Rubble, done right.

About the Stone

Random rubble (RR) cladding takes the oldest walling face there is — irregular, angular fieldstone laid without a pattern — and puts it on a calibrated 22–25mm back. The face is the same one you would get from a mason building in full-depth rubble. What has gone is the depth, the weight, the footing and most of the labour.

The character comes from the irregularity. Because no two pieces are the same, no two walls are the same, and the eye reads that as authentic in a way a repeating pattern never can. It is also forgiving to fix: there is no course to keep level, no joint to line up, no cut that has to be exact. Blend across the crates as you go and the wall does the rest.

We stock it in three varieties — Jurassic Fieldstone, Monsoon Multi Fieldstone and Natural Crest Fieldstone — all calibrated to 22–25mm and all fixed the same way: a cement mortar gauged with adhesive, bedded onto a sound substrate. It goes on external elevations, boundary wall faces, pillars, and equally well on interior feature walls. Other stones from our range can be calibrated to the same specification to order.

Start with a sound substrate. Brick, block, concrete or a keyed cement render, clean and free of dust, loose plaster, paint or curing compound. If the background is smooth concrete, key it or apply a scratch coat first. Everything that follows depends on this and nothing later will fix a bad background.

The mix: cement mortar gauged with adhesive. Standard cement and sand mortar with a stone or tile adhesive added — the adhesive gives the grab, the cement gives the body to take up the small variations in the back of a natural stone. Butter the full back of every piece. Never dot-and-dab: voids behind natural stone hold water and are where failures start.

Dry-lay the panel before you fix it. Open several crates at once and set out a few square metres on the ground. Mix pieces across crates, spread the large and small, and keep the darkest and lightest pieces apart. Ten minutes of sorting is the difference between a wall that looks quarried and a wall that looks patchy.

Work bottom-up off a level batten, keep the first course clear of ground or paving level so it is not sitting in standing water, and take the pieces around external corners rather than mitring where you can. Point or leave a butt joint to taste — both read well on a rubble face.

On tall or exposed elevations, add mechanical fixing. Above roughly first-floor level, or on anything exposed to serious weather, back the adhesive up with mechanical anchors. Tell us the elevation and we will advise before you order.

Care & Maintenance

Almost none. Brush down occasionally. In damp or shaded positions an annual wash keeps organic growth from establishing in the joints, though on a rubble face moss and lichen genuinely improve the look and most people leave them. Sealing is optional; on interior walls a breathable impregnating sealer makes dusting easier.

Avoid high-pressure washing, which drives water behind the stone and can loosen pointing. Check the head of the cladding, the coping and any flashing periodically — water getting in behind the top course is how clad walls fail, not water on the face.