I’ve had no success finding a domestic manufacturer of “cast” or “cultured” stone tile. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Nothing from any of these - http://www.4specs.com/s/04/04-7300.html?
Have you checked with these folks - http://www.masonryveneer.org/memberlist.html?
How about Custom Building Products? They have an excellent veneer mortar system - http://www.customtvis.com/. I’d imagine that they may have some good resources. Let me know if you need a contact with them.
Are you thinking of the type of product that has stone/marble dust or chips in an epoxy binder?
John, our spec reads “Minimum 90 percent natural marble cast in resin binder.”
Bruce this sounds more like a terrazzo tile than a cast stone product
Yes, it could be terrazzo tile. I also recollect products made by casting a large block of material, and using stone fabricating equipment to saw it up and polish it like stone tile would be. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the manufacturers who do this – it seemed that there were a number of them. Maybe distributors of natural stone tile could offer guidance.
If it is terrazzo tile, I would recommend that you contact Wausau tile. Although a lot of terrazzo contractors will do precast terrrazzo (casting individual pieces using either resinous expoxy or cementitous mixes), Wausau manufacturers their stuff using special mixes and will most likely have much better quality control.
Thanks for all the responses on cast or cultured stone. As soon as I was about to take off for the day I stubled upon the Cast Stone Institute.
Where would we be without Google?
http://www.caststone.org/default.htm
Bruce,
The Cast Stone Institute is listed in 4Specs.com under Division 4 Related Associations
http://www.4specs.com/s/04.html
I am not sure those in the architectural field need google at all since we have 4specs.com
I don’t think the Cast Stone Institute’s product type would include tile. The binder in Cast Stone is portland cement, which would be unsuitable in tile form because it would not have sufficient tensile strength. Binder for a tile must be resinous, like epoxy, acrylic, or polyester - I’m not sure which manufacturers would use.