>
>
>     Does all cast stone have to be as cheesy as what we see in NYC?
>
Christopher,

The good cast stone you don't notice.

Try the front steps at the New Victory Theater. Last time I looked they
looked pretty good.
They may look like shit now but I doubt it. Townhouse did them. Alan
Barr. 718-497-9200.
Look at the 1st-2nd floor stone cornice on the B&N at Union Square, full
front length, above the entry. Again, Townhouse.
It is GFRC, which is cast stone. Tell me you can tell the difference if
you had not been told.
There are a few folks around that specialize in architectural cast stone
for histo presto. I just don't remember their names right this minute.
MJM Studios used to do it until Mike got pissed at the histo presto
industry and decided to stick to Bahamas resorts.

The cheesy crap comes about like this... some guy that makes statuary on
Lung Island decides one day to expand his product line. He don't know
what it is really worth, or how to do it to look like real stone, or
even really fine cast stone, and he is cheap. So the bottom line
prevails. They get what they pay for which is a dancing fairy & frog
prince fountain turned into architectural decor.

Or the concrete pipe manufacturer... their precast tends to reflect
concrete pipe manufacturing process.

There is cast stone that looks like stone, faux stone... any kind you
want, actually, and there is cast stone that brings out the finer
quality and character of cast stone.

As Ralph mentioned... molds... molds can be done in situ of existing
elements and then replicated usually in a shop.
Cast stone as a replacement for terra cotta can mean quicker turn around
time from concept to completion of a project.
Sometimes it is just faster, easier and cheaper to use cast stone than
the original materials.

Cast stone in like a window lintel to replace delaminated brownstone may
very well increase durability.
Concrete, fancy concrete which is what cast stone is about, is aggregate
(real stone) with a cementitious binder.
GFRC is when you add chopped up fiberglass, making thin shell (1/2" to
3/4" thickness) units possible. (They can make boats out of this stuff.)
Color retention can be a problem, plus the thermal & moisture related
behaviour of concrete is often different than stone.

Since cast stone is a manufactured product there are more variables that
can be engineered and experimented with than with a natural material.
Sometimes there are polymers & quite often SS reinforcement.

][<en

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