DIY: How To Install a Stone Veneer Wall

Have you been dreaming of incorporating some amazing natural texture into your space? I am here to guide you through all the steps to install a stone veneer wall all on your very own like a professional! Because I was once there too, googling and researching just how to exactly tackle this project all on my own and I wasn’t getting too much luck (oddly). I figured, what the heck, should be easy enough right?! Whelp. I wouldn’t say it was extremely easy, but now that I have learned the process, you won’t have to go through the same mistakes I did! After reading this post you will feel motivated and encouraged to DIY your very own stone veneer surface which will save you time and (hopefully) eliminate mistakes! 

Before we dive in, here are some inspirational images I loved below.

Leanne Ford design

Rock the Block House

tom mark henry studio

DARLINGHURST TERRACE

PREP WORK

Step 1: Measure your surface square footage to understand how much stone and other materials you will need to purchase.

Measure the length x width = square footage of the full area you will be applying the stone.

If you have windows or let’s say a fireplace opening. Measure the (length x width) of the openings and remove that square footage from the total sf.

My calculation – Living Room Wall Square Feet - Each window sf = TOTAL SF

Photo Reference: A before image showing the full length of the wall plus the two windows I subtracted from the square footage calculation.

Step 2: Purchase Materials

  • Stone Veneer - (I purchased a natural Lime Stone Veneer locally in Dallas, TX)

  • Durock Cement Boards (5’x3’) + screws for concrete boards

  • Mortar

  • Construction Adhesive

    • We used approximately 1 box of 12 adhesives for every 35 sf

  • Protective paper

    • We ran thick protective paper all along our wall and then some extra anywhere we thought was necessary where we might have more foot traffic and or be working.

Step 3: Install Cement Boards

Install cement boards to the entire surface where you will be installing the stone veneer. My husband installed our cement boards straight to our drywall.

Note: Keep in mind the thickness that it will add if you are going to directly apply to your drywall and how that might affect other areas such as baseboards, outlets, windows sills, etc.

We also removed the baseboard that ran along the bottom of our floors and under the two windows.

INSTALLATION –

Step 1: Layout Your Stone

Depending on how large the surface area you are covering, you may need to break out in sections as I did.

Measure out on the floor the same surface area as you will be covering. (I did this with blue painters tape)

Tip: account for things such as outlets, windows, or anything that might be in the middle of the surface area you will be covering. I made it visible by outlining with blue painters tape.

Photo Reference: Showing layout on the floor that will be applied to the wall.

Cover your current floor and layout stone as organically as you can. I started with larger stones and then filled them in with smaller pieces. Keeping in mind to layout some vertically, some horizontally, some angled in an effort to make the layout look as organic and natural as much as possible. I even smashed and broke and then chiseled some of the larger pieces into smaller and rounder pieces so that I had more variety.

Take a photo from the top so that your phone is as parallel with the floor as possible so that it’s easy to refer back to when you start taking stones out of the template and applying them to the surface area.

Step 2: Stone Application! (yay!)

Quick Side Note:

I want to address how we adhered the stone to our wall since we installed our stone in a non-conventional typical way. Traditionally, the stone is installed by applying mortar all over the cement boards, just like you would if you were to install a tile floor, however, we were trying to come up with a process that was less messy due to just having new wood floors installed (and due to the fact that we had zero experience with this type of project). We were also hoping for it to be more efficient/faster. The one drawback of this process I noticed is that you need more mortar to fill in the gaps of the stones (as the grout) because you have a deeper void to fill. It’s up to you how you would like to adhere the stone to your surface but if you want to follow our process, keep reading below!

Ok, here we go! Once you have laid out your stone, you are ready to apply it to your surface! I worked from the bottom upwards, from left to right. Grab a stone, and apply the adhesive to the back in zig-zag lines. You do NOT want to or need to cover the entire stone with the adhesive.

Tip: Try to be as accurately matching your laid-out pattern as you can. I can’t stress this enough! Even an inch or two and it messed up the layout down the road for me personally. You will fluctuate a little here and there but I had my phone with me at all times to keep referring back to. It’s not the end of the world if it changes slightly, you can always find new pieces to substitute if certain stone pieces down the road don’t end up fitting but in an effort to stick with your already thought-out layout, and to save time, I found it best to stick to it as closely as possible.

Hold and push the stone to the wall for a couple of seconds (10 - 15) to make sure it sticks. For larger stone pieces you may need to apply some screws below for support so that they don’t slide down due to their weight and they rest on the screws. We did that for a few here and there just in case but I also learned that applying much thicker adhesive strokes to the back of the larger stones worked really well also. The screws were also covered up by the mortar that was filled in between the gaps so don’t worry about them being visible.

