The Great Wall Of Karrer

Sewwwww, a few weeks ago at Costco, the Mister and I spied a deal on some pretty sweet wall stones.  Similar boxes of stones at Lowe’s were selling for $75-$100 per box, and Costco had their stones for only $24.97 per box!  We’d been wanting to zhuzh up a wall in our living room for awhile and the price was right for these stones.  Hence, a project was born.  Our friend Chris named it the Great Wall of Karrer!  (That’s our last name… pronounced Karr.) 

This project took about 15 hours, when all was said and done.  I have no one else to thank but Mason for knocking this project out… he was a rockstar.  I am still recovering from my surgery a few weeks ago, so I am not the best helper right now.  :-/ 

Here’s how it all went down, in picture form!

The Before:  (I think Denny took this pic, which explains the slight blurr…)

The After:

The During:

Step 1:  Cover unused areas with rosin paper.  Put up your moisture barrier.  We used MDF.  MDF is over 50% glue, so mold cannot grow on it.  Cut the boards to size for your wall.  Apply construction adhesive to the back and secure to the wall.  Drill in to the studs for extra security.  Make sure to measure and cut holes for any outlets.

Step 2: Apply a scratch coat of mortar to the wall.  This will ensure that your stone veneers have something to grab on to when you put it up on the wall.  Let the mortar dry overnight.

Closeup of mortar:

Step 3: Lay out all of your tiles or stones so that you know where everything will go.  Vary the sizes so you don’t have 2 seams that line up.

Step 4:  You’ll need to make some cuts to ensure everything fits on the wall.  Snap a chalk line so you know where to cut each tile.  Number each of your rows, and the last tile in the row.  That way when you make your cuts, you’ll know where that tile belongs.

Step 6: Make your cuts.

Step 7:  Mix up some mortar, and butter the back of each stone or tile.  I love that phrase, butter the tile.  Makes it sound so good.  Secure each stone to the wall, starting at the bottom.  Make sure that you’re applying your stones against a level surface, using a ledger board if needed.  Our floor is a bit sloped, so we had to use the board.

All done!