Masonry Magazine May 2003 Page. 22
Brick, Block and Stone
Stone
BILL RUSSELL, PRESIDENT of Continental Cast Stone East in Berlin, N.J., explains, "One of the newest aspects of our business is the availability of cast stone in rich colors such as reds, yellows and other colors to match brick. Previously, cast stone was regarded as a concrete product, normally only available in white, buff or gray, or shades within those hues. We now have a catalog with over 800 shapes and sizes that come in 10 different colors. An architect can order our catalog or go online to view it and get budget pricing right there. They pick their profiles and then narrow it down to sizes and colors. It's all catalog pricing, so it can be done either through the printed catalog, through a phone call or online."
Using the online catalog can save a lot of time for the designer. Russell adds, "All of our catalog items are available in a CAD format for downloading. The builders and architects can download the shapes from our website and paste them right onto their working drawings. Our stone then becomes part of the wall design and part of the load bearing capacity. It's a veneer that is normally used in a composite wall system such as natural cut limestone or a precast concrete. The cast stone is produced from the same types of natural stones that have been in existence for thousands of years. We recreate those stones into a new color and a new shape. They can be cut by a traditional diamond blade or abrasive saw, or we can produce them cast to length so they can go together in the structure without any cutting required."
Cast stone can now be compared to natural stone and many other materials when working in a tight budget. Russell explains, "Costs have come down substantially in recent years because of standardization where the trend now is moving toward the catalog type product that enables us to get greater efficiencies by machine making a number of the units. Where four men could make 100 pieces per day of custom stone, those same four men can produce 1000 or 2000 pieces per day because the units are now more standardized and they are made from molds that are already available for the casting machine."
Sizes in cast stone are also becoming somewhat standard. "Generally the cast stone sizes that are most popular are the ones that match up with normal masonry coursing, 7-5/8, 11-5/8, 15-5/8," says Russell. "Those sizes become the standards that we work with and we develop styles based around masonry coursing."
Another approach to stone is found at EuroStone, Los Angeles, Calif. There president George Mousa comments, "Our design team in Europe comes up with new models of stone for us. Right now, rough, matt, honed finishes have become very popular replacing the high gloss polish. Earth tone colors and shades of gray are trendy in those textures and more traditional limestone and concrete are still popular."
Trends in stone seem to follow trends in many other fashions. According to Mousa, "We have found that, when it comes to stone for buildings, fashion changes move from Europe to the East Coast, then West, then to rural areas."