# When Cultured Stone goes bad



## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

This was taken in Denver Colorado, in a neighborhood running from 1 to 3 million dollars. I would personally like to take this designer/architect out and shoot them in the back of the head.


----------



## 6stringmason (May 20, 2005)

I see alot more of that going on in my neck of the woods as well. I dont know what the point to this trend is? IMO it looks ugly as hell.


----------



## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

What it means is that the designer/architect/installer has no clue as to the materials he is working with. Done correctly, the distressed look is great. Done badly, it is just embarrassing. To make it worse, that is not technically cultured stone, it is real stone sawn to be used in stucco at 12-14 bucks a SqFt material only.

What that photo shows is a total and complete lack of knowledge of the basic physical properties of the materials being simulated. Maybe I would kick them in the privates before I shot them, too.


----------



## Mike Finley (Apr 28, 2004)

Is the stone on top of the stucco? I take it the idea was supposed to be the stone was showing though from underneath a layer of stucco?


----------



## stacker (Jan 31, 2006)

*looks like*

:laughing: hell.all im gonna say.


----------



## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

The way it was applied was on the same plane as the stucco (on the same lath as the finish coat), so it does not even closely mimic what it is supposed to represent, to say nothing of the random placement of the distressed panels.


----------



## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

Stucco will delaminate for a variety of reasons, all of them logical and predictable. If your intent is to simulate that effect, then you should at least study old buildings or know the physical properties of the materials well enough to fake it.


----------



## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

Here are some examples to show where it should be, and how it should be in relation to the plane of the finish.

This one shows how it has to relate to the surface. The stone has to be inset it's own thickness, plus the depth of the stucco.










The areas that will peel stucco are of 2 classes:

Wear areas, around doors for example:










or areas where there is structural expansion, like above doors and windows:


----------



## 1over2 (Nov 27, 2005)

That's some nice stuff, what is this industry coming to? How far away are we from putting stone on the wall with a paint roller and calling it masonry?


----------



## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

I don't consider 3 coat stucco to be masonry, though it is a very good exterior finish. I also don't consider pouring concrete slabs to be masonry, though I have come to understand that that is considered to be so in various areas of the country. My definition of masonry is simple:

The use of stone, brick or CMU to construct a veneered or structural wall.


----------



## Teetorbilt (Feb 12, 2004)

Nice little sailfish. About the same size as the one that I smoked last week. Actually, that one doesn't even look legal. Here they need to be 72" from the tip of the bill to the fork of the tail.


----------



## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

89" to be exact, about 130# out of Cabo, but I didn't catch it.


----------



## Bigbricklayer (May 14, 2006)

I can never think of anything witty to say but holy CRAP!


----------

