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I dont know the product and thus cant make any fair assesment. I personally would rather use real stone since it has stood the test of time over the centuries. Price both products, pass the info on to your customer, and let him or her make the decission. Then if they want to save a few bucks It wont fall back on you if the man made product fails.
I have to say though, If this is a high end home I’d just get the real stone. After all, they pay for it. Don’t they?
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I dont know the product and thus cant make any fair assesment. I personally would rather use real stone since it has stood the test of time over the centuries. Price both products, pass the info on to your customer, and let him or her make the decission. Then if they want to save a few bucks It wont fall back on you if the man made product fails.
I have to say though, If this is a high end home I'd just get the real stone. After all, they pay for it. Don't they?
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This "man-made" product is the cat's meow when it come to duplicating the stonecutters art of years gone by. Everything from the common garden ornament to the most ornate tympanum that ever graced a building can be made in a mold for a fraction of the cost to cut the same thing out of stone. I looked at a job recently that required placement of nine structural tympanums as well as the cast columns that embellished the windows these casting topped. There is no way that anybody except Mr. Gotlotsabucks could afford real carvings. Check out this link Cast Stone These folks or others like them will work up complete specs and you might be surprised at what you can do with this product.
*Just for fun I looked to see if Outwater Plastics makes ext. column parts and they say that for an upcharge they'll prime and prep. for ext. use. Ever use this company? They are at http://www.outwater.com. I've ordered mantles and corbels from them.
*Hey all:Thanks for the replies.Karen:Yes - I have have the Outwater catalog and have ordered interior wood columns from them. The material specifed for the masonry pier caps is Architectural Stone - as described above - which I can buy locally. I know that outwater sells a lot of stuff besides plastics, but in this case I believe that the shipping would be cost prohibitive. The caps weigh about 200# each! The cost at the local "factory" which is about 10 miles away is $80 ea if I pick em up (they load em)! The job requires 10 caps.
*Karen,Shop Outwater carefully. I've found that many of my local suppliers can get the same items for a lot less money. Fiberglass columns especially from Outwater are WAY over priced for what I buy them through the local lumberyard
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Need some column tops for some brick fence columns for a pretty up-scale house. Went to a local place where they make and sell these and other items such as, pool copings, key stones, frieze (sp?) for buildings, etc. Here is a link to similar items so that you will have a pretty good idea of what I'm talking about. These items are actually not made of stone at all, but rather are cast in cement - for lack of a better term. And by the way, it annoys me when people use the terms "cement" and "concrete" interchangeably.
Anyway, I watched these guys making some of these items. They had a special mixer that looked like it'd do about 1 yard at a time, had a small diesel engine and looked like an antique. What I found really curious was the mix - 50% white Portland cement and 50% white sand. One of the guys told me that they sometimes use different colored cement and/or sand to get different effects. So - anyone want to speculate on the strength, durability, and longevity of this 50/50 mix?