It’s long been acknowledged that curb appeal can increase the value of a home and decrease the time it takes to sell. Curb appeal is simply the art of making a home’s exterior look nice from the street. A few shrubs here, a splash of color there, and your home could be made beautiful in a matter of just days.
For a home that needs a siding update, however, the process for improving curb appeal can be a little more complex. Old or uninspired siding can make a home look forgotten, unkempt, and dirty. Improving siding can boost curb appeal by making the home look newer and more modern. One attractive option that homeowners and sellers turn to is manufactured stone veneer. Here’s what you need to know.
How Stone Veneer Boosts Curb Appeal
There are many things that stone veener can do to improve the appearance of a home. Stone is a natural product that harkens back to the days when houses were built by hand from the raw materials found in the earth. By grounding the house in natural beauty, and by adding visual interest to the house, stone veneer gives every home a sense of elegance and grace.
Variety of Texture
Stone comes in a variety of textures, from the round, bold beauty of river rock, to flat, sharp pieces of slate. This variety of texture contrasts nicely against other types of siding, like wood and wood look-alike products.
Stone looks its best when it is able to echo the textures found elsewhere in the environment. Homeowners who wish to link their stone veneer to the other visual elements found in the environment can pave their walkways and even their driveway with similar stone.
Variety of Color
Stone comes in many different colors. Even the same type of stone quarried from the same location will have some variety of color that gives the exterior of the house an ebb and flow. Some types of stone have a wide variety of colors. For example, slate comes in shades of gray, red, green and even blue.
Variety of stone color can even give homeowners a theme to draw upon when planting flowers and other types of landscaping around their house. Matching the flowers to the stone makes the home seem more visually unified. For homeowners who think this is important, sampling different types of veneer and shopping around for different colors can help.
Where to Place Stone on Your Home’s Exterior
Stone can be placed in a variety of places on the exterior of the house. A traditional place to position stone on siding is on the lower half of the house, like a knee wall. In cases like this, the stone veneer meets the siding less than half way up the side of the house.
There are many other places where stone veneer can be found. Another common place to see stone is on the chimney, starting at the foundation and moving all the way up. Sometimes, veneer is found on the exterior accents only, in place of trim around windows and doorways. This helps the doorway and windows stand out, making them pop visually.
Finally, veneer can be found at the base of many porch columns, where it appears to support the porch, roof, and the weight of the house itself. Using stone veneer in this way gives the home a well-grounded appearance. Stone is strong, mighty, and capable of enduring years of harsh weather. Installing stone veneer in a position where it appears to hold up the house makes the house itself look timeless and as strong as a mountain.
Which Type of Stone Veneer is Right For You?
When the time comes to pick the right stone for your house, contact a reputable stone veneer vendor who knows how to properly install stone on your home’s siding. Working with a professional helps ensure that your home’s siding will look its best when the time comes to sell your house.
Lauren Schneider is the owner of militaryhomesearch.com, helping military members and their families navigate the unique challenges they face when buying or selling their homes.
