Question about Corning cultured stone

[GMSwanberg]

I'm considering facing my island with Cultured Stone. It's framed with metal studs and enclosed with 1/2 inch HardiBacker. Is it necessary to use the weatherproofing; metal lath and scratch coat of mortar; or can I go directly onto the Hardibacker with construction adhesive. I'm planning on using Southern Ledgestone with a dry stack appearance (no mortar joints between the stone). My main concern with the installation process recommended by Corning is the overall thickness. They talk about 1/2 to 3/4 inch of scrath coat plus another 1/2 inch of mortar on the stone. That plus the stone thickness will increase the overall demensions of my "L" shaped island and require a significant overhang on the countertop to marry the tile with the edge of the stone.

Opinions or experience with Cultured Stone installations would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Geoff

 

[MCR500]

Re: QUESTION ABOUT CORNING CULTURED STONE

Well, I can give you what I did when I put cultured stone on the front of my house, and what I am going to do on my outdoor kitchen.

When we did my house, we went right over unpainted stucco;no scratchcoat was used. The mortar bed we applied was 1/2" or so thick, and after 5 years, no stones have dropped off.

When I decided to face my outdoor kitchen with the stone, I researched this subject a lot. Some people just apply the stone directly to the HB with no lathe or scratchcoat. This will definitely give you the least "installation depth", next to using construction adhesive. I contemplated the construction adhesive route, but I have to do about 150 sq. ft, and that's A LOT of tubes!!

I finallly decided to give my island a "thin" scratchcoat( about 1/2") AFTER I roll on concrete glue to the HB. This should yield about a 1" "bed" ( 1/2" scratchcoat+1/2" mortar on back of stones). I figured the stones were 1 1/2" to 3" thick, and took this dimension into consideration when designing my overhang around the entire perimeter of my island.

I think the concrete glue + the scratchcoat will yield good results. I really don't think, in your case, you can get away with not having a scratchcoat. You can go with the construction adhesive route, but the tubes are rather expensive. You can double or triple up 1/2" HB along the edge to build out enough to meet your tile. FWIW. C-Ya!!

 

[GMSwanberg]

Re: QUESTION ABOUT CORNING CULTURED STONE

Thanks for the input. I hadn't thought about the number of tubes to do the job with construction adhesive, good catch. I talked to the folks at Corning and of course they recommended going the full treatment. They said they didn't want me to have to do it over later. I guess I'll give the lath and scratch coat a try and see how it works. Thanks again for the comments.

Geoff