What Is a Faux Stone Wall?

A faux stone wall is a wall that is constructed to look like a traditional stone wall but is actually made with other materials. Concrete, for example, can be poured into casts that make the finished product look like stone, thereby promoting a visually appealing style while allowing the builder to build a strong wall through other means. Stone walls can be built strong, but they can also be unreliable and somewhat difficult to construct properly. Building a faux stone wall can help preserve the aesthetic of a traditional stone wall while making the construction process easier and the finished product strong and reliable.

Different types of walls can be constructed as a faux stone wall. Privacy fencing can even be made as a faux stone wall, making the finished fence appear like a stone structure even though the support of the structure may be concrete or even wood inside. Retaining walls can be made as faux stone walls; the load-bearing portion of the wall may be poured concrete, brick, stone, or even wood, and the faux stone panels can be placed on the broad face of the wall to improve the aesthetic.

Restaurants, office buildings, and other professional or business settings often use a faux stone wall look to improve the aesthetic of a room or rooms while still maintaining the structural integrity of the overall structure. Using faux stone panels in place of real stones or other materials can even help keep the cost of construction and decoration down, since faux stone panels are fairly inexpensive in relation to other types of veneers or decorative panels. Faux stone wall panels are becoming increasingly common on residential homes as well, improving the aesthetic as well as the water resistance of the structure.

Not all faux stone walls are precast as concrete. Walls can simply be painted to look like a stone wall — an optical illusion technique known as trompe l'oeil — or the faux stone look can be fashioned with other materials. Some homeowners choose to make the faux stone by hand, using foam insulation sheets, paint, and other materials used for hardening the final structure. The foam sheets are cut into shapes that look like stones, roughed up to mimic the feel and look of stone, and glued into place, then covered with cheesecloth and other materials to harden the finished product. This is a more time-intensive project, but it allows the homeowner to customize the look of the wall.