Exterior Stone Renovation: A Guide in 2021

It is well said that the first impression is the last. In the case of a house, its exterior could be the first sight for anyone looking at it. It means the exterior design of your home plays a crucial role in creating a first good impression in the minds of your visitors.

No worries if your home is getting old and lost its old charm, as we have many ways to remodel or renovate the look-n-feel of your home without breaking a bank. Yes, you can do it within your budget and without compromising in terms of quality metrics.

World of Stones USA is the first place where you can opt right guidance regarding your home, and this post is about an exterior stone renovation guide. We have tried to provide you essential info once you think of home renovation or home remodelling in a nutshell.

Our blog is full of posts, which are touching different aspects of property renovation in detail. So, I am not going to describe a plethora of details for different areas, processes, and materials. Instead, I’ll confine myself to present only vital aspects of exterior stone renovation projects when a newbie is approaching it.

My aim is to save you from nightmares of cost overruns, shady contractors, and shoddy work. Let’s begin!

Set a Budget for Stone Renovation Project

Setting a budget in the first-place means having a solid plan in your hands to work out. You must have a figure of your savings or the capacity of your credit card to bear hefty expenses in the coming days.

If you assume the material costs and labor charges as the budget, you might have a high chance to accept financial shocks once you begin the actual work. Thereby, I am giving you a brief list of expenses that must include in a budget.

Local permission or license fees.
Renovation often contains the demolition of the existing construction. So, think of demolition-related expenditure.
Disruption in the landscape design and its estimated correction costs.
Material costs including transits and labor charges.
Charges of contractors or stonemason you hire for your exterior stone renovation project.
Consultation charges if you hire an architect or engineer for drawing working design and expected design options.
Finally, accidental expenses you have to face during the renovation period or immediately then after.

Set Timeline for Stone Remodelling Project

Setting a timeline is not a matter of you alone! Of course, you can involve the estimation of a period given by your contractor and your consultant in your assumption of time. It would be a practical approach as per my opinion, as those are experienced people in the industry and know multiple factors involved in setting a project deadline.

Who Will Help You in Your Stone Renovation Project? Pro or DIY

Some minor renovation projects like laying stepping stone path, driveway pavers, or small patio pavers in your backyard or landscape are within your capacities to go Do-It-Yourself (DIY) ways.

However, creating a big patio, swimming pool, long and intricate paths, and driveways, façade renovation, exterior walls, and touching structural elements in a renovation project definitely demand the help of professionals such as:

Exterior designer
Architects
Engineers
Consulting firms in the construction niche

If you are not aware of anyone in your locality, World of Stones USA in Maryland has a wide network of distributors, contractors, and consultants to pinpoint you. Moreover, our stone consultants are capable of guiding you on the various DIY projects if you are ready to tackle them all.

Define Your Expectations Out of Stone Remodeling

The expectation of renovation projects in your exterior means the aim or purpose behind the renovation of those construction elements in your landscape.

Many homeowners allocate a budget for home remodelling on a regular basis with an aim to increase the reselling value of the property when they need to sell it.
Some houses are getting old over time and need renovation instead of repairing.
Some homeowners have a purpose of beautifying the overall appearance of the property and pick chances up with some renovation.
Many landlords wish to get high rentals of their properties by investing in renovating its exterior first or last.
Maintenance of a property becomes daunting when it demands frequent attention. To save from it, natural stones like granite, quartzite, and some sandstone varieties are proving effective remedies against concrete or any synthetic material used in outdoor construction elements.
Energy saving is everyone’s target, and the use of materials, texture, and colors can help you in it.
Every human loves the beautiful property, and the curb appeal of your exterior is the way to achieve it in your property.
Weathering impacts always affect the look-n-feel of property and renovation with stones like material can not only slowing it down but also give the construction elements a timeworn effect,

Define Areas for Stone Renovation

This is the point when we will find ourselves in a great dilemma. Yes, it is not easy to define the areas that should cover under renovation projects at a time for an ordinary homeowner. It is the vital aspect of the project where we mostly sought after the advice of the pro.

No doubt, budgetary constraints, and ultimate requirements are the main points to consider in the decision-making process.

Although, neither I have the time nor the space to cover all possible outdoor areas in this post. I am going to mention a few here.

Entryway

If first impressions take a few seconds, then the entryway can tell the entire story. We have seen how natural stones make & break your impression when applied to the entryway.

