Building a Stone-veneer House Wall

Fasten metal lath to a masonry foundation wall with masonry nails. Overlap the edges by at least 3 inches and install corner beads. If you're facing a wood-sheathed wall, staple felt paper to the sheathing and nail the metal lath through the felt paper.

Dig a narrow trench along the foundation and set a pressure-treated 2x4 rated for ground contact in it. Drive stakes next to the batten. Fasten the batten to them with screws, leveling it as you go. The batten is a ledge for the stones to rest on.

Determine the pattern of the stones before mixing the mortar. Then mix the mortar and trowel a coat onto the lath. Embed the mortar fully into the lath, leaving no lath exposed.

Back-butter the stones one by one with a generous coat of mortar. Don't worry about applying too much; the excess will squeeze out and become part of the mortared joint.

Start at the corner. Push the back-buttered stones into the mortar. Arrange stones so the joints are offset. Continuous vertical or horizontal joint lines would not give the effect of an actual stone wall.

Starting from the cornerstone, back-butter and set the base stones, letting them rest on the batten. Mist the mortar on the metal lath occasionally so it doesn't set up prematurely. Don't leave the job if there's fresh mortar on the wall and it hasn't yet been covered.

Starting at either corner, set the next course of stones in the same fashion, placing each stone so it crosses the joint made by the two stones below. Offset the joints across the wall.

Set mason's blocks on the edges of the wall and use it to make sure the horizontal alignment of the courses is roughly in line and the faces of the stones are about the same distance out from the wall. When you have finished the wall, let the mortar cure, then finish the joints.

Drive stakes at both ends of the wall and string a level mason's line tightly between them. Check each course for level as you go, nudging the stones into place if necessary.

Begin alternate courses with stones of different sizes. Mortar the joints with a grout bag and brush off excess from the face of the stone immediately.

Grout the joints with a mortar bag. The bag makes clean joints and minimizes the amount of mortar that falls on the face of the stones. Fill the bag with mortar, close the end, and apply pressure to force the grout into the joints.

Let the mortar set up slightly, then clean off the excess with a whisk boom or stiff brush. Then let the mortar set up further, until you can just dent it with pressure from your thumb. Strike the joints.

You can use a variety of tools for striking facing-stone joints. A standard jointing tool, a pointed dowel, or even an old kitchen spoon will work.