Any masons here?

[99gsxr750]

Looking for some advice. I want to put real stone on the wall around my fireplace, not the lick and stick from Home Depot or Lowes.

One person said to replace the drywall with concrete board, put up a vapor barrier (outside wall), and to support the floor underneathe it.

Another person said he can put the stone directly to the drywall using some sort of metal strips that help hold the stone to the wall. He never said anything about supporting the floor nor said anything about a vapor barrier.

Which way would be correct or better. This is one project that I'm not doing and I want the person I hire to do it the right way.

[SWIGIN]

The metal strips are called wall ties and are a must. I see no need to tear out the drywall unless you were doing fake stone. As far as your floor goes I wouldn't lay real stone on a wood floor and expect it to hold the weight without suports.

Oh yeah, I was a full time mason from 91 till last year and have layed TONS of real and fake stone.

[Rawlins350x]

I'm not an expert by any means, but I just got done putting stone work around my bar. I used blue board and then secured this metal lattus stuff to it. Then I skim coated sections of the lattus that I was placing the stone. spray the back of the stone with a mist of water, then I put about 1/2" of morter on the stones and press fit them working from the bottom up.
once all of the stones are in place then you go back and grout.

The stone I used was the rea/fake stone. Its made out of concrete and dyed, it looks just like the real thing. If you want pictures just let me know.

Like I said, im not an expert by any means. Just a pollock trying to get by.


Lew

[99gsxr750]

The metal strips are called wall ties and are a must. I see no need to tear out the drywall unless you were doing fake stone. As far as your floor goes I wouldn't lay real stone on a wood floor and expect it to hold the weight without suports.

Oh yeah, I was a full time mason from 91 till last year and have layed TONS of real and fake stone.

There will be no stone on the floor other than a piece of slate which is already there - has been since the house was built. It's not a raised hearth as the fireplace is flush with the floor. The stone will go from the floor on each side of the fireplace up to the ceiling (9ft), in total about 63 sqft. I was told that's a couple of tons which would be alot of weight for the floor. Unless the wall will be supporting the majority?

[SWIGIN]

There will be no stone on the floor other than a piece of slate which is already there - has been since the house was built. It's not a raised hearth as the fireplace is flush with the floor. The stone will go from the floor on each side of the fireplace up to the ceiling (9ft), in total about 63 sqft. I was told that's a couple of tons which would be alot of weight for the floor. Unless the wall will be supporting the majority?

It don't matter if the stone touches the floor or not, the weight is still being transfered to the floor. Even if it was just hanging on the wall like fake stone the weight still is on the floor since the floor goes under the wall.

I'd bet it's at least a few tons and like I said I would not do the job unless the floor had some Major supports under it.

[SWIGIN]

I'm not an expert by any means, but I just got done putting stone work around my bar. I used blue board and then secured this metal lattus stuff to it. Then I skim coated sections of the lattus that I was placing the stone. spray the back of the stone with a mist of water, then I put about 1/2" of morter on the stones and press fit them working from the bottom up.
once all of the stones are in place then you go back and grout.

The stone I used was the rea/fake stone. Its made out of concrete and dyed, it looks just like the real thing. If you want pictures just let me know.

Like I said, im not an expert by any means. Just a pollock trying to get by.


Lew


What you did is what we are calling fake stone since it is..well man made. And those are the normal steps for the most part to use that product.

But as far as working from the bottom up or top down it really don't matter. Most of the time we worked from the top down so you don't drop mud on what you already layed, but we did it both ways.

And when you use the blue board you can just coat that with mud and go from there. the lattus or metal lath as wee called it is for going over wood or painted areas where mud wont stick.

I nailed metal lath right over my paneling I'm my house and on several other jobs and never had a problem. I would not do this on the outside but inside out of the weather it is perfectly fine.

[99gsxr750]

It don't matter if the stone touches the floor or not, the weight is still being transfered to the floor. Even if it was just hanging on the wall like fake stone the weight still is on the floor since the floor goes under the wall.

I'd bet it's at least a few tons and like I said I would not do the job unless the floor had some Major supports under it.

This is an outside wall, so it's on a concrete foundation wall. The foundation is 10in wide with a 2x6 wall on top of it.
I figured I could support between the floor and the concrete foundation by packing it out with some 2x12's. This way the weight would be transfered directly to the foundation wall. Although the stone would cantelever over the foundation wall about 2.5 to 3 inches - roughly.

[Woodsrider]

If you're putting the weight on a wall that is sitting on a good foundation wall....you're all set....as long as everything is solid(no rot or anything)....I'm just a carpenter though...not an engineer.

[SWIGIN]

This is an outside wall, so it's on a concrete foundation wall. The foundation is 10in wide with a 2x6 wall on top of it.
I figured I could support between the floor and the concrete foundation by packing it out with some 2x12's. This way the weight would be transfered directly to the foundation wall. Although the stone would cantelever over the foundation wall about 2.5 to 3 inches - roughly.

From you first post it seemed you were putting stone around your fire place which means inside. But I guess you mean the inside of an exterior wall?

What you described here sounds good.

[99gsxr750]

From you first post it seemed you were putting stone around your fire place which means inside. But I guess you mean the inside of an exterior wall?

What you described here sounds good.

Yes, the stone would be on the inside of an exterior wall (around fireplace) in the family room.