What an artificial stone is, what you can do with your own hands

Imitating natural stone facing tile is effective on any surface. It is often used for interior cladding of rooms, for exterior decoration of fences and facades of buildings. In stores, the choice of tiles is rich. However, to decorate a summer house, a fence or a gazebo, you can make an artificial stone with your own hands. This will not only save your money, but also bring with nothing incomparable sensations.

What do you need?

In order to make an artificial stone with your own hands, you will need the following ingredients:

1. fine sand;
2. Cement grade M400 and above;
3. Separation composition;
4. water;
5. Rubber molds having a bottom with a relief similar to an untreated stone (they can be bought in any construction shop).

The whole process is divided into 5 simple steps.

Preparatory stage

Before you start making artificial stone with your own hands, you need to know the amount of material that will be needed for the cladding. To make it is necessary with a small margin. Depending on this stock, the cement slurry should be mixed . You will also need to lubricate the mold with a release agent so that the finished stone can be easily separated from it.

Mixing of the solution

In order to answer the question of how to make an artificial stone with your own hands, you must strictly consider all proportions. The ratio of sand, cement and water should be taken 3: 1: 1. To color the future stone in the mixture can add color. This is preferable to external painting of the finished material. Mix in a metal or plastic container. The resulting solution must be poured into a greased form. The thickness of the filled mass should not be more than three centimeters.

Forming

For better filling it is necessary to make a vibration shaking (for a large batch it is possible to make a shaker from an asynchronous motor with an eccentric and 4 springs and two metal / wooden platforms) or a bayonet (a small batch can be pierced with a spatula or trowel and slightly shaking the molds, tapping at the edges). This will help avoid the formation of air cavities in the solution.

Drying

Creating an artificial stone with your own hands, you need to understand how to dry it properly. For this form, you need to place it on racks with an even surface. In doing so, it is necessary to ensure that direct sunlight does not fall on the future product. Hardening tiles are periodically recommended to be moistened with water (small portions). In order to avoid the rapid evaporation of liquid from the surface of the stone, the molds must be covered with a polyethylene film.

Stripping

This is the process of extracting tiles from molds. Produce it must be neat. If the stone is stuck to the mold during the drying process, it should be placed in hot water (10 min) and knocked on the sides. Tile after this should come out without unnecessary problems.

Conclusion

On this, the conversation about creating a stone can be considered complete. As you can see, there is nothing complicated in this process. And if you all do it accurately and correctly, in the future you will be able to create more massive things. For example, it is quite easy to create a table, as the main material in which will be an artificial stone. The table top, which you can easily do with your hands after several training sessions, will look very impressive.