Natural Stone Wall Cladding | Pelican Waters, Sunshine Coast
Natural Stone Wall Cladding for Pelican Waters Piers, Fences and Feature Walls
Three formats, and the weights are published differently: per square metre for stackstone panels and free-form loose stone, per piece and per carton for ledgestone.
On a Pelican Waters street, built surfaces do most of the looking. Council's 2018 Street Tree Master Plan describes Pelican Waters as larger homes on small blocks and records tree cover in only 19% of road reserve spaces across the Golden Beach/Pelican Waters plan area. With little planted in front of them, boundary walls and entry piers are what the street sees. That makes the finish a weight decision as well as a look: Stone and Rock publishes 42.9-44 kg/m2 for stackstone cladding panels and approximately 65 kg/m2 for free-form loose stone, while ledgestone is published per piece and per carton, not per square metre. Format and weight are the first decisions, and a colour chip settles neither: the Baringa showroom has display walls.
A floor is held up by the ground. A wall holds itself up, and that one difference decides almost everything about buying cladding. In Pelican Waters it also decides how the street looks. Sunshine Coast Council's Street Tree Master Plan, adopted in 2018, records that the Golden Beach and Pelican Waters plan area 'has an extremely low volume of trees', and describes residential development in Pelican Waters as larger homes on small blocks, on canal-focused lots where dwellings cover most of these smaller allotments and there is limited potential for canopy creation within. Put those two things together and you get a streetscape where the built face carries much of the visual load: entry piers, garage returns, fence panels and boundary walls, many of them standing in direct sun with little planted in front of them. That is the wall this page is about, and the first choice that shapes it is format, not colour.
Local insights
Larger houses on smaller lots produce more wall and less garden
Larger houses on smaller lots produce more wall and less garden. The 2021 Census records Pelican Waters dwellings averaging 3.8 bedrooms against 3.1 for Australia, and two motor vehicles per dwelling. In practice that means a wide garage elevation, a driveway edge and a boundary run on nearly every block. Council's own account of the area supplies the rest of the picture: its 2018 Street Tree Master Plan notes that many of Pelican Waters' residential streets carry a high proportion of street tree vacancies or very young trees, in a plan area where only 19% of road reserve spaces contain tree cover. On streets like that there is rarely a mature tree standing in front of a garage face to break it up. Whatever finish goes on it is the finish people see.
Council's design direction for the area reads like a description of what stone does on a wall. The Golden Beach/Pelican Waters local plan code asks assessable development to use 'a mix of lightweight and textured external building materials, including timber finishes or masonry construction with variation provided in texture and detailing', and 'understated colour schemes and low-reflective roofing and cladding materials'. That is a benchmark for assessable development rather than a rule a homeowner has to meet before cladding a pier, and anything specific should go to Council, but it does describe what reads well here: texture and variation, in a muted, low-sheen tone rather than a flat, bright one.
None of that can be judged from a photograph. Panel module, joint line and shadow depth are scale effects, and Stone and Rock's own sample pages say so plainly: samples 'are not indicative of the actual size of panels available and should only be used as a colour reference'. Underneath the visual decision sits a second one. A wall carries the weight of its finish in a way a floor never does, and the three formats are not published to the same measure: stacked stone panels at a stated 42.9-44 kg/m2, free-form loose stone at approximately 65 kg/m2, and ledgestone at 7.15 kg per piece and 28.6 kg per carton of four, with no kilograms-per-square-metre figure published for it at all. So we publish the figures the way the product pages state them rather than smoothing them into one number, ask what the wall is built from before an order goes out, and point buyers to the display walls at the Baringa showroom, where stone can be looked at in person instead of on a screen.
What to settle before you order
Where Pelican Waters cladding orders go wrong
The panel looks right on screen and wrong on the wall.
Module size, joint line and shadow depth are all scale effects. Stone and Rock's own samples page states that samples 'are not indicative of the actual size of panels available and should only be used as a colour reference'.
A street-facing wall here has little in front of it to hide behind: Council's plan for the area records very few trees in the street reserves and little room on these lots to grow more. So a panel that reads as too busy or too flat on the wall is read that way from the footpath as well.
