How To Cut Artificial Stone

Natural

Previously, natural stone was used to beautifully decorate wall surfaces inside or outside the house. True, its high cost did not always make it possible for an average person with an average income to make such a chic finish.

Natural stone example

Granite or marble were in demand. And today, such materials are used in finishing work, although much less often. Natural stone can often be found in the decoration of some parts of kitchens, and there are several reasons for this:

• Long service life;
• High impact strength of the material;
• Good resistance to temperature extremes;
• Beautiful and chic appearance of the stone;
• Environmental friendliness of the material.

Natural stone can be used to cover not only walls, but also floors. True, in this case, it is additionally necessary to equip the heating system, since the stone does not have good thermal insulation characteristics.

Artificial

The history of interior design and decoration demonstrates that the use of artificial stone began somewhat later than natural. Artificially made decorative cladding allows a comprehensive approach to the solution of finishing tasks. A wild stone, sharpened by nature itself, is expensive at a price, so not everyone has the opportunity to use it in finishing work. That is why its artificial analogue for walls has found such a demand in society.

Artificial stone example

Outwardly, the material is not much different from natural, moreover, it is based on natural components that are not hazardous to human health. The cost of the material is lower compared to natural stone, and in terms of the variety of textures and colors, the artificial version is in many ways superior to the natural counterpart.

Working with decorative finishing stones is very simple, the technique of gluing them to the surface is simple, and can be done even by a non-professional. The material is successfully used to create zonal areas in the kitchen or in another room.

How to glue

For decorative stone, the front surface, as a rule, has irregularities, which significantly complicates the laying process. In the usual way, using a level, as happens when tiling walls, it will not be easy to align the plane with the decorative stone. And for this reason, when dealing with the question of how to glue an artificial stone, you should be aware of the need for preliminary and thorough leveling of the surface to be faced.

The process of leveling the walls before finishing them with artificial or natural decorative stone is carried out by plastering the surface, or finishing it with plasterboard. Before gluing the artificial stone to drywall, the walls must be primed, since this procedure helps to increase the adhesion characteristics of adhesive solutions to the surface.

It is not so difficult to decide how to glue an artificial stone to the wall. You just need to adhere to a certain technology. Before finishing, the surface is cleaned of dust, covered with a layer of primer, and then glue is applied to it with a comb spatula. The decorative stone is pressed lightly directly into this adhesive solution. But the main difficulty is not even styling. It is very difficult for an inexperienced craftsman to cover corners and butt joints on the surface with decorative stone. We will pay special attention to these two aspects.

• The corners of a room can be shaped with decorative stone in two ways. The first of these is to lay the stone by binding the corners during the brickwork process. In this option, it becomes necessary to cut the stone at an angle of 45 ºC. Although this method of facing corners is simple, it is not very attractive for ordinary people due to the poor quality of the resulting facing.
• If quality is important to you, we recommend giving preference to the second method of forming corners, which does not involve cutting the stone at any angle. The advantage of this option lies in the fact that if any errors appear, they can be easily hidden with the help of a putty composition. If necessary, a pigment is added to the putty solution, which is similar in color to the shade of the decorative stone. Solving the problem of how to glue an artificial stone made on the basis of cement will be a little more difficult. Here, the sealing of errors is carried out with a plaster mixture or a special adhesive solution for tiles. If there is a texture on the surface of the facing material, then if necessary, it can be recreated with water-based paint. As for grouting when laying an artificial facing stone, in most cases it is not done, since the grouting solution greatly spoils the appearance of the decorative material.

These are all the tools you can use when laying.

A must-have tool kit when laying stone

Everything you need to know when facing walls with decorative stone

Decorative stone is one of the materials in demand in modern construction, used for interior and exterior decoration of living rooms. It is characterized by strength, resistance to moisture and low temperatures, unpretentious maintenance, attractive appearance. The facing material will look spectacular both in a country house and in an ordinary apartment. True, it should be correctly selected and high-quality styling performed. Actually, how decorative wall decoration is carried out using decorative (artificial or natural) stone, and will be discussed in this article.

Bonding decorative stone on the wall [contents h2]

Decorative stone and its history

The interior decoration of a brick house with facing material in modern finishing works is in great demand, and this is due to the excellent operational and aesthetic characteristics of the material. Interesting history of the creation of the material.

Wall covered with decorative stones

For the first time stone for surface finishing appeared in Ancient Egypt, when there were Egyptian tombs. Then it was applied to the walls by hand, and then painted, creating a complete imitation of natural material. Under the influence of sunlight, the paint gradually faded, making it more similar to an element of natural origin.

