posted 07-08-2003 10:52 PM            

Basically, they are cement tiles that I have made using a one-time mold. They can be glued on almost any surface or reinforced with screws. As you make them yourself and the proceedure is relatively simple one can generate any shape, thickness etc. Strength of the tile molded needs to be considered.
PLUSPOINTS: Quickly manufactured, inexpensive, sizes and shapes custom made by oneself, looks strikingly realistic (kicks the stuffing out of split block), texture of tile can be altered to make more or less cracks/ridges/depressions/holes, rapid installation, lightweight (compared to real stone), needs minimal manpower. Also tiles are easily sawed with circular saw and masonry blade. Its easy to chip them in order to get adjoining tiles to fit more snug. Tiles will affix to most substrates (concrete, backerboard, plywood etc) but you want the substrate very solid (concrete or block prefered) so that theres no hollow sound when one pounds on it.
DRAWBACKS: Needs to be treated as the cement that it is; weatherproofing, faux painting stongly recomended, tiles arent strong, grouting strongly recemmended if not required in order to keep water from freezing between the substrate and tile causing damage and to keep critters out.
The tiles havent been put to the acid test outdoors so their longevity isnt known. I installed them inside covering all the walls of a small bedroom and also created a stone wainscoat for 3 other rooms. (details of this and their manufacturing proceedure available at FAUX STONE: boring details)
RECOMENED USE: a folly. Interior/exterior walls. Anything that you would create by casting or pouring cement can be modified by this proceedure to have its topical surface appear stone-like - takes effort and more time though. It so far is limited to smaller objects and non-structural elements because the manufacturing method involves removing the cement from the form before the cement has cured.
As soon as i get the photo-submittion thing figured out Ill send some in.

MISC. DETAILS: Estimated time to do one averaged-sized bedroom:
Manufacturing stone tiles: 2-4 days at 4-6 hrs. per day (depending upon the size of batch you make)
Prep time: 1 hr
Hanging tiles: about 3-4 days at 3-5 hrs. per day. One can hang about 3 courses per day due to the mastic needing to dry. If screws are used every other course or something like that im sure you could go higher - perhaps an entire 8-foot wall could be done in one day.
Painting: 1-3 days depending upon skill level of faux finisher and the desired detail.
The stone tiles are friendly when applying them around outside and inside corners as they can be sawed at a 45 and seams can be filled with morar mix(for outside corners) creating the illusion that the two tiles on different walls are actually one solid block.
FEEDBACK: everyone (without exception) who's seen the veneer has had a definate reaction to it. most ask if its real and stare at it and ask how I did it.

FAUX STONE VS. REAL STONE: Personally, i prefer the real thing. Who wouldn't? However, I intend on trying to keep my budget under 750K and doing what i want to do with real stone makes my project unreal for me unless I make some serious dough.
The faux and real stone can be used together (e.g. real stone floors and faux walls) but one needs to make sure that they will match in texture.