The Ins and Outs of Stone Veneers

Quality stone veneer is becoming the material of choice for many home construction and remodeling projects. Beautiful, natural-looking, durable, lightweight, easy to install, and economical, stone veneers offer a highly sustainable option for interior and exterior use.

Exterior Applications for Stone Veneer

Properly applied stone veneer claddings provide beautiful, long lasting exteriors that add curb appeal and sophistication to otherwise ordinary homes and businesses. Whether as wainscoting or a complete exterior covering, quality stone veneer can transform any home from simple to gentile.

And, resurfacing an entryway with stone veneer will create new first impressions at your front door.

Stone veneer works beautifully for cloaking columns and porches. In outdoor entertainment areas, a beautiful stone veneer fireplace with an adjacent stone veneer- preparation area, wall, or seating area adds charm to the setting. Supplement these with well-placed lighting and the area can become a wonderland of nighttime splendor.

Stone Veneer Interior Applications

A well-chosen, beautifully installed stone veneer fireplace surround creates a re-imagined focal point for your living area. Family rooms take on a lodge-like feel or stately and elegant appearance with the right stone veneer covering, mantel, and hearth.

A stone accent wall changes the ambiance of any room. Because high-quality stone veneer from ProCoat Systems is relatively thin, the space within the room is not compromised.

Adding stone veneer to an interior wall can change the ambiance of the room. Whether you choose to dress up a dining room, create a warm and elegant atmosphere in a bedroom, or enhance the grandeur of a dining room, quality stone veneer adds a natural feel to the surroundings.

Create a Bathroom Spa

A stone accented bathroom is pure elegance. By creating a spa-like atmosphere, homeowners can enjoy a feeling of nature-in-private as they shower or bathe. Textures may range from rustic to serene while optional shades can be creamy or dark.

Contact ProCoat Systems for Quality Stone Veneer Products

ProCoat Systems represents the top manufacturers of high-quality natural and manufactured stone veneer products. Stone veneers today have evolved to encompass all of the positive attributes of whole natural stone, like beauty and durability, without the negatives of difficult installation, excessive waste, and cost.

ProCoat presents a full range of stone veneer options available in every style, color, texture, shape, and size.

For more information, visit the ProCoat website to view new ideas and the array of natural and manufactured stone veneer options.

Or, for questions regarding material choices and installation,  phone the experts at ProCoat at (303)-322-9009.

This post was originally published at http://www.procoatsystems.com/ins-outs-stone-veneers/

Retaining Walls Made Right

Retaining walls generally perform a utilitarian function. These are often intended to create a solid partition between two levels of landscape, eliminating slopes and contours that can be difficult to manage and limit flat, usable space.

When the right materials and design are employed, a retaining wall can be an attractive element of any landscape.

Considerations for Designing the Best Retaining Wall

Whether replacing an existing or failing structure or creating a new one, a proper retaining wall begins with a solid design.

Usually, a retaining wall is holding back a vertical face of soil that can slide or cave in if not properly retained. The first and most crucial issue is strength and durability. Walls that are not strong enough to resist the lateral earth pressure behind the wall may eventually collapse or slide.

In many states, the design of a new stone or masonry retaining wall exceeding four feet should be reviewed by a licensed professional design engineer to assess the wall's long-term integrity. 

Other factors to be considered when constructing a retaining wall are:

• Required height of the wall
• Groundwater conditions and drainage
• Site accessibility
• Building codes
• Aesthetics

With the proper design and the best materials, a beautiful retaining wall not only optimizes the useable area but can be a long-lasting and beautiful accent to the landscape.

Belgard® Retaining Walls from ProCoat Systems

To add interest and beauty to your backyard landscape or to enhance the curb appeal of your property, an attractive, well designed retaining wall can make the difference. Belgarde, a world-class producer of pavers, retaining wall products, and other hardscape materials, produces the highest quality of freestanding and retaining wall blocks for home and business landscapes. Belgarde materials are stable, long lasting, and beautiful, available in a broad range of styles to complement surrounding structures and landscape features.

Belgarde offers a product selection of eleven different retaining wall block designs to match just about any setting. These sturdy options range from coarse to smooth surfaces in several different colors, shapes, and sizes.

To finish the job, Belgarde and ProCoat also provide the matching edges and caps.

Contact ProCoat Systems of Colorado and Utah

ProCoat Systems is a premier supplier of world-class coatings, hardscape materials, waterproofing, and air barrier systems. The company has been a supplier to the construction and remodeling industries in the Rocky Mountain region for nearly thirty-five years.

For more information regarding materials and construction of the highest quality retaining walls, contact ProCoat. The professionals at ProCoat will be pleased to help.

Phone ProCoat Systems at (303)-322-9009.

This post was originally published at http://www.procoatsystems.com/retaining-walls-made-right/

The Versatility of Beautiful Stone Veneer

Stone veneer can be a beautiful, long-lasting and stylish addition to any home or business interior or exterior. By providing texture, atmosphere, and refinement to any room or exterior structure, manufactured stone veneers are a high-quality cladding for fireplace surrounds, interior walls, exterior columns and wainscoting, and other elements.

