The Pros And Cons Of Natural Stone Cladding

 

There are advantages and disadvantages for every building material dependent on your individual application. Here, we take a look at some of the pros and cons of natural stone cladding to help you decide if it’s a suitable material for your project.

 

THE PROS OF NATURAL STONE CLADDING

  • The natural, unrivalled beauty
  • Its extreme durability and long lifespan
  • The extensive range of stone types, colors and formats
  • Complimentary to other materials such as concrete and timber
  • Offers various finish options to suit applications
  • Provides a high level of insulation
  • Can be used for a variety of applications, indoors or out
  • It is weather and fire resistant
  • Can be scratch and abrasion resistant
  • May increase the value of your home
  • Easy to maintain long-term

THE CONS OF NATURAL STONE CLADDING

  • Requires a structural substrate
  • Can be labor intensive and time-consuming to install
  • A more expensive material than some cladding products
  • Needs to be sealed for protection
  • The use of strong cleaning products may damage the surface
  • Can trap moisture behind the material if poorly installed
  • Best installed by a professional rather than a DIY project

 

Stone cladding refers to materials that are attached to buildings to form an external surface, often used to increase aesthetics and provide a protective layer. Cladding is often used to enhance the structural integrity of buildings by transferring wind loads, rain, or snow to better balance the impact throughout the entire structure’s framework. Additionally, properly installed and designed exterior cladding is also adept at improving energy efficiency by reducing interior cold/warm air leakage. Claddings is most often seen as panels that are attached exterior of structures. Ensure a professional is implementing your cladding system as a poorly designed and implemented solution can lead to safety hazards such as cladding collapses or panels pulling away from the structure.

Natural stone exterior cladding protects your structure from a variety of elements that are known to commonly damage building structures. The most common element that affects your buildings is water. Moreover, water is the most difficult element to protect against. Cladding provides excellent protection by repelling moisture via a variety of techniques and materials including membranes, sealants, siding, and weather-stripping. Varying temperatures are also a well-known hazard to structure integrity. Cladding protects from extreme temperatures by creating thermal gaps that prevents the external temperature from permeating to the interior. Another element that impacts your buildings is wind. Securely fastened to the exterior to limit movement, natural stone exterior cladding protects your structure against high-wind events such as hurricanes or tornadoes. Finally, the sun is one of the most harmful elements to structures. Ultraviolet rays and heat from the sun can greatly deteriorate structures without a protective layer such as natural stone cladding. Failing building materials affected by the sun can easily provide moisture and temperature pathways into the interior of a structure. Stone cladding is the best way to protect your structures from the sun as plastic or wood cladding can degrade quickly from exposure. 

As you can see, there are both advantages and disadvantages of natural stone cladding. The two main advantages driving people to choose natural stone cladding are its aesthetics and durability. Each piece has its own unique textures, color tones and imperfections making no two stone feature walls the same. A quality natural stone wall will weather well and last many years to come.

The main disadvantage of the stone, for some, is its heavy nature, demanding a structural substrate, and in some cases, additional fixtures. Constructing a structural wall for the cladding to adhere to may not be feasible in every situation. This can also increase the cost and the installation time.