Masonry Magazine November 2003 Page. 24
STONE VENEER
Another main advantage of thin stone
veneer is how much - or should we say,
how little - space it takes up.
stone, but the owner decided he'd like stone, so we cut one-inch
thin veneer. We had all of the flexibility that way.
"There have been plenty of times when we've done Carmel
Stone jobs and you've worked your way up to an area and, for one
reason or another, the framing didn't leave you the dimension that
you wanted," adds DeMaria. "We're usually going to use six inch-
es for the veneer with Carmel Stone, and for whatever reason, a lot
of times there will only be two inches left in certain little areas. So
we'll just create our own thin veneer to do that."
DeMaria states that the thinner thickness is also an asset
to engineers.
"It's sometimes easier for them to tie it all together
when they don't have to deal with the six- to eight-inch
veneer," says DeMaria.
Details
FULL-DIMENSION stone veneer has a slight advantage over
thin stone veneer when it comes to the details. Without
proper materials and preparation, mason contractors can
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A MAVERICK'S HOME:
THE NEW AMERICAN CASTLE
In every industry, there are
mavericks who go their own way,
often very successfully. Kim
Baker, a racecar driver, perfor-
mance engineer and exotic car
dealer, has decided "mansion"
isn't a good enough term for his
future living quarters. Instead, he
is building the New American
Castle in Middlefield, Mass.
Baker and his wife Patricia developed a love for castle architecture
while touring with the racing crowd and have imported the concept to
the States. As a public relations professional, Patricia knows the value
of branding and has enlisted literally hundreds of companies with well-
known brand names into the project. Their web site (www.newameri-
cancastle.com) shows the power of the idea, both the castle -
renderings and progress reports abound and the cooperation concept.
Every vendor involved is named, many in individual releases.
Of interest to Masonry readers is the use of products from Cultured
Stone of Napa, Calif., throughout for the elegant stone look typical of
English and European castles. According to Kim Baker, "We like the
Owens-Corning Cultured Stone for three reasons: it's easy to put up, it is
less expensive to put up, and it's lighter in weight. In effect, it is a thin,
light-weight material so it makes the super structure easier to manage."
Bob Heath, marketing vice president for Cultured Stone, comments,
"They're using a product we have as part of our standard product line.
We have a broad variety of textures, shapes and colors so usually what
anyone can think of we've got something that's either right on or pretty
close to it."
The castle has a concrete foundation with stone liners to look like tra
ditional stone. The rest of the construction is structural steel, from AJK
Engineering. Over that they are using sheathing and Cultured Stone
products on the exterior.
Stone, real and manufactured, will also be used in the interior, espe
cially on the fireplaces in the Great Room and elsewhere. According to
Baker, "The stonework on the fireplace is being made by Millstone down
in Amarillo, Texas, right now. They're also making the gargoyles for the
outside, trim for the inside, and things like lions and books for the
library. They're doing quite a few architectural details out of cast stone."
When asked who will do the masonry, Baker responded, "Right now
(September 2003), we have several mason contractors in evaluation.
We're working with a couple of groups; contractors that install Culture
Stone, and we're also talking to the International Masonry Institute, to
see if they have a school that may want to participate in the project."
He adds, "We'll have it enclosed and weather tight over the winter
and in the spring we'll still be working on the inside because there's a
lot of really exacting and complicated decorative items in there. In the
spring we'll put up all the Cultured Stone."
Is this a fad, one man's idea of the future or a new market? Heath
says, "There is a definite trend toward medieval-type construction. A lot
of the 'in' designs right now are the Tuscan look, Provincial look, and all
those architectural styles that can be grouped under Mediterranean
architecture. There is resurgence to that kind of construction, both in
residential and commercial."
sometimes be limited in their use of return corners, cor-
bels, lintels, keystones and other details when it comes to
the use of thin stone.
"When you've got full-depth you can make the corner
return whatever depth you want it to be," says Leonard. "Thin
veneer can't do that."
Much like other types of masonry, weight can work against
thin stone with the use of certain details. Craig Swirzon, Tech-