The Baringa showroom has display walls and is open for self-service visits every day from 7am to 9pm with self check-in, so the stone can be looked at in person rather than on a screen. Up to three samples can also be ordered to settle colour, and are credited back on the final stone order.
Choosing on looks, then finding out about weight afterwards.
The three formats are not published to one common measure: a stated 42.9-44 kg/m2 for the stacked stone panels, approximately 65 kg/m2 for free-form loose stone, and for ledgestone 7.15 kg per piece, 28.6 kg per carton and 1020-1100 kg per crate, with no kilograms-per-square-metre figure published at all.
Dunlop/ARDEX's technical bulletin on stack stone cladding states that the main issue is the capability of the wall substrate to support the weight of the tile finish, that stack stone tiles 'frequently weigh in the order of 50 to 80kg per m2', that 'Support angles are recommended when fixing tiles weighing more than 32kg per sqm and/or exceeding a height limit for tiling of 3 metres', and that a 6mm fibre cement wallboard sheet fixed at 200mm centres has a weight carrying capacity of 'only 20kg/m2 compared to 32kg/m2 for a sheet fixed at 100mm centres'.
We publish each format's weight exactly as its product page states it, rather than smoothing three different measures into one generic figure, and we ask what the wall is built from before an order goes out. Dunlop/ARDEX recommends that appropriately qualified and certified engineers determine the suitability of the sub-wall for tiling, the supporting system and the anchor type, locations and centres, and that assessment stays with them, not with us.
Ordering the wall area and forgetting the corners.
The face is priced by the square metre and the returns are sold by the lineal metre - free-form corners at approximately 25 kg per lineal metre, shipped in crates of 30 to 50 lineal metres, with separate corner and assemble corner options published for ledgestone.
The face and the returns are counted in different units, so a measure taken off the wall area alone comes up short at exactly the part of the wall that is hardest to miss from the footpath - the external corner. Council's local plan code asks development adjacent to identified gateway and streetscape treatment areas to 'emphasise corner locations' and to incorporate 'changes in materials and variations in projected and recessed elements and facades'; that is a benchmark for assessable development rather than a description of what any homeowner here buys, but it does name the elements a street-facing wall turns on - piers, returns and projecting faces.
Corner pieces are stocked as their own lineal-metre item for ledgestone and free-form loose stone, and the ledgestone page notes that corners are measured on the external dimension, not the inside size. Total your returns in lineal metres before you order the face. Corner pieces are not stated for the stacked stone panel format, so ask us before planning a return in panels.
There is no adhesive or primer specification on the product page, and guessing is expensive.
Every Stone and Rock cladding product page states dimensions, coverage, weight, pack size and the dry-stack or grouted options, and none of them names a recommended adhesive, primer or substrate.
Stone and Rock states that an exchange is refused where an 'Item has been installed or shows signs of installation', so a fixing decision made on a guess cannot be unwound by sending the stone back. The exposure the wall sits in is part of the question too: an unshaded street-facing pier or boundary run takes direct sun and driving rain that a sheltered indoor feature wall never sees, and Dunlop/ARDEX notes that Australian external walls, especially east-north-west facing, are subject to strong weathering due to heat and rain exposure, with thermal change creating 'differential stress and strains between the cladding and the substrate'.
We say so rather than inventing a recommendation. Dunlop/ARDEX's bulletin names 'the polymer fortified, C2 cement-based types or R1 reaction resin epoxies' as generally suitable adhesives for stack stone cladding and says porous substrates such as cement renders and fibre cement sheeting are always primed first. That is the adhesive manufacturer's general trade guidance; the final specification belongs with the adhesive manufacturer and a qualified installer.
Leaving the dry-stacked or grouted decision until the stone arrives.
Both options are published on every format: panels 'dry stacked for natural continuity' or 'grouted for crisp lines', free-form 'Suitable for: dry wall stack, grouted wall design', ledgestone grouted or dry stacked. Dunlop/ARDEX adds that stack stone tiles 'are usually installed with butt joints, i.e., no grout is used between the tiles'.
