Manethi free form walling, natural split, in pieces 150 to 300mm. Supplied as loose walling by the square metre or as corner pieces by the linear metre. The stone is earthy brown with grey through it and an occasional lilac cast in some pieces.
What Free Form Walling Is
Free form is the irregular end of stone cladding. Where stackstone comes as uniform panels of stacked strips, free form arrives as individual pieces in mixed sizes that the installer fits together like drystone work. Nothing is modular. The wall you end up with depends partly on how the pieces are chosen and placed.
That is the appeal and the catch. A free form wall looks genuinely built rather than clad, and no two are alike. It also takes a good deal longer to install than panel systems, and the result depends on the person laying it. If you are quoting the job out, ask to see free form work the installer has done before, not just cladding generally.
Manethi’s Colour
Browns and warm greys dominate, with lilac and rust appearing through some pieces. Laid up together the effect is woodland rather than desert, and it settles into an established garden far better than a bright or uniform stone would. Against green planting it looks like it has been there a while, which is usually the point.
Fixing
Free form goes onto a solid load-bearing substrate: rendered blockwork, concrete or fibre cement over frame. Fix with a flexible cement-based adhesive, and on any external wall over about a metre high add mechanical fixing as well. Dry-lay a square metre or two on the ground first and sort the pieces by size before you start bonding; it is much easier to compose the wall on the ground than on a ladder.
Corners come as separate pieces sold by the linear metre. Measure external corners separately and order them with the flats. A free form wall that runs out of corner pieces halfway up is a genuinely awkward problem to solve.
Coverage is 15sqm per crate for loose walling and 25 linear metres for the corner pieces.
Alternatives
For a more regular look with faster installation, the stackstone panels are the alternative, and ledge stones sit in between. Other free form tones are on the free form walling page. The whole cladding section is under stone wall cladding.
We import direct and dispatch from our Keysborough warehouse in Melbourne, with freight quoted Australia wide. Samples are free, and on a multi-tone stone like Manethi a sample tells you more than any photo will.
