Creative Faux Panels

Check out this quick, easy and dramatic backyard design project – accomplished using our Nailon Granite Gray Stone Wall panels.

There’s no better way to enjoy the summer sunshine than by the water – and customers Jane and Jim Sheridan had a beautiful swimming pool to enjoy in the back yard of their Georgia home. But despite the combination of crisp blue skies and sparkling blue water, one thing was stopping them fully enjoying their poolside relaxation: an ugly retaining wall.

Bare wood got the job done, but this retaining wall was ugly and attracted mold

“It was just plain unsightly,” Jim wrote to us, with accompanying pictures of his poolside project. “The wall was made of untreated and ugly wood, which would get damp and attract mold. Trying to cover it was a Band Aid solution to a bigger problem – after a few weeks, the paint would repeatedly peel.”

Jim and Jane’s options seem limited. The foundation wall did its job, even if it was unsightly, and replacing it with brick or stone would have taken weeks and cost thousands of dollars.

“We were at a loss as how to renovate,” Jim told us – until he and his wife learned about our Nailon faux stone wall siding.

Made from durable and weatherproof polypropylene, our Nailon Granite Gray Stone Wall panels install just like regular siding – and are molded from real stone, intricately detailed to look almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

This gave Jim and Jane two important advantages. Firstly, the faux stone panels wouldn’t get saturated with moisture as the wooden wall did – making it resistant to ugly and unsightly mold.

Secondly, the Nailon Granite Gray Stone Wall panels looked amazing – giving the instant impression that the Sheridan’s serviceable wooden retaining wall was actually created from hand-laid stone bricks.

As you can see from these “before” and “after” photos, installing faux stone panels on the retaining wall instantly transformed the poolside; giving it a clean, beautiful, top-dollar appearance for a fraction of the cost of building a real stone wall.

Even better, the job was quick and easy.

Nailon Granite Gray Stone Wall panels transformed this poolside retaining wall

“The siding was applied as part of one of our weekend projects,” Jim admits. “It was breathtakingly easy to install.”

Both Jim and Jane are thrilled at the results.

“We’ve already had so many compliments about how much this has added and improved the area. The wall is a centerpiece of beauty and sets off the area complimenting the deck – we could not be happier.”

What do you think of the Sheridan’s new poolside view? And have you used our faux stone panels for your own poolside or backyard design project? If so, we’d love to see the pictures.  Send them to us at info@fauxpanels.com.

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!

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.