Another "home improvement" project to ask about...

[mjr]

Ok, in addition to the "click lock" flooring and the tiles I talked about in another thread, we're also talking about putting some stone on an internal wall.

This is something I think I probably need to call a professional to do, but I'll give you guys an overview.

We have a wall that separates our living room from our master bedroom. Right now, it's simply your regular, run-of-the-mill sheetrock (aka drywall) wall, painted, with a door (meaning a door jamb), light switch, electrical outlet, baseboard, and crown molding.

We have some "builder stone" as a feature of the outside of our house (it's a combination of tan-ish colored building stone and a dark reddish-black brick combination). The thing is, the builder stone on the outside of the house is probably 4 or 5 inches thick. We need thinner varieties (which I think I can get) for the interior wall.

What would be the procedure for putting up stone on a wall such as this?

How long would it take for a professional (or team of them) to do this, say on a Saturday? The wall is probably close to 110 sqft or so (including the space of the door).

Also, we have a half-wall that separates our living room from our kitchen. We were thinking of giving that half wall a "brick" look with the same bricks as the outside of our house, only thinner, where the bricks are the same length and height, but about 1/4 the depth.

I seriously think I'd need a pro for these jobs...

I'm mainly wondering just how feasible they are...

[Kittish]

Something to think about, and maybe ask a pro about, is will your floors support the weight of stone or brick on the interior? Is your house built directly onto a foundation slab, or is there a crawlspace or basement underneath? This will probably affect the feasibility of your idea.

Also, and again, something to discuss with a professional, do you want actual stone and brick, or would wall treatments that simply LOOK like them make you happy? I haven't done any research, but I would expect the cost difference to be substantial.

[mjr]

We have a hardwood floor (white oak) in our living room. Our house is built directly onto a foundation slab. There's no crawlspace or basement.

I'd like actual stone and brick.

[TheSHAD0W]

They make "stone" that's actually the thickness of tile and about as lightweight. You'll need the same things for that as for tile; thinset/mastic, tools for applying it, spacers, and eventually grout.

[Jetfire]

yeah they make faux stones for that purpose; best thing to do is go to the local store and see the options they have. Putting it up should be simple, just like regular tile. Once you do the tile floor, tiling on a wall is the same thing. You'll spread your thinset/mastic on the wall, and backbutter the 'rocks' (spread a layer of mastic on teh back of the rock) and press it in place. IT should stay in place fairly easily. Remember to use spacers, and give it a day to dry, then fill in the gaps with grout. For the fauxrocks, you usually end up applying the grout between the tiles directly, with a small trowel (about the size of a toothbrush); you just spread it between stones (unlike tile which you spread over the tile and press between tiles with a sponge).

You mention the wall has electrical and a doorway. The electrical boxes may need extended out a bit so they are level with the rocks. It shouldn't be difficult, and if you hire someone to do the rock wall, they should know how to pull the boxes out for you. You may also want to replace the door trim on the rock side so it fits with the rock look; the existing trim will probably end up below the level of the rock and thus not look right.

For the space you have, it should take a pro an afternoon or so for the first part, and another afternoon for the grouting after it dries. They may be able to grout the same day depending on how fast things dry.

[Seshat]

Here's another consideration.

What will you do if (when) you decide to get rid of the stone/brick wall features?

What if there needs to be work done behind them (eg, an electrical fault, or plumbing work in the wall needs replacing?). Drywall can be easily patched and repainted, this can't.

When/if you need to sell the house, will this add to the value, or be a 'feature' noone wants?
If you're planning to sell within the next ten years or so, this is highly significant.
If you're planning to stay longer than that, expect to need to replace it to enhance sale value: it'll be waaaay out of fashion.

[Chromatix]

In British houses, there is usually the opposite problem - a solid brick wall that's in the way, and you have to work out whether it's structural or not before you decide to do anything to it. Often it's at least holding up the ceiling and floor above it, so the best you can do is to knock a hole through it and insert a lintel to structurally support the top part.

I would echo what's been said above, and try to arrange things so that sections of the covering can be removed to work on stuff inside the wall. Either that, or move the electrics to surface ducting, so that you don't have to pull the wall apart to get at it.