Using stone outside the home is also in high demand these days. The façade, driveway, staircases, walkways, patio, retaining walls and landscape all feature here. The type of stone and finish that is chosen plays a significant role in setting the tone of the home.

If the budget does not allow for entire stone-faced exteriors, there are other outdoor areas where stone features can be used to dress up a property. Stone pavers for a driveway or walkway are just one way to enhance the look of a home’s exterior. Here, pavers are also a great option for a patio or pool deck. Large pieces of slate can create a pathway, giving the home a more rustic feel. Fieldstone is another popular choice for outdoor design. It has an inherent quality that truly laces the land. There are many reasons people choose fieldstone. Perhaps, it is because each region across the country and around the world has its own distinctive stone with its unique texture and blend of colors; they are the same from project to project and reflect a natural setting. Using fieldstone from local areas to re-create that emphasize existing and old, and are all good techniques. Some fieldstone can actually be salvaged from old barns, for example, for that authentic look and feel. Working with local stonemasons who take pride in their work can be a real learning experience.

Stone accents

There is always the possibility of accenting the exterior with the stone foundation or roof. In some projects, that might be a fair amount of stonework.

Today, slate is considered expensive building material, but everyone used this material to build their houses in the days of old because they would last forever. An abundance of slate can be used to enable a nature-inspired environment. In any large house, a lot of what you see is the roof. Most modern materials do not add any visual appeal, they just fortify the building. The natural surroundings of a residence can also play a key factor in the redesign or project. Stone and wood shingles lend themselves well to a natural atmosphere. Any park-like setting of a home can affect what type of slate you might use. Making a home fit into its environment can be tricky. Stone can be made visible in the design and sometimes choosing fieldstone for a foundation is a choice influenced by the local area.

Tying to the environment

Using building materials that reflect the natural environment is an optimal choice. Even if it includes greatly expanding an existing house, while slicing it in a much more environmentally friendly way. Getting the finished look using cut stone to keep the house a part of its environment can prove to be a challenge, but is surely worthwhile. There are different ways of making a home fit into its surroundings – grounding the house, so to speak. Using local field stone for example, in something like New York Bluestone, at low levels, incorporating the structure into the surrounding environment and so on, can all be done to compliment the project and structure.

Reflecting a region

Capturing a strong, local tradition of building with limestone, incorporating the native stone, as well using elements in the region’s industrial past, stone plays an important role in a design because of its beauty and regional relationship. There are also the partnerships with local quarries and stone manufacturers and almost symbiotic relationships that could affect the types and choice of stone. The primary residence could be made to resemble an aged barn with the foundation using local limestone. A home could easily sit on top of the hill, down on one side by rolling prairies and fields and by water on the other. The public views are where you will find and encounter most of the stone, thus, conveying feelings of permanence and a sense of anchoring. A curving roof supported by light steel trusses adds sophistication. Reject quarry stones can also be used alongside an existing reach line for instance. Other unique stones can also be scattered throughout the site. Limestone used as an unnaturally carved bowl that, in turn, is used to catch rainwater from the gutters, is a nice example. Natural stone can help you build a home that while deeply rooted in family and local history, can also find new expressions of those ideas. The new understandings of family and architecture can be revealed through wood and stone.

Laid-up stone

After deciding to use natural stone for an exterior façade of a residence, the next step is to determine how thick the stone pieces should be. The size of the pieces used, chemical differences, how long it would take to install, and what type of installation method will be implemented are all questions that require close consideration. Time and money are both important considerations here. If you ever look at an old barn, you will see that the stone on the corners is always carefully cut and old rubble is placed in between. This is because you build the corners and then the laborers would throw the stone in between the walls so it can be made to look thicker. Skilled stonemasons can lay sandstone practically stone upon stone with larger pieces placed at the corner, to compliment the sandstone, which was used for several exterior elevations. It can also include natural stone as paving for the bumpy areas. The combination of natural stone varieties on the exterior can give a rough feel that compliments the stark nature of the surroundings, as well as a feeling of refinement.

Inspired by nature

Sometimes a structure is needed that would not encroach upon the surrounding environment. Using stone from the site and maybe even the nearby cliffs sometimes, the building can easily be blended gently into the landscape. The missions of preservation can leave you wanting to make a place that had as little impact on land as possible. You could easily bury half of the building into a natural slope, so when you approach it, all you see is big blocks of stone and the overhead roof.

To maximize aesthetic impact, building sites should carefully be considered. Stone on a building could be aligned to give the impression that it comes out of the earth. Nature’s concrete is made from glacial movements pressing stones together until they form a solid rock. The appearance of stone will adjust with time, weathering in a very pleasing way. It acquires a patina due to minerals. The local skilled masonry remains a key element in finding stones from around the sites, not having to be carved, that can be placed at strategic points. Architect and stonemasons work closely together to achieve any desired look. Lots of mockups and samples are dealt with. Due to a broad variety of large and small stones near each other, masons can do mockups of large sections of walls to move the project forward. The cost of extracting stone from sites can often be offset by the fact that material does not have to be paid for. It could be that the stones are heavy in the process, very labor-intensive, but the material costs you nothing. To enhance the natural look, masons try to avoid electing more to show. A lot of the site work can and is actually determined in the field. For a few, choices can be made for something that lent itself to a particular landscape, like slate for example. Something that is maintenance free and looked timeless right from the beginning would be deemed most suitable. That summarizes the concept of building with the use of natural material.

Emulating the environment.

You can achieve something beautiful with natural stone, creating something that looks like it belongs in a place, looking as if not to have been stirred for ages. Boulders from the area can be incorporated into a design to create a lasting sense of place. The stone can come from the natural environment. Stone veneer can be laid on top, to make it up as a boulder outcropping.

For exterior façade, sandstone can be utilized throughout the structure. Regardless of whether it’s the side of the stone as opposed to the sawed surface of the stone, it can be used on the outside of a house to help maintain the sense of history in the area and to create some respect for it. There are long-term advantages to using, say, local Arizona sandstone, for example. It would age well and show a sense of timelessness. A building structure can also easily be structured into the ruins of an area for example. A building could be given a triangular shape with the slope toward the top to make it look like a ruin.

Communication and collaboration between the owners, architects, civil engineers and stonemasons is crucial. One such example: a design detail, a notch in a roof offers practical as well as aesthetic benefits and creates a colorful mark on the stone and would help prevent water from accumulating. Fire pits, for example, can also serve a dual purpose, functioning as elements of a home and recalling the rituals of the region. The use of stone can also be continued in window ledges, for example.