In the 16th century, the procedure for making the material became much more complicated, because stone powder and adhesive solution were included in its components. The adhesive was then obtained from plant and animal adhesives, and the components of the future glue were thoroughly kneaded with your feet to obtain a high-quality adhesive mixture.

The popularity in the construction of artificial stone was due to the nobleness of the forms of the material, its unpretentiousness and ease of use. Already in the middle of the 19th century, it was widely used in the construction environment as an excellent decor option. The rapid spread of such cladding at that time was noted in North America and the European continent. The material was often used to decorate columns, balustrades and other decorative elements inside residential buildings. In the West, this element of decoration was used for the careful restoration of architectural monuments. One of the typical examples of stone cladding are fragments of London’s Buckingham Palace. This residence belongs to the royal family, but, despite this, artificial decorative material was used to clad its elements.

In the modern sense, the material is of natural and artificial origin. Basically, an element of artificial production is used in finishing work. It appeared several decades ago and was able to quickly become a worthy replacement for the natural and more expensive wild stone.

Inside the house

Having decided on what to glue the artificial stone on, as well as having formed the corners in the room correctly, you can proceed to the execution of the main cladding technology, which looks like this:

• Preparation of adhesive solution. Often, experienced craftsmen use a two-component glue for stone, consisting of a dry glue mixture and water, in which this composition is mixed. The finished mass for gluing the decorative stone should be very thick. This effect can be achieved by mixing the solution with an electric drill with a special nozzle. When mixing the solution in water with a temperature of at least 20 degrees, the glue retains its properties for 3 hours after mixing. During this time it will need to be used.
• The finished glue should be spread in a thin layer (about 0.6 cm) over the surface where the decorative stone will be glued. The glue is leveled with a notched trowel, and then a layer of glue 0.5 to 1 cm thick is applied to the back of the facing stone using a flat trowel.
• The stone is glued to the surface with a rotational movement so that the glue solution protrudes from all sides. This simple technique provides a good seal for the joint areas. Remains of glue are quickly removed, and the formed rows of cladding are then leveled and additionally fixed with dowels. Wall cladding with stone inside the house
• According to a special scheme, decorative stone is glued in humid and aggressive environments. So, for example, swimming pools or saunas can be lined with artificial or natural stone, but before laying the material, their surfaces and walls must be treated with a hydrophobic solution characterized by frost resistance and excellent heat-shielding characteristics. The solution to another important question related to whether it is possible to glue a decorative stone on wallpaper, you should pay attention to the reliability of fixing the paper decor. If the wallpaper does not come off the surface, then the stone can be glued to them, having previously applied a layer of primer to the surface.

How to cut porcelain stoneware

Porcelain stoneware is much more difficult to process than other types of artificial stone. To cut or drill it correctly, you must do it from the front. If the stone is not fixed, then a board must be laid on the floor to cut it. If you need to drill a hole in porcelain stoneware more than 8 mm in size, it is better to first make a smaller hole, and then expand it at the same point. For this, a medium or high power rotary hammer is quite suitable. It is best to use a diamond tool for this material.

How to cut artificial stone?

Artificial stone has gained wide popularity and popularity all over the world. And all because it looks like a natural one, but it costs less and has greater strength. Artificial stone is used to decorate the interior of the house (most often in kitchens and bathrooms) and to arrange garden paths. Many are interested in the question: how can an artificial stone be cut, and we will now try to answer it.

Artificial stone is made from materials of different hardness, and the production technology is not the only one used. The cutting method is chosen depending on the type of stone.

• Agglomerate. consists of large pieces of quartz, granite, lime and marble, which are combined with polyester resin, which makes the stone very durable.
• Concrete-based stone. similar to concrete, as it consists of sand and cement (sometimes gypsum is added instead of cement). Cheaper than agglomerate, but less durable, susceptible to moisture and low temperatures.
• Porcelain stoneware. consists of pressed kaolin clay, therefore it is very hard and reliable.
• Acrylic stone. made from a fine-grained filler impregnated with acrylic resin. Ductile when heated, susceptible to high temperatures and scratches.

How to cut acrylic and plaster

Acrylic stone, as mentioned above, is quite plastic, therefore, you do not need to use very powerful tools for it, even drills for metal and wood are suitable. Gypsum is also not particularly capricious. If you have a hacksaw for metal or sandpaper, this will be enough.

