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Flexible Stone Series · MBXYS
Flexible Culture Stone Panel
Stacked stone, at the scale of a real ledge stone wall: strips between 40 and 120 mm wide, each one split rather than sawn, each sitting at its own depth.
Technical data sheet, MBXYS (PDF, 0.7 MB)·Colour card, 106 surfaces in four series (PDF, 10.4 MB)
The pattern is a dry-stacked ledge stone, which is the wall you see on a farmhouse in the Alps and on about half the fireplace walls built since 2005. What makes this one read properly is that the strips vary: widths, depths and the amount of chisel on each face all change, so there is no row you can follow across the wall.
Eight millimetres and 7.5 kg. It is the deepest relief in the range at this thickness, around 8 mm from face to bed, and the reason it works on a flexible sheet is that the strips are cast as one piece rather than glued on. On a fireplace, that also means no ledges for soot. Ordered as culture stone for chimney breasts and restaurant walls, at a fraction of the weight of the 60 mm ledger product it copies.
Split, not sawn
A sawn strip has a flat face and a crisp edge. A split strip has a face that breaks along the grain, so it is never quite flat and the edge is always a little ragged. In the texture shot you can pick out both, and the split ones are the ones that hold a shadow at noon.
Fireplace, then dining room
The fireplace is a full-height chimney breast in the grey, wrapped round the corner with a mitre, no mantel. The restaurant is the same sheet behind a banquette, where the depth takes the wear that a flat wall would not.
Installed, culture stone
Good for
- Fireplace surrounds and chimney breasts
- Restaurant and bar walls that need to take knocks
- Exterior walls on a drained cavity, where it looks like real ledge stone
- Garden walls and entrance piers
Not for
- Small bathrooms; the strips need width to read
- Modern minimalist interiors, where it will look borrowed
- Anywhere the wall will be cleaned with a pressure washer
It does bend
The bend shot is the same sheet at a 500 mm radius, which is further than a real stacked stone will ever go. It is here to show that the strips are cast into the sheet rather than stuck on: glued strips fall off at the first curve.
Bent by hand, no heat
Grey, cream, and two earths
Four: the grey in the shot, a cream limestone, a warm tan and a rust. The grey and the cream are stock; the earths are made to order. On a chimney breast, the earth colours look like they have always been there, which is either the point or a problem, depending on the house.
Specification
Everything below applies to the Culture Stone as supplied. The PDF above is the same sheet we send out with a quote; ask for a printed copy and it travels with the sample.
| Sheet size | 1200 × 3000 mm |
|---|---|
| Thickness | 8 mm ± 1 mm |
| Weight | 7.5 kg/m² ± 0.5 |
| Item code | MBXYS |
| Substrate | Mineral powder, sand and fibreglass, pressed in a steel mould |
| Fire | EN 13501-1 A2-s1,d0, on a non-combustible substrate |
| Fixing | Polymer adhesive, or mechanical fixings on a ventilated frame |
| MOQ | Stocked colours ship from stock, no minimum |
| Lead time | 3–5 days for stock, 20–25 days for production |
Fitting it
Four steps, and the third one is the one that goes wrong.
Questions we get asked
Is this the same as the culture stone sold in garden centres?
The pattern is the same idea. The difference is the substrate: those are concrete castings 40 to 80 mm thick and 40 kg a square metre. This is 8 mm and 7.5 kg.
Can it go behind a wood burner?
On a non-combustible substrate with the correct clearance to the appliance. The sheet itself is A2-s1,d0, but the clearance is set by the stove, not the wall.
Does the relief collect dust?
Yes, more than a flat wall. A soft brush on a vacuum once a month is enough; do not wet it, because the water sits in the splits.
How do the sheets join?
Butt jointed, with the strips staggered across the joint. A straight joint through a stacked pattern is very obvious, so plan the sheet edges where the strip widths already change.
Sample of Culture Stone
A4 offcut, posted from Ningbo, free. Ask for the colour card too — it covers all thirty-seven surfaces in the series.
Same series