Real stone cladding systems: the versatility of stone veneer for residential and commercial projects

Stone is a material that has been used in construction across the world for millennia, with its timeless beauty harnessed today in stone veneer – a versatile and cost-effective solution for modern designs. 

As suppliers of New Zealand’s only BRANZ-appraised real stone veneer cladding system, Craftstone New Zealand gives customers and design professionals the confidence to use a system that has been independently and invasively tested to ensure it meets the highest standards for durability, weather-tightness, wind loading and seismic performance under New Zealand’s Building Code. 

Petros Holdings owns both the Craftstone New Zealand and Mineral Plaster Technology brands. Its expertise in the development of plaster systems and mortar adhesives provides the unique ability to apply Craftstone real stone veneer to a wide variety of different substrates.  

“The BRANZ-appraised Craftstone Real Stone Veneer System ((793) 2019) is for the application of stone veneer over a specific 9mm fibre cement substrate. This is the most commonly used system when it comes to new builds and is among the most cost-effective,” says Rhys Metcalfe, managing director at Petros Holdings.

Concrete block, brick, in-situ concrete pours and tilt-slab systems

“Craftstone’s proprietary Craftbond Mortar Adhesive is widely regarded as the best on the New Zealand market. Its elasticity and tensile strength have been enhanced even further with the addition of a proprietary CSBR plasticiser called Petralastic,” says Metcalfe.  

After being sealed with Craftstone’s penetrating silane/siloxane sealer, the stone is adhered directly to these masonry substrates, turning boring facades into naturally beautiful surfaces that seamlessly merge into their surrounding environment.

“Another key benefit of our system is the sealer that we use before applying the mortar adhesive. This is a penetrating nano-tech sealer. It is tremendously important to avoid the use of membrane sealers. A penetrating sealer will allow a direct bond between the stone and the substrate while ensuring a durable weathertight surface.” 

AAC panels, AAC block, polystyrene sheets, ICF (insulated concrete forms) and polyisocyanurate panels

“We use the first stages of the BRANZ-appraised MPT Meshclad System to assist in applying our stone veneer over AAC, polyisocyanurate and polystyrene substrates. We use Mineral Plaster Technology Bondcoat, reinforced with fibreglass mesh, over those substrates. We then let that cure, seal it with our penetrating sealer, and use that as the substrate to bond our stone to. It’s proven very, very reliable and very strong,” says Metcalfe.

“This is one way in which we use the Mineral Plaster Technology systems to support the Craftstone system for some substrates.”

PVC Concrete Forms

In a recent project where the construction process had changed between two stages of development, Craftstone was able to offer a solution with its ability to bond stone veneer to PVC concrete forms.

“At the Huapai Country Club, we had already put 160sqm of our quarry stone product on stage one of the development, but on stage two they changed the construction method and started using PVC concrete forms. Asked if it was possible to bond the stone to that, we worked with Maxilam and Bostik to use two high-tack MS adhesives to bond directly to the PVC surface.”

“These were both structural MS adhesives that we’ve used to bond it to the PVC concrete forms, something that, as far as we know, no one else has ever done in New Zealand,” says Metcalfe.

Craftstone has a nationwide network of approved installers who have been trained in the use of the Craftstone systems. 

“Quality of workmanship is monitored,” says Metcalfe. “We have contracts with each of these installers so that if there’s ever an issue, we can call them to go back to the site to correct any installation issue that may arise, and we manage that process directly for the client.”

Once installed, only periodic cleaning is required to maintain the appearance of the stone. A penetrating sealer can also be applied to extend the length of time between cleaning.

“With real stone, if there is any minor damage, chips or bumps, you see more stone underneath – you don’t know that there’s necessarily been any damage. However, with some imitation stones, if you chip or scrape them, you see raw concrete underneath. Real stone is a bit more forgiving when it comes to impact damage and never suffers from colour fading.”

Full sets of detail drawings for each system are available from Craftstone, with a CAD drawer available to assist with alternative details when required.

“Architects and clients can have confidence in the fact that our systems have been independently and invasively tested to the point of failure, exceeding all building code requirements. The BRANZ appraisal allows the system to go up to 10 metres, and with sign-off from a facade engineer we’ve got as high as six storeys.”

There is also no limit in choice of colour with hundreds of suppliers worldwide. 

“If we don’t have a colour, we can probably get it. We have imported several colours specifically for a number of projects,” says Metcalfe. “We carry about two and a half million dollars worth of stone veneer in stock in our Auckland warehouse and we distribute nationwide and into some Pacific islands.”

Explore stone veneers from Craftstone for your next commercial or residential project, and explore Craftstone’s projects for inspiration.