Is natural stone veneer different
from manufactured stone?

Yes. Manufactured stone is pigmented concrete cast in molds. Natural veneer is quarried rock sawn thinner.

Both are called stone veneer and both go on a wall as an adhered system, so the terms get used interchangeably. At specification they are not interchangeable.

Color

In natural stone the color is the mineral itself, running through the full depth of the piece. A chip, a field cut, or a corner return exposes more of the same stone. In manufactured stone the color is pigment carried in the surface layer of the concrete.

Repetition

Molds are a finite set. Across a large elevation the same faces recur, and the eye finds the pattern from the road even when it cannot name it. There is no mold in natural stone — each piece was shaped by the geology it came out of.

In the submittal

They fall under different standards. Manufactured stone veneer units are governed by ASTM C1670, with installation covered by ASTM C1780. Natural thin stone veneer is covered by neither. Our stone is tested to ASTM C97, C170 and C880 by Driesenga & Associates, and those reports are available with the document set.

None of this is a criticism of manufactured stone as a product. It is a different material with different economics, and it has its place. It is simply not the same material, and a submittal that treats the two as interchangeable will not hold up under review.