Picking the right brick and stone combination for your home can be an overwhelming process. There are so many colors of brick and stone that combinations can appear endless. This helpful three step guide walks you through the process of selecting the right stone for your home.
Step 1: The Types of Stone
The first step in picking the right brick and stone combination is to understand the differences in the major types of stone. There are many types of stone, but this article is going to focus on Ledgestone, Fieldstone and Ashlar Stone.
Ledgestone
Ledgestone is made to resemble chiseled, symmetrical tight fitting pieces of stone. It is dominated by longer rectangular pieces of stone that create the most linear appearance of the common types of stone. Each stone has four flat cut sides mimicking a chiseled appearance with a natural jagged and rough face for a more rustic appearance. Ledgestone typically are laid without any mortar joints creating a dry stack appearance that allows the color of the stone to dominate the appearance of the wall.
Fieldstone
Fieldstone is made to mimic the larger natural stones that are found and gathered and installed in their natural state. It is made up of large pieces with an irregular number of sides. Due to the randomness in the size and shape of the stones, they are always mortared in place with give or take a 1/2″ visible mortar joints. This visible joint allows the mortar to tie into the mortar in the brickwork while framing the natural beauty of the stone.
Examples of Fieldstone – ~1/2″ Mortar Joints
Ashlar
Ashlar Stone are larger format block style stones. They are made to embody the handcrafted stones used by masons over the centuries to construct famous stone structures. These stones have edges and faces that are made to look hand chiseled. They are large in size compared to Ledgestone and provide a contrast in scale to brick. Ashlar Stone is typically laid with a 1/2″ mortar joint, which can tie in with the mortar used in the brickwork.
Examples of Ashlar Stone – 1/2″ Mortar Joints
Step 2: Picking The Right Scale Stone For Your Application
First understand the application for the stone on the exterior of the house. Typical applications where brick and stone are used in combination are foundations, walls, entryways and details around windows. Once you know where you want to put the stone on your home then applying these design principals aid in selecting the right type of stone and the appropriate scale for the application.
1) Stone that is used underneath brickwork (example: in a foundation) should be in size that is larger than the brick. These stones are supporting the brickwork, so a more robust style of stone like an Ashlar, Fieldstone or larger format Ledgestone installed with a mortar joint is the preferred choice.
Tufts House Brick – White Mortar – Centurion – Cutface Brown Stone
2) Stone is a heavier material than brick and should not be used above the brickwork. It is however, perfectly acceptable to use stone by itself from the foundation to the roof alongside brick. One exception would be using stone above windows as an arch.
3) Stone that is used in larger spaces such are walls or chimneys work better with larger stones with a visible mortar joint. The larger scale of Fieldstone and Ashlar Stone make them the the perfect choice to cover these larger areas. The dry stack appearance should be avoided when working in applications that go many feet in the air.
Chesapeake Pearl – White Mortar – Centurion – Ashlar Bucks County Stone
4) Stone that is used in smaller sized more detailed applications lend themselves to using smaller scale stones. Ledgestone will allow more pieces to be used showcasing the color and texture ranges better than the chunkier Fieldstones and Ashlar Stones.
Step 3: Picking The Right Color and Texture of Stone
We talked to Wendy Yeakley and Brittany Raines of Homestyle Interior Designs who specialize in coordinating the right materials for the outside of homes to give us some tips on selecting the right brick and stone combination for your home.
1) Make selections that coordinate and don’t look too busy
2) If your brick choice has lots of color and variation, choose stone with less variance
3) Angular and colorful stone go well with brick that have a uniform appearance
4) Be sure either your brick or your stone relate to your roof color
5) Choose a brick and stone combination that is closely related if you want a more uniform facade
Examples
This Chesapeake Pearl Brick home is a wonderful mix of brick and stone. The Chesapeake Pearl Brick with White Mortar provides a subtly uniform white appearance. Slate Gray Fieldstone with White Mortar ties both the brick and the pewter gray roof together. The larger Fieldstones are large enough in scale and use an appropriate mortar joint for the application.
Chesapeake Pearl – White Mortar – Centurion Palos Verde Gray Stone
This Vienna Brick home is another well designed use of brick and stone. The earth toned Vienna Rumbled Brick play nicely with the slightly lighter earth tone Fieldstone. The white mortar used by both the brick and stone combination provide uniformity. Although this application is small enough in size to lend itself to using a dry stacked Ledgestone, the use of the 1/2″ mortar joints adds welcome character the the home.
Vienna – White Mortar – Coronado Tuscan Villa – Bordeaux Stone
This last example is an interesting spin on a Farmhouse style home that marries the use of brick and stone well. Our whitest brick, Villa Chase Brick is used with white mortar to create a uniform appearance. The larger and more colorful stone ties into the roof and offsets the uniform appearance of the brick.
Villa Chase Oversize – White Mortar – Coronado – Tuscan Villa – Brookside Stone
The featured image is French Manor Brick with White Mortar and Coronado – French Country Champagne Stone
Thanks to Coronado Stone Products for the stone pictures.