Homeowners add curb appeal and value to their homes by installing stone veneer siding. Businesses intensify their presence and improve customer perception by upgrading exterior elements of their building with top quality stone veneer cladding.

What Types of Stone Veneers are Available?

ProCoat Systems of Denver, a supplier of high-quality cladding materials to the construction and remodeling industry in the Rocky Mountain region, offers a broad spectrum of stone veneer products for new construction or remodel projects.

Top brands like Cultured Stone® Veneer and ProStone® by Boral, Coronado, and RealStone Systems offer consumers an almost infinite number of textures, colors, stone types, and patterns to match their taste and budget. Each product is as durable and easier to apply than natural stone since these require less cutting, fitting, and shaping and therefore result in less waste. These products are highly durable and easily meet all building codes.

Quality stone veneers are perfect for:

• Exterior and interior fireplaces
• Stone walls and facades
• Commercial retail and entertainment areas
• Stone showers
• Accent walls
• Pool spillovers and surrounding walls
• Water features

Application of Stone Veneers and Preventing Water Intrusion

Accumulated moisture can be a threat to the life of any stone installation.However, when properly applied, stone veneer products are effective in preventing water intrusion. The stone itself does not absorb moisture, but the installation must include measures to prevent water from accumulating behind the exterior veneer. This usually involves three areas of attention. They are:

• Prevent moisture from entering at seams where the veneer meets doors, windows, gates, etc. Special attention to eliminating gaps should be applied to these locations.
• Extra flashing is important at joints, corners, and bends.
• Create weep holes for accumulated moisture, if present,  to escape

Quality stone veneers are rugged and longlasting of properly applied.

Stone veneer applications can alter the ambiance of an interior space or dramatically highlight the positive features of an exterior. Choosing the right stone veneer for your intended feature depends on the mood you are attempting to project. Will your fireplace surround deliver the comforting lodge-like feel you envision? Will the new stone veneer in the bathroom create the spa-like elegance of your dreams. Will the new exterior wall project rustic informality or sophisticated grace?

Contact ProCoat Systems

For more information regarding the selection and application of stone veneers for interior or exterior use, contact ProCoat in Denver and the Rocky Mountain Region.

Visit their website for ideas. Or phone the ProCoat professionals at (303)-322-9009.

This post was originally published at http://www.procoatsystems.com/versatility-beautiful-stone-veneer/

Advantages of Cultured Stone Over Natural Stone Veneers

Increasingly, Cultured Stone® by Boral is the first choice of home and business owners looking for a beautiful and economical cladding for interior or exterior walls, fireplaces, and vertical columns. Cultured Stone is durable and versatile, perfect for nearly any application.

Lighter weight and easier to install than natural stone products, cultured stone requires less cutting and shaping, thereby resulting in easier installation and less waste.

In the Rocky Mountain region, Boral’s Cultured Stone is sold and marketed by ProStone Systems of Denver and Salt Lake City.

Colors and Textures of Cultured Stone

To replicate the natural textures of natural stone, Boral production engineers cast molds of Cultured Stone from carefully selected real stone pieces. A broad range of color selections are created from Portland cement, natural aggregates, and iron oxide pigments to create a perfect match for natural stone veneers. Boral produces Cultured Stone uses thousands of different molds to eliminate the possibility of duplication in a single lot. Even units produced in the same mold vary in color and highlights.

Boral manufactures Cultured Stone in 100 texture and color combinations.

Application of Cultured Stone

Properly applied, Cultured Stone, available from ProCoat in Denver, meets all applicable building code requirements. Details of code compliance are listed within the instructions for the product installation.

Cultured Stone should be applied over well-cleaned and structurally sound substrates of wood, concrete, wallboard, brick, or metal and secured with specified Portland Cement mortar.

For best results, installation should comply precisely to the product instructions.

Durability of Cultured Stone

Boral offers a 50-year warranty with properly installed of Cultured Stone. The material is resistant to rain, wind, and snow and will retain the original color much like natural stone. The only suggested maintenance is an occasional washing to remove dust and dirt to preserve the original beauty.

Affordability

Cultured Stone from Boral, available through ProCoat Systems, is easier to install and generates virtually no waste compared to natural stone and stone veneers. Although there is far less cutting and shaping required with Cultured Stone, standard cutting tools like masonry or circular saws are appropriate when needed.

Call ProCoat Systems of Denver

As a partner to the world’s most sophisticated cladding manufacturers, ProCoat Systems supplies builders, remodelers, and installer with long-lasting and beautiful products for new construction and remodel projects.

For information regarding the technical aspects and installation of Cultured Stone by Boral, phone the ProCoat professionals at 303-322-9009.

This post was originally published at http://www.procoatsystems.com/advantages-cultured-stone-natural-stone-veneers/