Summer 2007
Natural Stone Lite
New York-based homebuilder Robert Stillman used natural thin stone for the first time on this multi-million-dollar Connecticut home. Photo courtesy of Stillman Development Co.
By Cory Sekine-Pettite
Natural thin stone provides the beauty and strength of natural stone for environments where full-dimensional stone might be weight and/or cost prohibitive. The material is the fastest growing product among stone suppliers in the United States. And among many architects and builders, natural thin stone is moving quickly from a niche product used strictly for cost savings or structural considerations to being the preferred facing product for many residential, commercial, industrial and institutional projects. In this article,
Building Stone Magazine reviews some case studies where natural thin stone came to the rescue for a variety of interior and exterior building applications.
A Happy Accident
In residential construction, particularly single-family housing, natural thin stone veneer is a popular choice for builders because, once installed, the stone looks just like full-dimensional stone, yet it requires less labor and effort to install. In turn, this saves the builder — and the eventual homeowner — a good deal of money without sacrificing the quality of the building materials or their life expectancy.
For Robert Stillman, a New York-based builder of multi-million-dollar homes, discovering the qualities and ease of use of a particular supplier's natural thin stone was a happy accident. Stillman, owner of Stillman Development Co., was looking for a natural stone supplier last year for a small but exclusive residential development in Fairfield County, Conn. For this particular project, he required a natural thin stone that was a minimum of 14 inches long and six inches in height so that when the pieces went up on the exterior walls of his new homes, they looked like substantial stones — the kind he usually uses when working with thicker natural stone veneers. Through his online searches, Stillman found Connecticut Cut Stone Supplies Inc., of Milford, Conn., which was able to manufacture the stones to his specifications.
The lobby of the Hampton Inn & Suites in Lake George, N.Y., features natural thin stone from Champlain Stone Ltd. Photo courtesy of Champlain Stone
According to the manufacturer, natural thin stone is an intelligent way to engineer a residential project because one can save a significant amount of money in construction costs on digging the foundation.
The material also is often easier to work with than full-dimensional stone and can be installed in less time, which is a factor in construction cost savings.
"You still see the same size and scale as regular, traditional four- to six-inch veneer, but you get five times the coverage," said Tyra Dellacroce, general manager of Connecticut Cut Stone. "Where normal veneer might cover about 30 square feet in a ton, a ton of ThinStone™ [the company's brand of natural thin stone] will cover about 140 square feet."
Natural thin stone also is a prominent feature of the bar area inside the Hampton Inn & Suites. Photo courtesy of Champlain Stone
"It was a really great experience," said Stillman, who was using natural thin stone for the first time. "From the outward appearance, you cannot tell that it is not a four-inch- or five-inch-thick veneer, because it is real stone.
The home, pictured here and on page 48, is a 9,200-square-foot, Georgian Colonial style house on 2.6 acres. It was completed just a few months ago, and is one of only three, multi-million-dollar residences being built by Stillman for this development. Construction on the house was completed in only nine months; the stonework was completed in just two months.
Connecticut Cut Stone supplied all of the stone used on the exterior and interior of the home, including three full chimneys, an entire front faŤade, extensive garden walls in the back of the house, a large deck and more. The thickness of the stone on the exterior ranges from 3/4 of an inch to 1-1/4 inches. It is a square-cut pattern of natural, split-face granite that includes specially manufactured corner pieces as well.
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The entire front façade of this Connecticut home is constructed with natural thin stone from Connecticut Cut Stone.
Photo courtesy of Stillman Development Co. |
Stillman wanted to use natural thin stone because, in the price range of homes he builds, there would be a great resistance to using synthetic materials on the outside of the homes. "I needed to use a real stone, both for marketing purposes and for looks. ... In this case, I had great variety and color, and texture. It doesn't look like every piece was cast in a mold," he said, adding that "It's pretty hard to argue against it; you have real stone at half the cost, with half the time. It was not a hard decision to make."
As far as the installation goes, he said, "The labor was roughly one-half the time that we have typically experienced for a four-inch or five-inch veneer wall. And the cost of the material is a little more expensive than the full veneer stone, but the labor savings more than offsets it; and the speed is remarkable. I'd definitely use the product again."
Stillman added that it was a pleasure just to watch his crews work with the material. "They just take a 4-1/2-inch diamond blade grinder and they cut through it like they're working with tile," he said.