The joint changes how a wall reads more than the colour does. A dry-stacked face leaves the shadow line open, which is what carries texture at street distance; a grouted face closes the line and calms the surface down. It also decides whether grout is part of the order at all.
Both options are stated on each product page so the choice is made before the order, not on the day the crate lands. One free-form customer reports installing it themselves with no grout, and describes the job as time consuming but rewarding.
Sealing a wall the way you would seal a floor.
A vertical surface sheds sealer instead of holding it, and Aqua Mix's own method for Enrich'N'Seal is explicit about it: 'On vertical surfaces, apply bottom to top or apply to each tile prior to installation'.
Free-form loose stone has deep, irregular joints and a back face you cannot reach once the stone is fixed, so the sequence matters more than it does on a floor. It matters more again on an exterior wall than on a sheltered indoor face: Dunlop/ARDEX notes that Australian external walls are subject to strong weathering due to heat and rain exposure. Aqua Mix rates Enrich'N'Seal for interior and exterior applications, but also states the product will not prevent 'surface wear or etching from acids or caustic chemicals', so it is not a cure for everything.
Sealers are stocked alongside the cladding range and sealing questions come up in store - one reviewer, writing against a natural look penetrating sealer, mentioned the staff's advice and found the stone panels easy to use. We will talk the sealing sequence through before you buy the stone rather than after it is on the wall.
The range
Three cladding formats, and a sealer for vertical surfaces
Each format below can be delivered to Pelican Waters. Pick one based on the wall, the look you want and whether you're laying it yourself. You can see every natural stone wall cladding Pelican Waters option online or in person at Baringa.
Stackstone Wall Cladding Panels
Published at 42.9-44 kg/m2, with one panel at 15 x 60 x 1.5 cm (0.09 m2) and five panels per 0.45 m2 box. The repeating horizontal module is the point on a street-facing pier: read from the far side of the road it holds an even, controlled texture rather than a restless one, and the shallow 1.5 cm face keeps the shadow line tight and consistent in hard midday light. Corner pieces are not stated for this format, so plan any external return with us first. The product pages also state suitability for internal use including feature walls and fire surrounds.
See stackstone panels →Ledgestone Wall Cladding
Ledgestone pieces are not one thickness: the product page states 2-4 cm, so the face steps in and out rather than sitting flush. That is a street-distance property rather than a close-up one - the stepped face is what a passer-by reads, not the individual piece. Weight is published differently for this format: 7.15 kg per piece and 28.6 kg per carton of four, with crates at 1020-1100 kg, and no kilograms-per-square-metre figure published at all - which is why the substrate conversation belongs before the order, not after it. Corners are offered as separate and assemble pieces, measured on the external dimension.
See ledgestone cladding →Free Form Loose Stone Cladding
Stones run 200-500 mm long and 15-30 mm thick with no repeating module at all. That matters most on long, uninterrupted surfaces - a boundary run, a retaining face, a fence line - where a repeating panel can start to read as banding over ten or fifteen metres. The irregular face also breaks the shadow across the whole wall instead of setting up one horizontal rhythm. It is the format with the most hand work in it: approximately 65 kg/m2, shipped as 1 m2 layers with 15 layers per crate, corners sold separately at approximately 25 kg per lineal metre. One customer, laying it with no grout, described the job as time consuming but rewarding.
See free form loose stone →Stone Sealers for Vertical Surfaces
Sealing a wall is a different job from sealing a floor, and the manufacturer says so: Aqua Mix's method for Enrich'N'Seal is 'On vertical surfaces, apply bottom to top or apply to each tile prior to installation'. On an entry pier or a boundary run that sequence is being decided for an exterior surface rather than a sheltered indoor one. Aqua Mix rates Enrich'N'Seal for interior and exterior use, says it allows moisture vapour transmission and lasts up to 15 years, and states it will not prevent surface wear or etching from acids or caustic chemicals. Which sealer suits your wall is a conversation to have before the stone goes up, not after.
