Talk:Cast stone

Cast stone versus similar materials
Not a suggested merge. Artifical stone, simulated stone, cultured stone and other man made stones are not the same as cast stone in composition, industry standards, or trade use.

Properly manufactured Cast Stone should not be confused with other types of simulated stones. Several companies manufacture proprietary stone-like products that are used primarily as veneers on other substrate materials such as concrete masonry units. These products are manufactured to meet requirements for simulated stone, which is now under CSI Division 04 42 00, and covers various types of supported or adhered stone cladding.

There are substantial differences between Cast Stone and simulated stone. Simulated stone is a lightweight product that is adhered to a structural wall. Therefore, simulated stone cannot be used to add to the load bearing capacity of a masonry wall. In addition, while simulated stone products are made light in weight so they will work easily on the exterior of other wall material, Cast Stone weighs approximately the same as natural cut limestone.

Cast Stone has an ASTM International Standard Specification, C1364, which has substantially different physical requirements than cultured or simulated stone products, which usually reference ASTM Test Methods. Test methods simply dictate how materials are tested, while the standard specification stipulates what the test results must be, as well as the ingredients the product must contain. It must pass a rigorous freeze-thaw test, the dimensions of each unit may not deviate by more than 1/8" from approved dimensions, and it is reinforced with billet steel reinforcing bars, unless otherwise specified, according to ASTM C 1364 - Standard Specification for Architectural Cast Stone.

Wnrussell 14:49, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

Suggest deleting synonyms in definition (artificial stone, synthetic stone, or cultured stone) which are not defined as types of architectural concrete.

Suggest incorporating the following text from the Artificial stone section, to the History section on the Cast Stone page:

One of the earliest was Coade stone, a fired ceramic, but most artificial stone consists of fine cement concrete placed to set in wooden or iron moulds. It was cheaper and more uniform than natural stone, and widely used. In engineering projects, it had the advantage that transporting the bulk materials and casting them near the place of use was cheaper than transporting very large pieces of stone.

A well-known variety was Victoria stone, which is composed of finely crushed Mount Sorrel (Leicestershire) granite and Portland cement, carefully mixed by machinery in the proportions of three to one, and filled into moulds of the required shape. When the blocks are set hard the moulds are loosened and the blocks placed in a solution of silicate of soda for about two weeks for the purpose of indurating and hardening them. Many manufacturers turn out a material that is practically non-porous and is able effectually to resist the corroding influence of sea air or the impure atmosphere of large towns.

Wnrussell 15:07, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

Made edits noted above. Still think that Artificial Stone needs it's own section, but worthy of expanding.

--Wnrussell 13:44, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

You can find more information about Cast stone and natural stone on http://www.maasgmbh.com — Preceding unsigned comment added by UploadRock (talk • contribs) 18:27, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

Cultured stone?
There is a redirect here from cultured stone, but "cultured stone" does not appear in the article. Is "cultured stone" a synonym for "cast stone" or not? The article needs to answer this question. David Spector (talk) 23:41, 28 August 2017 (UTC)

"For thousands of years" or since 1138?
Under the heading "History", the first two sentences contradict each other: "Cast stone has been a prime building material for thousands of years. The earliest known use of cast stone dates from about 1138 in the Cité de Carcassonne, France." (emphases added) Which is it? Bricology (talk) 23:23, 13 September 2021 (UTC)
 * Sorted I hope. It used to say "hundreds of years", but the sentence is not needed, and "prime" overstating it. Johnbod (talk) 03:15, 14 September 2021 (UTC)