Fabricating Various Stone Types
Are you a granite and marble fabrication professional thinking about getting into working with other materials? In this article we will take a look at some engineered materials that you might consider adding to your selection of products. As we look at them, we will look at what makes each of them a desirable choice and consider some of the suppliers of each.
Sintered Materials
This first material class that we are going to look at is the group of sintered materials. These are materials that are formed by using the sintering process. The raw materials that are used in the process yield different surfaces. Let’s look at some of them now.
Porcelain Countertops
This material has been used in the construction of kitchens for a long time. Perhaps the most well-known variation of this one is porcelain tiles. That’s right, porcelain is a sintered material. You may not have realized it, but the process that is used to make porcelain is sintering. And in fact, the sintering process has been around for a long time.
In recent years, porcelain companies have begun to scale up the sizing of their products. Now they are able to produce porcelain panels that can be used for all sorts of applications. For example, porcelain wall panels and even countertops are now possible.
Because of the technological advances in the area of sintering materials to make porcelain surfaces, a number of porcelain surface brands have come about. Some of these include:
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- TechLam
- LAMINAM
- Panoramic Porcelain
- EuroWest
- FLORIM
- MSI Stile Porcelain
- SapienStone
With the arrival of large format porcelain brands there is the need to have adhesives that are formulated to match the colors. You can find Glaxs porcelain glue on the CartridgeGlue.com website.
Lapitec® Sintered Stone
Another material that is relatively new in the industry is Lapitec®. This is a sintered stone material that is heat resistant, scratch resistant and non-porous. These characteristics make Lapitec® a desirable material for countertops and other applications. The Lapitec® selection consists of:
Lapitec Care & Maintenance
Sintered stone surfaces by
Lapitec offer a diverse range of features and benefits. Sintered stone surfaces are very durable and can be cleaned using a variety of detergents and cleaners. However, Lapitec care & maintenance is still needed since it is not indestructible. With regard to Lapitec specifically, the following are reasons that Lapitec list on its website to consider choosing it as your surface material:
Features of Lapitec
- Lifetime Limited Warranty
- Highly Performant
- Weather Proof
- Versatile
- Resists The Following
- Water
- Heat
- Scratch
- Stain
- Impact
- Scorch and Burn Resistant
- Non-porous Surface is Easy to Clean
- Indoor and Outdoor Applications Due to UV Resistance
The above list can be very persuasive for those seeking a surface material that is satisfied by those items. Lapitec offers an array of colors and finishes in its sintered stone collections including the following:
Urban Lapitec Finishes
- Brooklyn
- London
- Roma
- Casablanca
Lapitec Fossil Finishes
- Bianco Assoluto
- Artico
- Bianco Polare
- Bianco Crema
- Avorio
- Avana
- Porfido Rosso
- Moca
- Ebano
- Grigio Cemento
- Grigio Piombo
- Nero Antracite
Lapitec Arena Finishes
- Bianco Assoluto
- Artico
- Bianco Polare
- Bianco Crema
- Avorio
- Avana
- Porfido Rosso
- Moca
- Ebano
- Grigio Cemento
- Grigio Piombo
- Nero Antracite
Lithos Lapitec Finishes
- Arabescato Michelangelo
- Arabescato Canova
- Arabescato Perla
- Arabescato Donatello
- Arabescato Corallo
- Arabescato Bernini
- Bianco Assoluto
- Artico
- Bianco Polare
- Bianco Crema
- Avorio
- Avana
- Porfido Rosso
- Moca
- Ebano
- Grigio Cemento
- Grigio Piombo
- Nero Antracite
- Nero Assoluto
Lapitec Dune Finishes
- Bianco Assoluto
- Artico
- Bianco Polare
- Bianco Crema
- Avorio
- Avana
- Porfido Rosso
- Moca
- Ebano
- Grigio cemento
- Grigio Piombo
- Nero Antracite
- Nero Assoluto
Lapitec Vesuvio Finishes
- Bianco Assoluto
- Artico
- Bianco Polare
- Bianco Crema
- Avorio
- Porfido Rosso
- Avana
- Moca
- Ebano
- Grigio Cemento
- Grigio Piombo
- Nero Antracite
- Nero Assoluto
Lapitec Satin Finishes
- Arabescato Michelangelo
- Arabescato Canova
- Arabescato Perla
- Arabescato Donatello
- Arabescato Corallo
- Arabescato Bernini
- Bianco Assoluto
- Artico
- Bianco Polare
- Bianco Crema
- Avorio
- Avana
- Porfido Rosso
- Moca
- Ebano
- Grigio Cemento
- Grigio Piombo
- Nero Antracite
- Nero Assoluto
Lapitec Lux Finishes
- Arabescato Michelangelo
- Arabescato Canova
- Arabescato Perla
- Arabescato Donatello
- Arabescato Corallo
- Arabescato Bernini
- Bianco Assoluto
- Artico
- Bianco Polare
- Bianco Crema
- Avorio
- Avana
- Porfido Rosso
- Moca
- Ebano
- Grigio Cemento
- Grigio Piombo
- Nero Antracite
- Nero Assoluto
Like the porcelain material mentioned earlier, Lapitec® has a specific color palette and there are color matched products for them. You can see the cartridge glue here.
