Building a stone wall sure sounds like a masonry project. But with faux stone veneer, it’s actually a carpentry project. And a fun one at that.
The main ingredients for a faux stone wall are:
- Your choice of faux stone panels
- Complementary faux stone wall caps and capitals
- A wood-framed wall to attach the panels and caps to
- Optionally, faux columns or posts
Faux stone panels
Start by choosing the stone design and color you like. All our panels are suitable for outdoor use. Panel height is different for different product lines, and this might affect your choice. For most efficient use of materials, you’d want the wall height to be a multiple of the panel height, or a little less.
Faux stone wall caps and capitals
The wall caps come in gray and tan to complement just about any panel color. They also come in two widths. For this project you want the standard (narrower) ones, which are sized to fit a paneled wall framed with 4-inch lumber. The wider ones are sized to fit a paneled 8-inch block wall.
If your wall has some length to it, consider adding decorative capitals on top of the wall cap at intervals to really dress it up.
Wood-framed wall
The core of your beautiful faux stone wall is an ordinary wood-framed wall built with 4x4s, 2x4s and sheathing. It’s really half-wall, half-fence, because you have to sink the 4x4s into the ground and anchor them in concrete to support the wall.
So plan the wall just as you’d plan a fence, anchoring the 4×4 posts no more than 8 feet apart. Then frame a wall between them with 2×4 top and bottom plates, and studs spaced 2 feet apart. Finally, attach 1/2-inch sheathing to both sides. Keep the bottom of the framing and sheathing about 1/2 to 1 inch off the ground for longer life. Of course you need to use pressure-treated lumber and galvanized or stainless-steel fasteners.
When you attach the faux stone panels, use a good exterior adhesive and caulk all joints. The panels won’t rot, so lay the bottom edge right on the ground. Then top it all off with the faux stone caps.
Faux columns or posts
For extra class, you can add one or more faux stone columns or posts to your wall. Imagine your driveway flanked by two massive stone columns, with a stone wall extending out to each side.
Some columns are designed to fit around wood posts, and others attach to a pad anchored to the ground. Locate each column so the panels and end caps butt against the side of the column. Scribe the last panel to the contour of the column, and then caulk the joint to blend everything together. (The photo shows a column in the middle of a fence, but the idea’s the same.)
And when you finish your wall, be sure to send us photos to add to our gallery!