Ask about sealers →Shop the range
Featured Natural Stone Wall Cladding Pelican Waters
FossilEuropean Stone Wall Cladding Free Form Loose Stone
Travertine CreamEuropean Stone Wall Cladding Free Form Loose Stone
White Coastal Cream SandstoneNatural Stone Wall Cladding Free Form - Loose Stone
White Beige BlendNatural Stone Wall Cladding Free Form - Loose Stone
Grey Limestone Castle SeriesNatural Stone Wall Cladding Free Form - Loose Stone
Galaxy Black MontageNatural Stacked Stone Wall Cladding Panels
Honey OysterNatural Stacked Stone Wall Cladding Panels
Crystal WhiteNatural Stacked Stone Wall Cladding Panels
SlateNatural Stacked Stone Wall Cladding Panels
Tumbled Miami Sands MontageNatural Stacked Stone Wall Cladding Panels
Golden MushroomNatural Stacked Stone Feature Wall Cladding Panels
Cloudy GreyNatural Stone Wall Cladding Ledgestone
Blue Steel RusticNatural Stone Wall Cladding Ledgestone
Urban BrownNatural Stone Wall Cladding Ledgestone
Tiger SkinNatural Stone Wall Cladding Ledgestone
Areas we serve
Stone Wall Cladding Around Pelican Waters
Questions we hear
Pelican Waters wall cladding FAQ
How do stackstone, ledgestone and free-form loose stone read differently on a street-facing wall?⌄
All three are natural stone, but they are built to different geometries, and that is what carries from the footpath. Stackstone panels are machine-cut to a 15 x 60 x 1.5 cm module, five to a box, so the face sits flush and the horizontal line repeats. Ledgestone pieces are a stated 2-4 cm thick - a range rather than one figure - so that face steps in and out instead of sitting flush. Free-form loose stone is laid piece by piece from stones 200-500 mm long and 15-30 mm thick, with no repeat at all, which suits long boundary and retaining faces where a repeating module can start to read as banding. On a Pelican Waters frontage those differences are judged at street distance and in daylight, not at arm's length. Council's design direction for the area asks assessable development for textured materials with variation in texture and detailing, and for low-reflective cladding; that is a benchmark for assessable development, not a test any of these products has been assessed against, and we hold no finish or reflectivity data to place them against it.
What does each cladding format weigh, and is a per-square-metre figure published for all three?⌄
No - and that is worth knowing before you compare them, because two of the three are published by area and one is not. Stacked stone panels: 42.9-44 kg per square metre, 3.9-4 kg a panel, five panels to a 0.45 m2 box. Free-form loose stone: approximately 65 kg per square metre, shipped as 1 m2 layers with 15 layers per crate. Ledgestone: 7.15 kg per piece and 28.6 kg per carton of four, with crates at 1020-1100 kg - no kilograms-per-square-metre figure is published for it, and we are not going to derive one and present it as a specification. For what those numbers mean on a wall, Dunlop/ARDEX's technical bulletin on stack stone cladding states that stack stone tiles 'frequently weigh in the order of 50 to 80kg per m2', and that 'Support angles are recommended when fixing tiles weighing more than 32kg per sqm and/or exceeding a height limit for tiling of 3 metres'. Those thresholds are Dunlop/ARDEX's published guidance, not ours, and they are general trade guidance rather than a specification for any particular product or wall.
Will my wall take stone cladding?⌄
That is not a question we can answer from here, and we do not try to. Dunlop/ARDEX's bulletin says the main issue is the capability of the wall substrate to support the weight of the tile finish. It addresses fixing to concrete, concrete block, brick and selected fibre cement sheeting, states that 'Per the recommendations of AS3958, concrete blocks and bricks should be rendered before the adhesive is fixed on the cladding tiles', and gives one substrate capacity figure: a 6mm fibre cement wallboard sheet fixed at 200mm centres carries 'only 20kg/m2 compared to 32kg/m2 for a sheet fixed at 100mm centres'. Dunlop's own recommendation is that appropriately qualified and certified engineers determine the suitability of the sub-wall for tiling, the most appropriate supporting system and the anchor type, locations and centres. We publish the weight of every format we sell, in the units each product page uses, and the assessment of your particular wall goes to a qualified person. Council also notes that a significant part of the low-lying Golden Beach/Pelican Waters plan area is potentially at risk from acid sulfate soils and coastal hazards, which is a further reason boundary and retaining structures are a matter for a builder or engineer rather than a stone supplier.
