# Cultured Stone vs- Stone question



## artisanstone

I'll go ahead and weigh in. No offense Stacker, because I have a lot of respect for you. It comes down to this. Cultured stone is crap. It is the vinyl siding of masonry. All thin veneers are stucco (over wood) with a segmented (messed up) finish coat, which is bad enough, but cultured stone is stucco (over wood) with a segmented "fake stone look" finish coat. Only in America could we come up with such a thing.
Anything real is better than a fake copy of the same thing.


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## Stone

> I'll go ahead and weigh in. No offense Stacker, because I have a lot of respect for you. It comes down to this. Cultured stone is crap. It is the vinyl siding of masonry. All thin veneers are stucco (over wood) with a segmented (messed up) finish coat, which is bad enough, but cultured stone is stucco (over wood) with a segmented "fake stone look" finish coat. Only in America could we come up with such a thing.
> Anything real is better than a fake copy of the same thing.


I do both real and man made stone in both full thickness and thin styles, and I think there is a place for all of it if properly done. "Artisanstone", both you and I belong to another all stone group where there is ultimate contempt for even natural thin veneer stone and cultured stone is considered the devils work. Some even think full thickness real stone veneer is crap because it isn't structural. In a perfect world there wouldn't be cultured stone and I wouldn't have to do it, but in my area there just isn't enough of the real stuff and I need to make a living, and so I do cultured when I have to and do the best job I can with it. The average person doesn't know what they are looking at anyway. By the way there is plenty of man made stone in Europe, so it isn't only in America.


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## Tscarborough

There is a place for everything, and if the options are faux stone or wood (which is mostly "faux", i.e. veneer), what do you think is best? My biggest gripe with adhered veneer is when it is applied in a way that real stone could not be.


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## stonelayer

Here, if it wasnt for cultured stone I guess I would be cleaning toilet stools somewhere. 
Bad mouth it all you want, some of our cultured stonework has now been visible outside for 15 years. No sealer, no nothing done to it. No complaints.
I would much rather be laying the real deal, but it just isnt there to do.

This just in, got off phone with client. 
It's a go on 1480 sq.ft. culture stone foundation.


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## artisanstone

Don't get me wrong, I'll do what I have to to feed my family. It's just that the original question seems bizarre. It's like asking which is better, vinyl or cedar siding. They both do the same thing, but one is uglier. IMO of course :whistling


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## lukachuki

chibastone said:


> Benefis fo cultured stone products:
> Blah
> blah
> blah
> blah
> blah
> please go my website and buy lots


thank you for your wonderful input mr. spammer dude.


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## JBM

bytor said:


> Our local code now requires the use of a 'rain screen' product between the metal lathe with scratch coat, and the tyvek, when using cultured stone, thin stone, or stucco. This requirement is intended to provide a passage for moisture to drain from behind the masonry, before it penetrates the building envelope...in the same way as the standard 1' airspace behind masonry veneer. Definitely a help in areas of wind driven rain etc.


Whole subdivisions have just about been leveled from improper flashing of stucco coating systems. It is very serious should water penetrate the moisture barrier. I think this is a very good building code.

Anyways, the benefit from a new construction pov is that it is slightly cheaper, but the good news is it will look fake and not age as well as a real stone.

As a home improvement pov it can be installed without digging and pouring footings, its less mess, quicker.


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