Guides
How to Choose a Cast Stone Manufacturer
If you’re considering adding cast stone to your construction project, it’s important to choose the right manufacturer to ensure the best possible outcome. Here are a few things to keep in mind before you make your decision: Quality: Cast stone is a long-lasting and durable material, but its quality can vary depending on the manufacturer.…
Technical Standards for Cast Stone
In the United States, the technical standards and guidelines for cast stone are primarily established by the Cast Stone Institute (CSI) and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). These organizations provide specifications and testing methods to ensure the quality and performance of cast stone products. At Marcstone our cast stone is routinely tested…
What is cast stone?
Cast stone is a man-made material that mimics the appearance of natural cut stone. It is made by pouring a mixture of cement, sand, water, and other additives into molds. Once the mixture sets, the cast stone is removed from the molds, cured, and then finished to look like natural cut stone. Cast stone is…
How to Patch Cast Stone
As a cast stone manufacturer, we don’t necessarily like patches. In fact, we go to great lengths to avoid them in our packing and shipping process, and we generally prefer to replace a piece than to patch it. Unfortunately, damage may occurs after installation such that replacement can be quite difficult or cost prohibitive. In…
How To Wash Cast Stone
We produce more than 6 million pounds of cast stone per year, and every piece of it ends up on a structure somewhere in the USA. Often, our cast stone is a principal architectural element of a new structure. Despite its eye-catching position, we often see installed stone that is just one wash away from…
What the Cast Stone Institute Gets Wrong
The Cast Stone Institute is demanding a ten-year product guarantee. Frankly, we think that’s a low ceiling. If we’re going to be replicating stone, it should be closer to 100 years. If a general contractor or builder is going to be doing a maintenance pro forma on their building, we think it’s going to be…
