O LE A LE UPIINA E FAAPEFEA ONA FILIFILI LE PIPI MAA MO LOU FALE

I totonu o lenei tusiga, o le a tatou vaʻavaʻai i nisi o vaega taua o le fatuina o lau puipui atoatoa ma elemene e tuʻu faʻatasi e tuʻuina atu ia te oe faʻamaeʻaina o loʻo e vaʻaia i aso nei i nisi o fale sili ona mataʻina i le salafa o le atunuʻu.

We’ll take a look at what natural stone cladding is, what types are available to you, which would work best for you and ultimately a guideline on how to install your cladding.

O LE A LE CLADDING?

“Cladding” is made to dress your wall with stone without the costs of building walls with blocks and labour costs associated with them. You can easily clad your wall with your preferred material and blend it in to suit your environment in a more efficient and cost-effective way.

O LE A LE UPIINA MAA NATURA?

Fa'apipi'i ma'a o se ma'a manifinifi e fa'aoga i se fale po'o se isi fausaga e faia i se mea e ese mai i le ma'a. O le fa'apipi'i o ma'a e pipii i se puipui sima, piliki ma fale e fai ma vaega o le latou fa'ata'ita'iga muamua. O le pito i tua o fasi maa taʻitasi e 'ili i se mea mafolafola, lea e mafai ai ona faʻapipiʻi maʻa i mea talafeagai.

Faatasi ai ma nofoaga faʻasalalau i le lalolagi atoa, o le tele o atunuu o loʻo i ai se ituaiga o maʻa masani o loʻo maua i lalo ifo.

Natural stone “cladding” is thin slices of quarried natural stones. They are taken out of the land and accordingly sliced into blocks and boulders – from these blocks/boulders, the products you see today are manufactured and made.

Faatasi ai ma le tele o ituaiga eseese o maa masani, e amata mai i le maamora i le quartzite mai le travertine i le maamora o loʻo i ai ituaiga faʻapipiʻi e fetaui ma soʻo se tasi ma tagata uma.

O le a le free form Cladding?

Free form – These are small, medium and large pieces of loose natural stone with sawn flat back pieces that come together to create an organic wall that appears like it has been built for centuries. The definition of “free-form” is individual pieces.

Fa'atasi ai ma le tua ua uma ona va'a mafolafola mo le fa'apipi'iina faigofie, o a tatou ma'a fa'apipi'i puipui ta'itasi o lo'o fa'apipi'iina i luga o se puipui o lo'o iai, e maua ai se foliga fa'alenatura ma le tumau.

O lo'o fa'apipi'iina e se tufuga ma'a poto, e tutusa lava lona taua i le tulaga lelei o le ma'a fa'aoga fa'apea fo'i le foliga ma le fa'ai'uga o le ma'a, o le tulaga lelei o tufuga mai lau fa'apipi'i.

Tuli ma'a fa'ama'a aisa efuefu

Freeform organic stonework is an art form, and the artist is critical in completing the ‘picture’ that becomes your wall.

E le o se faʻataʻitaʻiga e tatau ona latou mulimuli ai, o loʻo i ai auala faʻapitoa e te manaʻomia e faʻapipiʻi ai ituaiga taʻitasi taʻitasi e maua ai foliga saʻo. O le mea o loʻo matou taumafai e ausia iinei o le foliga mai o lou fausaga na fausia lima mai poloka moni, seneturi talu ai.

Afai e te tuʻuina le faʻapipiʻi e pei o se ata vali poʻo se ituaiga o mamanu e te faʻaliliuina le puipui e avea ma se pa maʻa mamanu. (e lelei pe afai e te mulimuli i lena vaaiga) nai lo le ausiaina o foliga o se puipui fau fau e fausia/fa'aputu e se poloka maa ma lea poloka. O le auala lea e fetaui lelei ai vaega taitasi ma lona fatu, foliga ma lanu.

For example, If your stonemason were going to build a wall say 10m long and 5 meters high from blocks, the wall should be structurally stable, it needs to be stacked one on top of another so it doesn’t ever fall or collapse.

A fa'apipi'i se ma'a fa'ale-natura i luga o se puipui o lo'o i ai, e mana'omia lava ona foliga e pei na fausia mai poloka moni, e mana'omia pea ona foliga mau. E ui lava o le mea moni o le mea'ai i tua e mana'omia ona mautu!

Afai e te le vaʻai i le eseesega pe a vaʻavaʻai i se puipui puipui ma se puipui faʻapipiʻi, ona e ausia lea o le pa faʻatauvaʻa faʻatauvaʻa lea o le a masalosalo ai soʻo se tasi e taumatemate pe o le puipui o loʻo ufiufi pe poloka galuega.

Armstone offers corners pieces of all the stone claddings which are available in pre-cut 90-degree pieces to give you that full stone, block look. The benefit here is that you don’t have to get your stonemason to mitre the corners, its best to avoid seeing any cut joints anywhere on the wall.

To achieve the true organic look your installer shouldn’t have any sawn cuts on your stonework. They should make cuts from the back of the stone and split each individual piece of the stone to prevent having a sawn cut on the face or side of the piece.

Afai ei ai ni au pito i'a, e mafai ona e tata'iina le pito o fasi fasi pepa taitasi e maua ai le ma'a se pito masani. O i'inei e tatau ona fa'aalia moni ai le tomai o lau ma'a.

A mae'a lelei, e mafai e se puipui fa'aola fuala'i fua ona fausia se uiga mata'ina e le tumau i lou fale po'o fafo. Ae pei o soʻo se mea i le olaga, afai e tipi tulimanu, e leai se aoga o le alu i le faagasologa. O le a sili atu le tasi i le isi, sili atu ona aoga filifiliga.

O LE A LE UPI MAA MAMAGO?

In the Free Form individual stone cladding range, you can either do “Dry Stack” aka “Dry Stone Cladding” which means that the stone cladding is Not Grouted (no any cement filled into the gaps) or Grouted. 

Some stones look good in “dry stack” and some “grouted”. E fa'atatau tonu lava i lou lava mana'o.

Some Natural Stone Claddings looks really organic when you lay them in “Crazy” pattern. This is where the pieces don’t have any even sizes or shapes.

If you are planning to do a dry stack you must plan ahead to have the grout joints tight or you if you’d like to grout you should use packers to get consistent grout joints for each individual piece of stone.

Afai e te le o mautinoa po'o fea e fetaui ma lou fale po'o le galuega faatino vala'au mai ma talanoa mai ia i matou, matou te mautinoa o le a matou fa'aogaina oe i le fofo sili.

Besides the “Crazy” format stone cladding nowadays more architects and landscape designers are specifying the “Random Ashlar” pattern which is suited for more modern designs.

“Random Ashlar” is a random Geometric pattern – Ashlar fa'afuase'i, o fasipepa e aofia ai sikuea faʻafuaseʻi ma faʻataʻitaʻi.