About Cast Stone
Cast Stone is a highly refined architectural precast concrete building stone manufactured to simulate natural cut stone. One of the oldest known types of concrete, it is the most aesthetically refined form of concrete known today. Cast Stone is used as a masonry product to provide architectural trim, ornamentation or functional features on buildings and other structures. The earliest known use of Cast Stone was in the year 1138. The product was first used extensively in London in 1900 and in America in 1920. Since the early 1920s, Cast Stone has earned widespread acceptance in the architectural community as a suitable replacement for many masonry materials and as a truly superior replacement for all types of natural cut building stones.
At Potomac Cast Stone, we manufacture cast stone utilizing the dry cast method. The dry cast method is used generally for smaller pieces. The combination of aggregates used becomes consolidated under a process of intense tamping pressure. It is tamped with a pnuematic hammer until it is densely compacted and ready for removal from the mold. The Vibrant Dry Tamp method (VDT), due to its inherently lower water/cement ratio, yields compressive strengths in excess of 6,500 psi. The "VDT method" is best suited for pieces that can be readily repeated as the mold is emptied; smaller repetitive pieces that normally have one side exposed to view (the face). One typical mold can produce more than 100 pieces in a days production. cast stone, spec section 04720
Cast Stone is an extremely versatile architectural precast building material which is similar in appearance to and is usually stronger than natural cut stone. In addition, cast stone can be reinforced, weathers better, has superior color consistency, and is less expensive than natural cut stone.