DEKTON® Ultra-compact Surfaces
Cosentino has its Ultra-compact surfaces under the DEKTON® brand and it too is a sintered material with a distinctive line of colors. The DEKTON® brand has approved adhesives for the material. Additionally, a site has been constructed for just the adhesives and a few tools. However, the tools on the DektonMastidek.com site are DEKTON® approved tools.
The DEKTON® color list is as follows:
- Aged Timber
- Aldem
- Ananke
- Arga
- Ariane
- Aura
- Aura 15
- Bedrock
- Bento
- Bergen
- Blanc Concrete
- Blaze
- Borea
- Danae
- Domoos
- Edora
- Entzo
- Fiord
- Fossil
- Gada
- Galema
- Glacier
- Halo
- Irok
- Kadum
- Kairos
- Kelya
- Keon
- Keranium
- Kira
- Korso
- Korus
- Kreta
- Laos
- Lumina
- Lunar
- Makai
- Manhattan
- Milar
- Naone
- Natura 18
- Nayla
- Nilium
- Odin
- Olimpo
- Opera
- Orix
- Portum
- Qatar
- Radium
- Sand Drift
- Sarey
- Sirius
- Sirocco
- Sogne
- Soke
- Sterling
- Splendor
- Taga
- Trilium
- Tundra
- Vapour
- Vera
- Valterra
- Vegha
- Ventus
- Zenith
Quartz Surfaces
Another class of materials that you will find is quartz. This class of material is engineered but you see and hear it referred to as natural stone. This terminology is not accepted in all circles is clearly highlighted in the article entitled: Is Quartz Natural Stone? – Confusion About Manmade Quartz Surfaces. Yet they are a popular type of material that is an alternative to natural stone.
There are a tremendous number of brands when it comes to quartz material. As a result, many search it out because of the sheer volume of options. Here is a list of some of the brands available:
- ADD
- ADVANCED KITCHEN & BATH
- AUREA STONE
- AVANZA
- BASIX QUARTZ
- BELENCO
- BELTRAMI
- CAESARSTONE
- CAMBRIA
- CERASTONE
- CIMSTONE
- COLOR SURFACES
- COLORQUARTZ
- COMPAC
- COSMOS QUARTZ
- CORIAN
- CURAVA
- DAKOTA QUARTZ
- DELLA TERRA
- DIAMANTE QUARTZ
- DIFINITI
- DIRESCO
- ELEMENTS
- ELLIPSE
- EMPEROR QUARTZ
- EQUS
- ESSA STONE
- FIR STONE
- FORMICA STONE
- FOUR ELEMENTS
- GEMINI QUARTZ
- GEOS
- GIOSTONE
- GLOBALSTONE
- GS QUARTZ
- HANSTONE
- IRAH QUARTZ
- KALINGA STONE
- KIVESTA QUARTZ
- KSTONE
- LEGACY QUARTZ
- LG VIATERA
- LIDO
- LUCASTONE
- METROQUARTZ
- MONICA
- MONT SURFACES
- NATURAQUARTZ
- NATURASTONE
- NUSTONE
- OKITE
- OMNIA
- ONE QUARTZ
- ORION
- PACSHORE QUARTZ
- PENTAL
- POLARSTONE
- POMPEII QUARTZ
- PRESTIGESTONE
- PURIVO QUARTZ
- Q FROM MSI
- QSTONE
- QUANTRA
- QUANTUM QUARTZ
- QUARELLA
- QUARTEX SURFACES
- QUARTZ EFFECTS
- QUARTZ MASTER
- QUARTZ NATUR
- QUARTZFORMS
- QUARTZNATURE
- QUARTZFORMS CANADA
- RENEWMAX
- ROMAXX
- ROXX
- SANTA MARGHERITA
- SEQUEL
- SILESTONE
- SIQUARTZ
- SMARTSTONE
- SPECTRUM QUARTZ
- STARON RADIANZ
- STONE ITALIANA
- SUN STONE QUARTZ
- TCE STONE
- TECHNISTONE
- TERRASTONE
- TOTEM QUARTZ
- TRAFFICSTONE
- U QUARTZ
- VADARA
- VENETIAN FROM MSI
- VERSATOP
- VICOSTONE
- VTI TRUQUARTZ
- WILSONART QUARTZ
- ZENITH
- ZODIAQ
With quartz surfaces a key to getting a good finished fabrication job is to use the proper blades and polishing pads for quartz. This is important because fabricators have learned the hard way that friction can cause polishing pads to overheat the quartz. When quartz burns it stains the surface of the material and it can be very difficult to correct once it has occurred.
So, no matter which material you select, there will be a decent selection from which to choose. You will need to use the proper tools, including polishing pads, for the install and each material will probably have specific colors of adhesive made to match it.
Whichever material(s) you choose to add to your product offers, you can be sure that variety is definitely there.