Masonry Magazine November 2003 Page. 23
There's not one thing that's the right option for every job.
Scott Buechel, Co-owner of Buechel Stone Corporation in Chilton, Wis., somewhat disagrees.
"If you're making it yourself, the stone itself is going to be more costly per square foot because you will need to make it into a four-inch veneer before making it into a thin veneer," says Buechel. "So it adds a little bit more cost per square foot, but you will be able to get two pieces out of that same stone as opposed to one."
Another aspect is the overall savings in freight.
"Because of the weight, the freight is cheaper," adds Leonard. "You can ship more material, which keeps the material costs down."
Which brings us to our next point...
Weight
THE LIGHTER WEIGHT of the thin stone means that masons can haul and install it that much faster than the heavier, full-depth stone.
"My nephew completed a remodel on his house. Two masons laid 100 sq. ft. of thin stone veneer each in a nine-hour day with one tender," says Buechel. "Typically, they would have probably gotten about 40 or 50 sq. ft. of full veneer a day."
Also, thin veneer can be essential for bringing stone to non-loadbearing walls, as well as help architects and engineers in the overall design.
"One of the advantages of the thin veneer is that, yes, it's less weight and a lot of times weight is a problem," says DeMaria. "If we're veneering an entire two-story house, how that weight is distributed throughout the building and projects down the walls and into the footings that's the engineer's nightmare and they like thin veneer because of that."
Size
OBVIOUSLY, another main advantage of thin stone veneer is how much or should we say, how little space it takes up. Traditional, full-dimension stone masonry can range anywhere from two inches and up depending on the structure and building needs. Therefore, thin stone's slimmer profile, ranging from 3/4-inch to two-inches, can be a great alternative for projects with limited space or other special considerations.
Jamey DeMaria Masonry also won Honorable Mention in the Residence category of the 2003 MCAA International Excellence in Masonry Awards for his full-depth and thin stone veneer work on the Schilling Carmel Stone Chateau.
"We put about 225 tons of full-dimension Carmel Stone our native stone on that job," says DeMaria. "There was a lot of detail work that we actually designed and fabricated on the job site. Since I had my full-dimension stone there, we were able to accomplish whatever the owner chose to have done. There were a couple of fireplace inserts inside that were not specified to be
"When we look at the pros and cons between the thin and the full-depth, the number one factor is that the thin veneer is a faster installation," says Leonard. "The more thin the veneer that we can talk the owner into, the more cost savings we're going to have. You will probably have twice as much production on thin veneer than you do on full-depth veneer. So, first and foremost, it's the fact that it is faster and you get your job done quicker.
"The main cost problem with thin stone veneer is there are certain types of stones that are so hard, they can thin veneer it but it would take so much time to cut through these hard stones, that it's probably not cost-effective," continues Leonard. "If it's a hard material you're going to have to spend more money and the cost-savings may be gone in the end. It gets evaporated because of the material costs."