Which adhesive do you recommend?⌄
None is published on our pages, and we are not going to fill that gap with a guess. Every Stone and Rock cladding product page states dimensions, coverage, weight, pack size and the dry-stack or grouted options, and none names an adhesive, a primer or a substrate. The reason the gap matters more on a wall than on a floor is that the adhesive is holding the stone up, not just holding it down. Dunlop/ARDEX's general trade bulletin states that suitable adhesives for stack stone cladding are 'generally the polymer fortified, C2 cement-based types or R1 reaction resin epoxies', and that porous substrates such as cement renders and fibre cement sheeting are always primed first. That is the adhesive manufacturer's general guidance for a product class, not a product-specific instruction from us - take the final call to the adhesive manufacturer and a qualified installer.
Do I need approval to clad a retaining wall or a fence in Pelican Waters?⌄
Check with Sunshine Coast Council before you plan anything on a retaining wall or a fence, because the approval position attaches to the wall itself, not to the finish you put on it. Council states that a building permit is required before construction, modification or repair of most retaining walls, that Council approval as a concurrence agency is required for retaining walls over 2 metres high, and that adding a fence on top of a retaining wall requires approval; it also states that fences up to two metres above natural ground surface can generally be built without building approval. Those are Council's published positions and they change, so read them at the source and confirm them with a licensed builder. We are not in a position to tell you whether your wall is affected.
How do I work out how many corner pieces to order?⌄
Corners are ordered on a different measure from the face, so they have to be counted separately - the wall area does not include them. The face is sold by the square metre; corner and return pieces are sold by the lineal metre - free-form corners at approximately 25 kg per lineal metre in crates of 30 to 50 lineal metres, and ledgestone offered as separate corner and assemble corner pieces, measured on the external dimension rather than the inside size. Measure the height of every external corner the wall turns and total those heights in lineal metres, kept separate from the wall area. Those corners are also the part of a street-facing wall that is hardest to miss from the footpath - and 'emphasise corner locations' is the language Council's local plan code uses for development adjacent to identified streetscape and gateway areas, a benchmark for assessable development rather than a rule for a homeowner cladding a pier. Corner pieces are not stated for the stacked stone panel format, so ask before you plan a return in panels.
Can I see the stone in person before I order?⌄
Yes, and on this product it is worth the trip. Stone and Rock's samples page states that samples 'are not indicative of the actual size of panels available and should only be used as a colour reference' - a chip settles the colour and nothing else. What it cannot settle is how the module and the joint line read at street distance, and street distance is where a front pier or a boundary run gets judged. Order up to three, listed at $0.00 and credited back on your final stone order, shipping within three working days from QLD, then come to the showroom at 2/7 Matheson St, Baringa, which has display walls and is open for self-service visits every day from 7am to 9pm with self check-in, staffed Monday to Thursday 8am-4pm and Friday until noon; pickup is not available at Baringa. If there is a particular format you want to look at, tell us before you make the trip. Stone and Rock also states that exchange is allowed within 14 days only where items are in perfect sellable condition, and is refused where an 'Item has been installed or shows signs of installation'.
Can I use the same cladding inside, around a wood heater?⌄
The product pages for the cladding formats state that panels are 'suitable for external & internal use; bathrooms, kitchens, back splashes, feature walls, fire surrounds', and a customer wrote of the Galaxy Black stacked stone panels: 'Beautiful result and very easy to tile. Looks fantastic behind our wood burner!'. That is the product page's stated suitability plus one customer's result, and it is a useful option in a Pelican Waters house, where the 2021 Census records an average of 3.8 bedrooms per dwelling and plenty of internal wall to work with. We do not give clearance, heat, fire-rating or installation guidance for a heater or fireplace - that belongs to the appliance manufacturer's instructions and a licensed installer.
Where to collect
Stone and Rock Baringa showroom, 2/7 Matheson St
Next step
Start Your Pelican Waters Feature Wall
Compare the three cladding formats on the Baringa display walls, then send us your wall measurements and we'll quote your natural stone wall cladding Pelican Waters order, delivered to site.