Artificial stone cutting

In general, artificial stone is cut using the same tools as concrete. True, some species are very durable and require a different effect, but more on that later. Now let’s consider how you can cut an artificial stone of medium strength.

If you need to make holes in the stone, use a screwdriver, drill or perforator. The latter tool is more efficient and practical. An angle grinder should be used to cut the artificial stone. It is important to choose the right attachments for the tools so that the drilled slot does not turn out to be too small or large, and the cut piece of stone is the size you need. It is much easier to cut along the mowing line marked with a pencil or construction tape.

Artificial stone than saw. How to drill and cut artificial stone

Artificial stone in appearance is sometimes difficult to distinguish from natural. And in terms of strength and resistance to external weathering, in some cases it can even surpass it.

Types of decorative stone: agglomerate, acrylic stone, porcelain stoneware, artificial concrete stone.

It is very important that the weight of such a stone and its cost is much lower than that of natural.

These qualities largely determine its popularity in the interior and exterior decoration of houses and apartments. It is also used when laying garden paths, equipping bathrooms, making countertops and window sills. Therefore, many home-builders are interested in how to cut such a stone, if you need to change its size or shape, how and how to drill holes, for example, for water pipes.

Artificial stone made using different technologies has different hardness. This depends on which components were used as filler and binder. All such types of stone can be divided into:

• Agglomerate;
• Acrylic stone;
• Porcelain stoneware;
• Artificial stone on a concrete base.

Punch device diagram.

Agglomerates, which include large quartz, granite, marble or limestone chips, and sometimes whole pieces of stone bound with polyester resins, can be stronger than natural samples. The acrylic stone contains a fine-grained filler (up to 70%) and acrylic resin. This distinguishes it from agglomerates, makes it plastic when heated. It can be scratched or scorched.

Products made of porcelain stoneware are superior in hardness to ceramics and glass, since their main component is highly compressed kaolin clay.

Stones made from sand and cement or Portland cement have similar properties to ordinary concrete. In some cases, manufacturers replace white cement with gypsum. Such artificial stones are less hard, can be easily processed, are cheaper, but they are relatively easily destroyed by moisture and low temperatures.

How to saw an artificial stone?

Before work, you need to clearly know how to cut the artificial stone in order to properly cut the stone sheet. The preferred option is the universal plunge-cut saw.

The question of how to cut an artificial stone worries mainly those who decided to make an original countertop. After all, a plunge saw is considered indispensable in work, since it has a high indicator of cutting accuracy.

The choice of how to cut an artificial stone will be quite quick, since the models of the plunge-cut saw have different functionalities. Having determined how to cut an artificial stone, and using this tool in practice, you can produce various parts of the required sizes and configurations.

How To Cut Artificial Quartzforms Stone?

At the beginning of work, you need to ask how to cut an artificial stone so that the work is done at a professional level. Specialists use a special diamond tool. a machine with diamond discs. Choosing how to cut an artificial stone, you need to know that there are two types of diamond discs. The wet cutting process is carried out with periodic cooling of the blade with water. When dry cutting, it is necessary to observe that the heating of the circle passes evenly.

When choosing how to cut an artificial Quartzforms stone, it is also recommended to take into account the following technical indicators: the thickness of the plates and the grain size of diamond spraying. Knowing how to cut an artificial stone, you can be sure that the work will be done as efficiently as possible.

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How to cut, saw and paint artificial stone: competent processing

Published: 9 May 2017. Posted by Victoria. Heading: Building materials. Views: 3085. Subscribe to comments via RSS.

Before starting finishing work, you should know how to cut, sawn and paint the composite material so that the finish is of the highest quality.

How to paint an artificial stone?

To decide how to paint an artificial stone, you need to know how to paint it. The most popular method is the technology of dyeing the material in bulk (adding pigments directly to the dye mixture).

To solve the problem of how to paint an artificial stone, there are other options:

Adding paint to molds before pouring;

Application of the dye mixture directly to the finished product.

Having decided how to paint an artificial stone, you need to know how to apply a mixture for coloring. There are three main options:

Sprinkle some areas of the casting molds with a powdered pigment additive;

Apply with a spray bottle;

A mixture of various consistencies is prepared in several containers, while the pigments are mixed according to the tinting tables.

Knowing how to paint an artificial stone, and how to use a pigment additive, you can achieve the uniqueness of the color scheme and the correct coloring of the material.

So, having decided what tools are required for cutting, sawing and painting the composite material, you can safely translate your original ideas into practice.