglsist also

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Do you have more photos? We are thinking of doing cultured or natural stone veneer on an interior wall.

SpaceBus said:

Do you have more photos? We are thinking of doing cultured or natural stone veneer on an interior wall.

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Here ya go.
Fireplace wall. Before & after

Here are some walls I did in the addition. New office & bedroom. The Fireplace is real stone veneer, the office & bedroom are "cultured stone". Bot install about the same, and both look real & great IMO.

The fireplace stone is 24" x 6" panels made of pcs of real stone adhered together. They interlock to form a seamless look. The Office and bedroom are cultured stone 3 pallets of dry stack ledgestone and 1 pallet of field stone mixed in here & there. The cultured stone takes a bit more time, finding the right pcs to fit together the best, one pc at a time. In 2009 I paid about $2,400.00 for the 4 pallets of cultured stone from local dealer, which at the time was $6.00 per sf for 400sf total.

The fireplace real stone I found on Facebook market locally for $300.00 for about 125 sf, of which I actually used about 112 sf. I have about 3 or 4 panels left over, which I will be cutting down to fill in between the hearth slab & slate hearth extension. At dealer the real stone panels run about $5.95 -$6.95 sf depending on color. Lots of work,& tedious, but well worth it in my opinion. Not a brick fan at all.

Hogwildz said:

The fireplace stone is 24" x 6" panels made of pcs of real stone adhered together. They interlock to form a seamless look. The Office and bedroom are cultured stone 3 pallets of dry stack ledgestone and 1 pallet of field stone mixed in here & there. The cultured stone takes a bit more time, finding the right pcs to fit together the best, one pc at a time. In 2009 I paid about $2,400.00 for the 4 pallets of cultured stone from local dealer, which at the time was $6.00 per sf for 400sf total.

The fireplace real stone I found on Facebook market locally for $300.00 for about 125 sf, of which I actually used about 112 sf. I have about 3 or 4 panels left over, which I will be cutting down to fill in between the hearth slab & slate hearth extension. At dealer the real stone panels run about $5.95 -$6.95 sf depending on color. Lots of work,& tedious, but well worth it in my opinion. Not a brick fan at all.

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Wow, that looks great! The cultured stone is identical to my eye. Those are the colors we are thinking about, but haven't found local dealers yet.

You can also just go down to the river and haul back some rocks. Slice 'em up on a wet saw or use 'em whole. Pretty stone doesn't need to be expensive if you are willing to provide the labor.

A good quality 8" diamond sawblade is pretty cheap compared to one small job's worth of veneerstone.

Whole rocks are much, much heavier than veneerstone when instslled though, as you are setting them in mortar.

Those installs look real nice, Hogz. Are the outlets trimmed with marble pencil?

jetsam said:

You can also just go down to the river and haul back some rocks. Slice 'em up on a wet saw or use 'em whole. Pretty stone doesn't need to be expensive if you are willing to provide the labor.

A good quality 8" diamond sawblade is pretty cheap compared to one small job's worth of veneerstone.

Whole rocks are much, much heavier than veneerstone when instslled though, as you are setting them in mortar.

Those installs look real nice, Hogz. Are the outlets trimmed with marble pencil?

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Are you saying it's not that hard to make the veneer? I'm trying to convince my wife we need a compound sliding miter saw and a table saw. Maybe I can sell her on the tile saw if it can do stone veneer.

jetsam said:

You can also just go down to the river and haul back some rocks. Slice 'em up on a wet saw or use 'em whole. Pretty stone doesn't need to be expensive if you are willing to provide the labor.

A good quality 8" diamond sawblade is pretty cheap compared to one small job's worth of veneerstone.

Whole rocks are much, much heavier than veneerstone when instslled though, as you are setting them in mortar.

Those installs look real nice, Hogz. Are the outlets trimmed with marble pencil?

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My House has River Rock from Alaska the previous owners broght with them. Some with Petroglifs.

SpaceBus said:

Are you saying it's not that hard to make the veneer? I'm trying to convince my wife we need a compound sliding miter saw and a table saw. Maybe I can sell her on the tile saw if it can do stone veneer.

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No, it's a whole lot of cuts and you end up with a million little pieces that do not fit together in neat rectangular patterns with precut corners like veneerstone. Plus you have to haul rocks.

It is not really easy to do, but it's also not hard to figure out or expensive. Veneerstone is definitely easier but also a lot pricier.

jetsam said:

You can also just go down to the river and haul back some rocks. Slice 'em up on a wet saw or use 'em whole. Pretty stone doesn't need to be expensive if you are willing to provide the labor.

A good quality 8" diamond sawblade is pretty cheap compared to one small job's worth of veneerstone.

Whole rocks are much, much heavier than veneerstone when instslled though, as you are setting them in mortar.

Those installs look real nice, Hogz. Are the outlets trimmed with marble pencil?

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Thanks,
The outlet trim is also pre-made cultured stone trim blocks. I think they were about $14.00 each back in 2009. They were only available in 2 or 3 colors then.

jetsam said:

No, it's a whole lot of cuts and you end up with a million little pieces that do not fit together in neat rectangular patterns with precut corners like veneerstone. Plus you have to haul rocks.

It is not really easy to do, but it's also not hard to figure out or expensive. Veneerstone is definitely easier but also a lot pricier.

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Sounds like a fun side project. Maybe after we fix our house I'll be able to convince my wife we need a tile saw