Colors and Textures
Multi-million-dollar homes are not the only projects where natural thin stone is being implemented today. Technology has made the production and affordability of natural stone veneers an option for homes and other projects on many budget levels. According to Natural Stone Veneers International Inc. (NSVI), a family-run stone supplier in Fond du Lac, Wis., diamond saws, robots and computer technology now contribute to the quarrying and fabrication of thin, lightweight slices of natural stone. What's more, the company said, scraps and rubble — once considered unusable waste — can be cut down and used as well, thanks to the technologies at hand.
Further, typically no additional structure supports are needed when a thin stone veneer is applied, since the size and weight is usually specified within building code limits. Thin veneers, unlike conventional full veneer stone products, do not require ledgers, footings or ties as part of installation, NSVI said. And in an industry where time is money, this fact makes natural thin veneers an increasingly popular choice.
The interior of this Stillman-built home features natural thin stone, which surrounds three full chimneys. Photo courtesy of Stillman Development Co.
It could be argued that nowhere is this truer than with commercial/retail construction projects. Joe Buechel, one of the five family members who run NSVI, said that for large commercial projects, natural thin stone is becoming the standard wall material. "With the technique and installation methods in which thin veneer is [placed], you'll see more of it because it is a better fit for commercial projects. ... It's more affordable."
In fact, many builders that incorporate natural thin stone into their commercial developments are able to mix it up with several different varieties of stone to produce unique and aesthetically appealing structures. Thus, NSVI offers 55 different varieties of thin stone veneer. "What sells in New York City is different from Florida or the Midwest or L.A., so you've got to have colors and textures," Buechel said.
One large project in particular, he recalled, used six or seven different types of NSVI's thin stone, including its Concord, Virginia Ledgestone, Sydney, Lakewood, Kingston and Olympia stones. The mixture of thin stone materials for the Grand Plaza shopping mall in Southern California visually divides the various storefronts for this outdoor mall, while at the same time producing a cohesive facility that looks as though it could have been carved right out of a mountain. The developers certainly couldn't have afforded such a design using full-dimensional products, yet the end result provides the same visual appeal. "Again, it is all about color and texture. ... What better wall covering could you have than natural stone," Buechel said.
In keeping with the exterior design theme of the Stillman house, the garden walls behind the home also are constructed with natural thin stone. Photo courtesy of Stillman Development Co.
The Stone Sells Itself
For a recent hotel construction project in Lake George, N.Y., the architect, Rovetto Design Group, was opting to use a cultured stone product — instead of the more costly full-dimensional natural stone — on the faŤade of the building, as well as for the interior fireplace, reception desk and bar area. However, before the project got underway, the firm discovered a natural thin stone alternative from Champlain Stone Ltd. of Warrensburg, N.Y. According to Champlain, once the masonry contractor quoted an installation price for the natural stone at the same rate as it had for the cultured stone product, the Hampton Inn & Suites hotel project was given the green light.
"The owner paid a little more for the natural stone thin veneer to get the desired color and cut, but the budget held," said Jane Bennett, a Champlain representative. "Because of the multi-storied design and the relative newness of natural thin veneer stone installations locally, the thin veneer was installed with a masonry shelf to doubly insure the bearing load of the stone would be secure."
Of course, Jim White, project manager for Champlain knows the stone will hold. "If it's installed properly on your building, it will be there [indefinitely]. It won't change in look or style or shape; it won't fade, it won't chip, it will just be there forever," he said.
The large patio of Stillman house, which leads to the garden, is paved with natural thin stone tiles. Photo courtesy of Stillman Development Co.
For the Hampton Inn's owner, Adirondack Hospitality Corp., and its architect, White aided in the selection of Champlain's American Granite™ thin sawn ashlar. He said the stone was chosen because it reflects the surrounding Adirondack Mountains and "it has a lot of natural earth tones. It also has some color; it's got some blue and some garnet inclusions. It's a very pretty stone."
Completed in the summer of 2006, the final design features 1,200 square feet of American Granite thin sawn ashlar and 100 lineal feet of American Granite thin sawn ashlar corners.
Admittedly, White said, the owner and architect didn't need much convincing to change their plans to natural thin stone. The product sells itself, he said. "It's almost a no-brainer for the end user who is paying the bill," he added.
And according to White, word of Champlain's natural thin veneers is spreading, particularly in his region where other recent projects include a hotel across the street from the Hampton Inn & Suites; the Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks in Tupper Lake, N.Y.; and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation office in Warrensburg, N.Y.
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