Roofing and Siding Notes

Hi All, So straight walls and 90 degree corners are a piece of cake……right? Once you’ve master the skills of being able to install this stone and have it come out straight you can move on to something a little different. Lots of people are stumped when you run into situations where you don’t have 90 degree corners.

Sometimes it’s bay windows on the house or even if it is on a custom fireplace. Basically you have 3 choices. 1) You can just butt the stones together and you will get a vertical gap where the stones meet. 2) You can grout the line, but when you do this on stack stone it will look a little different because they aren’t meant to be grouted 3) Last but not least, miter cut the stones carefully and butt them together. This is in my opinion the best way because if you cut the angle correctly the joints will blend well.

Check out this thread from ContractorTalk.com, one of the mason guys on there helped a contractor solve his problem of having to do a fireplace with Cultured Stone but with non-standard angles. I’d like to hear if anyone has better suggestions. It’s like therapy, sometimes it’s good to talk about it.

Cheers,

Dave

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Hi All,

A lot of you are asking if there are any short cuts you can take when installing manufactured stone inside the home. i.e. using construction adhesive instead of a mortar. Inside or out, its best to stick to” Best Practices”, use the products the manufacturers recommend in there warranty guidelines. In short, use a mortar.

If you haven’t used any cement type products before, don’t be scared of them. If you follow the directions, it can be very easy to use and clean up depending on the scale of your project. Anyone’s that’s made a mess up with construction adhesives or had a tube explode in your gun, knows that not the case here.

I recently found a web site called “Contractors Talk“. It’s a forum of Pro installers talking to other Pros’. There’s vast array of construction topics just like this. What I like about it, at least in the topics that I’ve visited, there seem to be more than just two guys discussing one topic so you get more than one opinion.

Check it out.

Build it well

Stevo

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Hi All, There seems to be a bit of confusion out there between manufactured stone product and the PU (polyurethane) siding panels. Some of you are asking for manufactured stone in large sheets and panels.  In most cases, manufactured stone is produced in individual pieces, same as you’d receive a natural stone product. The exception to the rule is a “Dry Stack” profile where we mold multiple stone pieces into one product piece, quickening the install process. Adding to its popularity is the fact you don’t have to grout this product, eliminating probably the toughest step to the install process. Even with the multiple stone mold, our largest piece is still only 4”h x 20”L, just over a 1/2sq.ft. of coverage. If you’re asking yourself why we just don’t make them bigger, the simple answer is weight. Our lightest MFS product comes in a around 6.5lbs per sq.ft. and our heaviest at 10lbs. If you do the math, that would put a 3’ x 5’ stone panel at 98lbs to 150lbs per, a little tough to manage even for two installers. If you’ve seen a “Stone” panel product being installed on a site or on TV it more than likely PU product. It’s incredibly light at roughly 1 lb per sq.ft. and the panels come in array of sizes. There are a number of different brands out there with a fairly wide range of profiles like stone, brick and stucco. If wondering how durable foam can be? Trust me, its tough. When it comes to blunt trauma, it surprised me every time. I’ve stomped up and down on it with no visible signs of damage.  The only way I could deform the surface was by stabbing it with the pointed end of a golf umbrella. Even then, the color stayed on the surface and the foam didn’t show through. Its impressive stuff and has been used in the automotive industry for years. The material cost of the PU is more expensive than the manufactured stone but levels the playing field once you factor in the reduced installation time and cost. Comparisons have been done showing the panels can go on the wall up to five times faster than a real stone product and some PU’s can even add a small amount of R  value to your structure. In the past, I think the PU product line has struggled with the issue of believability. Most of the panels never really looked like a true stone product when installed but I think we’ve finally turned that corner now. It’s pretty hard to tell the PU foam from stone if you’re a few feet away. Some profiles with larger grout lines will always struggle I think as the manufacturers have a hard time keeping color of the stone from  mixing in with the grout lines. The Dry Stack profiles don’t have this issue and continue to be our biggest sellers. There you have it, hope this clears thing up a little for you. Build it well

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