Step 3: Let the Adhesive Cure

Once you have applied all the stone to your entire surface, wait for 24 hrs to let the adhesive cure. (although we waited probably a little less than 24 hrs, around 12 hrs and everything was fine!)

Step 4: Apply Mortar in between the stone -

Step 4A: Mix Mortar –

Follow steps on the bag for proportions

Tip:

Rinse off your mortar mixing attachment

Have some ceram wrap cut off (a piece larger than the bucket) so that you can cover the bucket in between refilling the piping bag

I also would rinse out everything after every new bucket batch. (The bucket, mortar attachment piece, etc) Tedious, but this will just really help you with keeping your tools in good condition and if you are working on this project over a couple of days, it helps with keeping the tools in good use over the couple of days.

Step 4B: Fill Mortar Piping Bag with Mortar

  • Fold down the top of the bag 2/3 of the way

  • Only fill up 2/3 of your bag with mortar

  • (you don’t want too much inside because it will be harder to squeeze out the mortar since you need to twist while squeezing the entire time.

Step 4C: Fill in the gaps between the stone with mortar

  • Spray the cement boards (I used a small water spray bottle) with water before applying the mortar so that the cement boards aren’t super dry. (This is CRITICAL)

    • Tip: I would spray the sections I’m about to get to a minute prior and a couple of times as I went along right before application.

  • Mortar Amount / Thickness:

    • Decide what kind of look you want to achieve as the “mortar grout” in between the stones. You can either pipe in enough so it still leaves you with some depth in between each stone (like I did) OR you may want to pipe in a lot of mortar so that you don’t leave any depth and the mortar is thicker and aligns with the front surface of the stone.

    • Whichever way you prefer, just keep in mind to fill in enough so that you are getting close to the stone edges and filling in all the nooks and crannies surrounding the backs of the stone.

    • Sections: I would start out with small sections at a time so that you can get a feel for how quickly you can work. I worked on sections the size of 6’x 2’ then stop and let dry. I noticed that the larger sections I completed (feeling all ambitious and wanting to work faster) the more of a panic I was in later once

Step 5: Let Mortar cure until its “finger print” ready

You will know when the mortar is ready for smoothing when you press lightly with your finger and it’s hard enough that you don’t have mortar on your finger but soft enough that you can slightly see your fingerprint in the mortar.

Step 6: Smoothing out the mortar grout

Note: Prepare yourself for this phase. It’s not going to be the easiest and you will need some patience here. Keep in mind you do not need to do exactly as I did, you may find an easier method. I tried a bunch of different techniques but here is what worked for me the best:

Step 6A: Grab a small paint brush, and a cup of water (1/3 full), just lightly wet the brush, and start smoothing out the mortar in between. Making light strokes with a combination of tapping and stroking. I would tap sometimes in the beginning so that I ensured the grout was squished up against the stone edges. Keep moving along, you might need your water spray bottle nearby in case some areas you haven’t gotten to yet are getting too dry.

Step 6B: once the mortar is smoothed out with your brush and a little drier (back to that fingerprint test) grab your mortar sponge or sponge brush and tap lightly all the mortar so that it has a really smooth finish so that you don’t actually see the brush strokes.

Note: This goes hand in hand with the next step however, depending on what kind of look you are going for, and what kind of stone you purchased you may either 1) be carefree with your brush strokes and not mind if you get some of the watered down grout on your stone façade or 2) you may want to be careful and to not get your brush too watering so that you make sure you stay in between the “grout lines” between the stones and not get any mortar residue on the surfaces. Since our limestone had light variations, I didn’t really need to white wash as I thought I wanted to originally because I wanted a slight contrast between the white mortar and the stone. If you want contrast, then just make sure you do the next step. (keep in mind that the overall look will be lighter and more bright white once you are done so you may want to make your final decision after wiping off and then see if you want to white wash at the end)

Step 7: Wipe off Stone Surface

Once you are done smoothing all the mortar grout lines out, go back with a moistened large mortar sponge or a microfiber/mortar rag and wipe down all the stone facades.

Note: This also helps in case you did get some mortar residue on the stone and you can see clear brush strokes to eliminate them and hide all those installation imperfections!

Voila!! You made it to the end, CONGRATS!! I’m so proud of you! Now you can marvel at your wall and feel like you are some Greek god/goddess sitting in a Mediterranean villa. No big deal. Someone bring the charcuterie plate and some vino cause it’s WELL deserved!

PS - You can check out my Stone Wall Highlight on my Instagram page to watch my entire process.