Molded stone architectural product having a foam core

Abstract

An architectural cast stone product for use in building construction has a unitary shell made of a molded cementitious material that partially surrounds and is affixed to a foam core. The architectural cast stone product has a mounting surface including an exposed surface of the foam core and an exposed surface of the shell. The architectural cast stone product is made by obtaining a front pattern having a desired surface configuration for the architectural cast stone product, obtaining a foam core, affixing the foam core to a backer, affixing the front pattern to the backer that together form a mold, pouring a cementitious material into the mold and into contact with the foam core, at least partially curing the cementitious material to form the architectural cast stone product, and removing the front pattern and backer from the architectural cast stone product. The architectural cast stone product may optionally be surface finished, such as by sanding or polishing, to yield a desired surface finish.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a division of U.S. application Ser. No. 10 / 900,969, filed Jul. 28, 2004, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 490,626, filed Jul. 28, 2003.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to molded stone architectural products having a foam core. The present invention further relates to a slurry casting method for the manufacture of foam core architectural stone products. [0003] The use of natural cut and carved stone is often too expensive to be used in most homes and buildings. Natural stone is also heavy and subject to seismic limitations. Over the years, various products and construction methods have been developed to simulate cut and carved stone on home and building exteriors. For example, many commercially available cementitious products may be used to prepare three-dimensional shapes, which when cured, may serve as window sills, crown moldings, window surrounds,...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0007] The architectural cast stone product includes a mounting surface that includes an exposed surface of the foam core and an exposed surface of the shell. The mounting surface is a surface that may be hidden from view once it is attached to or installed on a building structure. The shell of the architectural cast stone product includes a wraparound extension that follows the foam core from a first surface at least partially onto the mounting surface. This wraparound extension may be the exposed surface of the shell on the mounting surface. The wraparound extensions provide the appearance that the architectural cast stone product is solid stone. The exposed surface of the foam core limits the size of the shell and thus limits the total weight of the architectural cast stone product. In forming the mounting surface, the wraparound extension may extend parallel to an adjoining surface of the foam core and nonparallel to an adjoining surface of the shell. The adjoining surface of the foam core may be the exposed surface of the foam core of the mounting surface.

[0025] A miter mold for casting an architectural cast stone product with the appearance of a miter joint may also be produced by machining, thermomolding, or molding the miter joint shape into the front pattern directly, instead of combining two molds. In this way, a single mold can be used to cast an architectural cast stone product with the appearance of a miter joint. Additionally, the foam core may be a unitary body and thus provide better support to the shell as compared to multiple separate pieces of a foam core that have been affixed to each other with adhesives or mechanical fasteners.

Problems solved by technology

The use of natural cut and carved stone is often too expensive to be used in most homes and buildings.

Natural stone is also heavy and subject to seismic limitations.

Each of these methods has limitations that have created a need in the art.

Cast solid architectural stone products are heavy and expensive because of the amount of cementitious material required to fabricate the product.

The method of coating a three-dimensional shaped substrate is wasteful and often the product is of poor quality.

Material is often wasted because too much cementitious slurry is made and much material falls to the ground during the coating process.

Poor or uneven quality results from the difficulty in applying a uniform coating on the shaped substrate.

In addition, this method is also expensive because of the labor skill and time required in applying the coating.

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