Fair or Faux: Faux Stone Siding

Every day you drive past buildings and homes with stone siding. Never does it cross your mind whether or not the siding is real stone or faux stone siding. Why? Because it’s so hard to tell the difference you just assume it is real stone. Faux stone also has a great reputation as being easy to install and inexpensive. Faux stone should not be mistaken for stone veneer, which is real stone cut into thin pieces. Instead, faux stone is made of concrete and colored with pigments to resemble stone.

Let’s look at some advantages of faux stone siding

Faux stone use has grown dramatically over the years because of the ease of installation, cost, and it’s amazingly close appearance to real stone.

Cost

Installed faux stone costs from $20 to $50 per square foot, which is roughly half the cost of traditional stone. This is attractive for both builders and homeowners who like the upscale look, but prefer the lower price.

Appearance

As previously mentioned, unless you had a trained eye, you would not be able to see the difference between faux stone siding and real stone siding. The better made faux stone will use cement with a very fine aggregate and high-density iron oxide pigments to create the proper texture and appearance. Because this stone is manmade, it can come in colors not found in nature to fit a specific look of the desired user.

Installation

Unlike real stone, faux stone can be added after the house is built without having to make too many changes. It also requires far less skill to install than real stone, making it possible to build a house with a faux stone exterior using a less experienced work crew. Faux stone is also far lighter than real stone, making it faster to install and easier to transport.

However, like anything else, there are some disadvantages to using faux stone. While some builders prefer faux stone siding, many architects remain skeptical and don’t like using it in their designs. They prefer real stone for its appearance and authenticity.

Authenticity

Some architects and designers dislike faux stone because they believe that it undermines the material integrity of stone and decreases the value of their design. Many architects argue that faux stone should only be used when it is clear to the viewer of the building that the material is an imitation of stone.

Appearance

Faux stone varies greatly in quality and its ability to mimic real stone. There are some faux stone makers that use iron oxide pigments to produce color which is the same material found in normal stone. However, this type of stone can get expensive and rapidly approach the cost of real stone.

On the other hand, less expensive varieties use a mixture of different aggregates and lower quality pigments made of small rocks instead of fine sand to form the rock. This makes the appearance look less authentic and can wear unevenly over time.