How to create the rock wall of your dreams for any room in your home.

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When Trevor and I started to build our dream home I knew I wanted to have a lot of old and new elements. This was important to me because I knew we would have a lot of mixed textures with the stained concrete floors, metal industrial spiral staircase, raw exposed beams, metal fireplace and many others that to me is where:

I had the chance to create a living space of where rustic meets modern.

The ability to bring elements of nature indoors was the look I was striving for. I love the organic feel of rock and stone. When we travel to other countries I am always infatuated with the use of stone for decor throughout homes and I thought it would bring an old world feel to our new build. Here are some tips for your DIY Rock Wall for your home.

How Did we create the Rock Wall?

We installed our stone directly over the existing sheetrock. The first step was to install a vapor barrier, we stapled 10mil black plastic to the wall. Next, we installed the metal lath by screwing it onto the studs at 6” spacing. After this, the wall is ready for the ‘scratch’ coat. Use basic mortar, mixed to a medium consistency that is wet enough to spread and dry enough to stay on the wall, nothing too scientific about it. Work the mortar into the lath completely and finish the surface with a scratch coat scarifier, or similar tool to roughen the surface, I used a notched flooring trowel because its what I had handy. Allow the mortar to dry a day or so, or until you cant work your finger into it any longer. At this point, you are ready to install your stone!

What product did we use to create the Rock Wall?

We chose a product called  Mill Creek Siena from Buechel Stone. It is a natural product, not a manufactured stone. It is heavier and more expensive than manufactured alternatives, but we felt the appeal was worth it. We bought enough corners to case the window and the rest were flats. We took the kitchen table out of the house and laid every stone on the floor after washing them. This is important because you will need to see all of your options while you are installing the rock. You will not use standard mortar for this phase. You will need a specific type of adhesive mortar, depending on your stone choice.

The mortar type depends on whether you choose natural stone or manufactured stone and your vendor can help with that. We rarely cut or broke pieces to fit, but when we did, I used a 4” grinder with a diamond blade to score most of the way through the back side, then snap the remainder to create a more natural edge and not cut a straight, manufactured edge.  After installing all of the stone and filling excessive gaps with smaller stone pieces, the wall can be grouted.

For this, standard type S mortar works well. Use a grout  bag, I have linked below or anywhere you buy grouting products. Mix the mortar wet so it can be squeezed through an approximately ¾” hole in the bag, which you will have to cut. I then squeezed mortar into the cracks and worked in sections. Once I finished a 3’x3’ section (or so) I allowed the mortar to set up until fairly firm, then press and smooth the grout with a damp yellow grout sponge. Try not to smear the grout onto the stone, as it is difficult to remove. I worked with two buckets of water and two separate sponges. One for the initial shaping and cleaning of the grout, and a cleaner bucket of water to finish cleaning each stone. Once everything has adequate time to dry, a sealer should be applied. There are many types of sealers that can provide different looks and different levels of protection, so you’ll have to decide what you want from your sealer. They range from high gloss-high protection which will allow anything to be simply wiped down, but sacrifices some of the old world feel of the finished wall. We preferred a matte product that would protect the stone from major messes, but would allow some additional character to develop over time.

We installed our stone directly over the existing sheetrock. The first step was to install a vapor barrier, we stapled 10mil black plastic to the wall. Next, we installed the metal lath by screwing it onto the studs at 6” spacing. After this, the wall is ready for the ‘scratch’ coat. Use basic mortar, mixed to a medium consistency that is wet enough to spread and dry enough to stay on the wall, nothing too scientific about it. Work the mortar into the lath completely and finish the surface with a scratch coat scarifier, or similar tool to roughen the surface, I used a notched flooring trowel because its what I had handy. Allow the mortar to dry a day or so, or until you cant work your finger into it any longer. At this point, you are ready to install your stone!

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Here are some images of the finished rock wall in our home. Eventually, when our budget allows I want to find a reclaimed wood beam to use at the single shelf in the kitchen.

A few items from Amazon that inspire how I decorated our kitchen.

I hope that this post has been helpful for you getting ready to put the rock wall of your dreams in your home. I really love when people suggest what I should blog about next, thank you for all the suggestions on the rock wall post! Pin some images on Pinterest for reference later. The links in this post are affiliate links, and buying products directly from these links truly helps me so much. Thank you for your support of this growing blog!

Happy almost spring time sweet friends!

Christina

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