Myriads of designs are available for exterior entryways serving different purposes. It means you have enough room to apply natural stone pavers in & out of the outdoor entryway.

You can create steps before getting entry into the home entrance door. Placing some furniture for the guest on the porch and design walls with stone veneers are some alluring ideas to offer beauty and utility to your entryway.

Backyard

The backyard is the place for a range of activities, including relaxing, partying, drink, breakfast, lunch, and just time-pass with family or friends. If you have space constraints, I have described various ways to make your backyard spacious.

Using pergola, trellis, partition walls useful elements to bring beauty along with usability in the exterior renovation project. Creating an outdoor patio could be your budgetary concern but a highly feasible idea to implement.

You can mix stone patio pavers with gravels/pebbles and grass to delineate different spaces for different purposes in your backyard.

Swimming Pool

In a sense, a swimming pool is a luxury for many homeowners with the limited landscape but is excellent if you already have one and you are going to invest in its remodeling. Natural stone pavers for swimming pool decks and pool coping tell something about durability and elegance.

Natural stones are gorgeous material to tone up with natural water, and swimming pool amalgamates both. You can soak in the good life with swim-up pool counters.

Stone boulders and large stone pieces have the potential to mimic a natural waterfall if you have a powerful pro to design and install.

Adjoining a spa can let you get fresh before taking a dip into the pool. During pool renovation, you have a chance to implement the latest drainage technology under the deck and pool coping.

Façade

Decorative façade with column and roof shingle bring the memory back of the past era. Today, we have a stone veneer to replace stacked stone walls and columns. Stone strips horizontally laid on walls are mimicking wooden logs.

Sometimes I see modern architecture with synthetic materials failing in giving beauty that your eyes can love and touches that your skin is striving for. In short, we miss the natural elements like woods and stones in our modern architecture and bring harm to us and our planet.

Walking Path

The same complaints I am repeating here for walkways or paths in your outdoor areas. Coal tar and cement blocks are hardly environment-friendly elements when you think of renovations of your paths. Setts, stone bricks, and cobblestone are products of nature itself.

Thus, you can obtain sustainability besides porosity to drain the excess water on the surfaces. Moreover, weather resistance comes as a bonus.

Driveway

Most environmentalists are against the application of bitumen in driveways. So, most folks are looking for a highly sustainable yet sturdy alternative in materials, and natural stone is the most sought-after material in the present days.

Easy maintenance, durability, and natural elegance are real motives behind stone renovation ideas for your driveways.

Firepit

The firepit is an inevitable element of outdoor living particularly in cold regions of the world or climate with extremity. If you dig a temporary pit for the fire, now it is time to think of the permanent fire pit in your outdoor living area.

Natural stone fire pit kit is available at World of Stones USA with the best price and a range of colors in stones. Of course, you have ample scope to use the same kind of stones in creating a seat wall around the firepit.

Outdoor Landscape Paving

Augmenting surfaces under the foot should be a target of your landscape paving during remodeling. Stone pavers are the best alternative to offer additional advantages with some more expense on the renovation.

The Stone surface stays cool to the touch. The porous texture of stone grants slip-resistance. Dry laying usually drains excess water. Stone pavers are weatherproof and durable to remain for decades with you.

Outdoor Kitchen

Let’s enjoy cool air on warmer days while eating outdoors. An outdoor kitchen is an instant idea when you satisfy your appetite without sweating more in the indoor kitchen.

Whenever you renovate your outdoor patio or create an additional landscape, the erection of a stone kitchen and laying a dining table with chairs are sumptuous things to think over.

Granites and quartzites could be your choice of stones for the kitchen countertop. You can replace your wooden countertop with fantastic stone slabs.

Retaining Walls

Landscape designers often face uneven lands during a renovation project. They usually take the help of stone retaining walls to get the perfect remedy.

Stone cubes with mortar or simply dry-stone walling can work amazingly to provide sturdy retaining walls with astounding beauty. Creating curvatures in garden walling and arranging for seat walls, all with beautiful stones bring an appealing scene to your landscape.

planting colorful plants and creating abstract in design with paths are somethings I recommend while you go for landscape renovation using stone walls.

Select Who Will Work on Your Stone Remodeling Project

If you are looking for quality work for your remodeling home projects, complete guidance by professionals with adequate experience and expertise is mandatory.

Whenever you hire a pro, check the portfolio first and take opinions from the previous patrons, be it a contractor, exterior designer, architect, engineer, or stonemason.