Versetta Stone

Versetta Stone siding puts the look of stone on an exterior facade or an interior wall without setting a single stone in mortar. It goes up as cast panels, and the maker says that’s faster and cleaner than mortar-set stone. It’s for homeowners and contractors who want a stone wainscot, entry or feature wall without hiring a mason.

Versetta Stone is one of the brands of Westlake Royal Building Products, a Westlake company that trades on the NYSE as WLK. Westlake Royal launched on January 26, 2022, bringing the Royal Building Products, Boral North America and DaVinci Roofscapes lines together under one brand. The company has made low-maintenance building products for more than 50 years, across siding, trim, roofing, stone, windows and outdoor living.

Tight-Cut or Ledgestone

Versetta Stone comes in two profiles, and the choice comes down to what the rest of the house looks like. Tight-Cut fits the stones close together with little shadow between them, and Ledgestone stacks long, thin ledges with deeper shadow lines. Those two are the whole lineup, so the design has to work as a fitted look or a ledge look; a round river-rock or big fieldstone wall calls for a different product.

Profile	Shown in
Versetta Tight-Cut	Mission Point
Versetta Ledgestone	Plum Creek

Hold a panel of each against your siding, trim and roof color in daylight, and look at them from the street before you pick.

Up close, the texture comes from the casting

The worry with any stone veneer is that it looks fake at arm’s length. Each Versetta Stone panel is cast to capture the texture of hand-laid stone, so the face of the wall carries stone texture. What gives a veneer wall away is layout: seams that stack straight up the wall and the same panel sitting next to itself. Stagger the joints so no two seams line up vertically, and pull panels from several bundles as you work up the wall.

Installing it

The panels fasten to the wall, so there’s no mixing, buttering or waiting on mortar to set. Outside, the water-resistive barrier goes on the sheathing first, lapped shingle-style, with flashing at every window, door and the top edge, because that barrier is what keeps the wall behind the veneer dry. Keep the bottom course up off soil and mulch. Start from a level line at the bottom; a first course that’s out of level shows in every course above it. Inside, mark every stud before the first panel goes up.

A handy homeowner can do a wainscot or a feature wall. A two-story facade with lots of corners and openings goes faster with a siding crew.

Check every panel when it arrives

Cast panels crack when bundles get stacked or shipped wrong, and the most common mistake is finding that out halfway up the wall. Open every bundle the day it arrives, check each panel for cracks, and set the damaged ones aside before repacking the rest for storage.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you install Versetta Stone siding?

You cut the panels to length and fasten them to the wall, so there’s no mortar to mix. Cut with a diamond blade, outdoors or with dust control and a proper respirator, because cutting cast stone throws fine silica dust. Before the first panel goes up, get the manufacturer’s installation instructions and use the fastener type and spacing they call for.

How is Versetta Stone different from regular stone veneer?

Traditional adhered veneer goes up over lath and a mortar scratch coat, then each stone is set and the joints are grouted by hand. These are cast panels that fasten on with no mortar at all, so there’s no scratch coat to cure and no grout joints to point. That changes who can do the job and how many days it takes.

Is Mission Point a Ledgestone color, and how do Tight-Cut and Ledgestone compare?

In the manufacturer’s photos, Mission Point is shown on the Tight-Cut profile and Plum Creek on Ledgestone, so don’t assume a finish you saw on one profile comes on the other. It’s worth getting one of each profile to hold against your house before you decide.