Creative Faux Panels

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!

We write a lot here about faux brick and stone veneer, but let’s not forget faux wood panels. And while we’re at it, let’s not forget other coordinating faux wood materials like beams and corbels — which you can find at our sister site FauxWoodBeams.com.

Two of our newest panels are Woodland and Raised Grain, and they’re each part of a larger family of faux products. The Woodland family includes custom beams, corbels and mantels. The Raised Grain family includes beams, corbels and scrolled-end beams.
When you combine flat panels with solid beams and accessories in a single project, you can get really amazing results. The photo shows what one of our customers did with Raised Grain panels and beams to transform a high ceiling into an architectural feature that defines the entire room.

So today’s tip is simple: When you’re thinking about using faux panels for your project, think beyond the flat stuff. Think about solid, three-dimensional stuff like beams, corbels and mantels as well.

When you cover a wall with fake stone panels, one of the classiest ways to treat electrical switches and outlets is to surround them with beveled stone frames. The frames are part of our Wellington line of dry stack fake stone wall panels, but you can use them with other panels as well. They come in seven colors, so you’re sure to find one that coordinates with just about any panel color.

Ah, but you say: “What about double and triple switches?”

I’m so happy you asked. The answer’s in the picture:

You see the trick right away. But let’s spell it out and fill in the details. First, for a double switch.

• You’ll need two frames for a double switch. And you’ll need a tube of matching textured caulk to form the “grout line” between the two frame pieces.
• Cut each of the two frames into a C shape, keeping the legs of the C as long as possible without cutting into the miters at the corners.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Dry fit the two pieces together and lay your switch plate on top to check for size. You’ll want just enough space between the legs of the Cs to form a nice-looking grout line. If the legs are too long, carefully trim off a bit.
• You can assemble the two pieces in place on the wall, or on a work surface ahead of time. If you assemble them on a work surface, lay down a sheet of wax paper to work on. Apply a little grout to the ends of the legs, and position the pieces together so they’re square, even and properly spaced. Then carefully wipe the caulk to form a neat grout line. Leave the assembly undisturbed while the caulk firms up, and then handle it gently when you glue it to the wall the next day.

For a triple switch, you follow the same procedure, but you need to add straight pieces between the legs of the Cs to make the frame wider. So you end up with two grout lines top and bottom.

The good news is that you can cut these two extra straight pieces from the leftover bits of the two frames you’ve already cut. You don’t need to buy and cut up a third frame.

You remember Rapunzel, right? A wicked witch shut her up in a tower with no stairs or door, and the only way up was to climb her long, braided, golden locks. “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!”

Hey, I’m not making this up.

The point is, what would the story of Rapunzel be if there weren’t a fabulous stone window for her to let down her hair from? And the point also is, now you too can have fabulous stone windows that Rapunzel would be proud to call her own. The only witchery involved is using faux keystones, trim blocks, trim strips and ledgers.

Here’s what the blocky pieces look like. There’s the full keystone that goes in the center, the left and right keystones that fit against the center one, and square trim blocks. You buy each piece separately, so you can piece them together as you like. The closeup shows the nice depth and texture.

With these four simple building blocks plus trim and ledger pieces, you can create just about any look you want, from the simple to the fanciful. Here are eight examples (click to enlarge).

But, you may ask, what about that nice arched window Rapunzel is leaning out of in the photo? Not a problem (click to enlarge).

So what are you waiting for? You don’t need a stone tower or even a fair-haired maiden to make this project an enchanting success.

If the retaining wall in your yard is your pride and joy and the envy of all your neighbors, you can skip this tip.

In my case, my old railroad-tie retaining wall was so ugly, I finally had it ripped out and the whole yard re-graded to eliminate the need for it. But if I’d found this idea first, I would have given it serious consideration. I do believe it would have cost a heckofalot less.

The idea is to turn that ugly stack of railroad ties or poured concrete or masonry blocks into a nice faux stone wall. You know faux stone veneer works great outdoors, but you might not have thought of using it on this kind of wall.

The key to the project is not to just stick stone veneer on the front surface but to keep and enhance the look of a solid, thick wall. And you do that with wall caps. They absolutely make the whole project. They come in gray or tan to coordinate with just about any stone veneer you like, and they’re available in two widths for thick or extra-thick walls.

The wall caps are made of polyurethane just like the faux panels are, with all the same advantages of light weight, easy installation, and durable good looks.

The fact is, this is a project that delivers a lot of bang for the buck, and for the time and effort you put into it. You transform ugly into beautiful for a very reasonable investment of time and money, and have a blast doing it. It would even be a great starter project for someone who’s never worked with faux panels before.

Makes me wish I hadn’t torn out that old railroad-tie wall.

Of course you only want to do this to a retaining wall that’s stable and sound to begin with. If yours isn’t, then you may soon have more serious problems than your neighbor’s disapproving eye.

One of the best things that’s happened to building construction in the past 15 years is the Insulating Concrete Form, or ICF. This interlocking system for sandwiching poured concrete between two layers of insulating foam is the greatest thing since … well, you know.

Anyway, once you’ve made one of these energy-efficient wall sandwiches, you need to cover it with something. And one of the options, for the inside or outside, is faux paneling. Naturally.

So here’s the tip. To cover an ICF wall with faux paneling, use the quicker sticker upper. Otherwise known as Handi-Stick®.

Handi-Stick is a cross between standard construction adhesive and spray foam. It comes in a cartridge, and you apply it with either a pro dispensing unit or a simple straw applicator. It comes out just like a bead of regular adhesive, but foamy.

So why use it? Because you can apply it to the back of a panel, press the panel in place on the wall, hold it flat for a minute or two, let go, and — you’re done. That panel’s stuck for good. Tight, flat, permanent. No drilling, no screwing, no screw holes to fill. Next panel, please.

Of course you do want to make sure you’ve marked exactly where it goes before you start squirting the Handi-Stick. That’s true of any fastening method, but with this one we really mean it. You’ve got five minutes to make contact with the wall, and then just a few moments to nudge it into its forever home.

Click to learn more about Insulating Concrete Formsand Handi-Stick.