Cast stone

German doorway in cast stone

Cast stone or reconstructed stone is a

concrete masonry product simulating
natural-cut stone and is used in
architectural applications. Cast stone is
used for architectural features: trim, or
ornament; facing buildings or other
structures; and for garden ornaments.
Cast stone can be made from white
and/or grey cements, manufactured or
natural sands, crushed stone or natural
gravels, and colored with mineral
coloring pigments. Cast stone may
replace natural-cut limestone,
brownstone, sandstone, bluestone,
granite, slate, coral rock, travertine, and
other natural building stones.

History
Cast stone has been a prime building
material for hundreds of years. The
earliest known use of cast stone dates
from about 1138 in the fortress of
Carcassonne, France.[1] Cast stone was
first used extensively in London in the
19th century [2] and gained widespread
acceptance in America in 1920.[3]

Some researchers have even speculated

that the Egyptian pyramids were formed
using a form of cast stone, rather than
from cut blocks.[4][5]

One of the earliest developments in the

industry was Coade stone, a fired
ceramic, but most artificial stone
consists of fine cement concrete placed
to set in wooden, rubber-lined fiberglass
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.

According to Rupert Gunnis[6] a

Dutchman named Van Spangen set up an
artificial stone manufactury at Bow in
London in 1800. Having later gone into
partnership with a Mr. Powell the firm
was broken up in 1828, and the moulds
sold to a sculptor, Felix Austin who had a
premises in New Road (now Euston
Road), London, England. His material
was not the same as the ceramic body
used by Mrs. Coade, (although he is
known to have copied old Coade stone
designs), but made from 'Portland
cement, broken natural stone, pounded
marble and coarse sand' (The Builder,
1868, now Building). Around 1840 Austin
entered into partnership with John
Seeley. Seeley had trained at the Royal
Academy Schools and also made an
artificial stone, which he called 'artificial
limestone', before entering into
partnership with Austin. In 1841 Austin
and Seeley published their first
catalogue, 'Collection of Ornaments at
Austin & Seeley's Artificial Stone Works
for Gardens, Parks and Pleasure
Grounds'. The firm continued in
production until about 1872.[7]

Another 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.

Physical properties
Today, cast stone is a Portland cement-
based architectural precast concrete
product manufactured using high quality
fine and coarse aggregate as its primary
constituents. The use of a high
percentage of fine aggregate creates a
very smooth, consistent texture for the
building elements being cast, resembling
natural cut stone. Other ingredients such
as chemical admixtures, pozzolans, and
pigments also may be added.
Cast stone frequently is produced with a
low water-to-cement ratio mixture with a
"dry" (or "earth moist") consistency. The
mixture is consolidated into a mould
using an air-driven, or electric, tamping
device or vibration under pressure, which
is much like the formation of natural
sedimentary rock. Products
manufactured in this manner are referred
to as vibrant-dry-tamped (VDT) cast
stone. For cast stone mixtures produced
with a slumpable consistency mixture,
the concrete typically is consolidated
using internal or external vibration
applied to the production mould, or
increasingly by the use of self-
compacting additives.
Over the last decade, new types of
admixtures have been developed for VDT
concrete products. These new
admixtures do not normally work with
"wet cast" concrete. These new
plasticizers are more efficient than using
air-entraining agents to increase
compaction in VDT concrete. Some
plasticizers have chemical properties
that react with the cement to increase
ultimate strengths of semi-dry concrete.
Another important type of admixture for
VDT concrete is integral waterproofing
formulas. Tests have shown that some
of these integral waterproofing
admixtures have improved strength by as
much as 20% while reducing the
absorption by 40%. The increased
strength and reduced absorption results
in improved freeze/thaw durability.

On recent commercial testing laboratory

results, the freeze-thaw for VDT concrete
using integral waterproofing admixtures
was 0.23% weight loss after 300 cycles.
Air entraining agents have been the
salvation of wet cast concrete as it
pertains to its durability. Wet cast
concrete with 4% to 6% entrained air
normally can withstand numerous freeze-
thaw cycles without failing. Other types
of admixtures such as water-reducers,
super plasticizers and the new self-
compacting additives can add to
improving the strength and durability of
wet cast concrete products. Cast stone
products manufactured by the wet cast
method are required to meet the same
standards as VDT cast products.

Today, the industry standard for physical

properties and raw materials
constituents is ASTM C 1364, the
Standard Specification for Architectural
Cast Stone. Membership in ASTM
International (founded in 1898 as the
American Chapter of the International
Association for Testing and Materials
and most recently known as the
American Society for Testing and
Materials) exceeds 30,000 technical
experts from more than 100 countries
who comprise a worldwide standards
forum. The ASTM method of developing
standards has been based on consensus
of both users and producers of all kinds
of materials. The ASTM process ensures
that interested individuals and
organizations representing industry,
academia, consumers, and governments
alike, all have an equal vote in
determining a standard's content.

In the UK and Europe, it is more normal to

use the Standard "BS 1217 Cast stone -
Specification" from the BSI Group. The
European Commission's "Construction
Products Regulations" legislation states
that by mid-2013 CE marking becomes
mandatory for certain construction
products sold in Europe, including some
Cast Stone items".[8]

See also
Artificial stone
Geopolymers
Anthropic rock
Coade stone

References
1. Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc
(1870). La cité de Carcassonne . Morel.
p. 66.
2. "History of Cast Stone" . Northampton,
England: UK Cast Stone Association.
Retrieved 5 November 2011.
3. "History of Cast Stone" . Lebanon, PA:
Cast Stone Institute. Retrieved 8 January
2010.
4. Nickerson, Colin (22 April 2008). "A
New Angle on the Pyriamids" . Boston
Globe. Retrieved 29 Sep 2010.
5. Nickerson, Colin (22 April 2008). "Did
the Great Pyramids' builders use
concrete?" . New York Times. Retrieved
5 Apr 2012.
6. Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-
1851, p22
7. "History of Cast Stone" . Northampton,
England: UK Cast Stone Association.
Retrieved 21 August 2011.
8. "CE Marking of Cast Stone" .
Northampton, England: UK Cast Stone
Association. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
Dictionnaire raisonné de l’architecture
française du XIe au XVIe siècle/Béton

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