Archive for month: June, 2019

7 Reasons Why Thin Stone Veneer Is Perfect for Your Next Home Project

June 27, 2019/2 Comments/in Blog, Natural Stone Veneer/by Tiffany

With such a wide range of masonry products available, it can be difficult for homeowners to settle on the right building stone for their non-structural projects. Do you want artificial stone or natural? Limestone or granite? If you aren’t working with a designer, you may not even feel familiar enough with your options to choose at all. Here at Kafka Granite, we’re dedicated to providing high-quality specialty building materials and aggregate, as well as acting as a resource for homeowners, builders, and designers alike.

Today, we’re clueing homeowners into the benefits of a product that is growing in popularity for home projects: natural thin stone veneer. If you’re on the hunt for a building material that conveys all the high-end allure of natural stone while cutting shipping and installation costs, this material will fit flawlessly into your project. Here’s what makes this specialty masonry product ideal for a wide range of projects in, on, and around your home.

1. Versatility

Building facades, fireplaces, decorative interior walls, pillars—name a project, and natural thin stone veneer can be incorporated to lend your new home a unique look. With the right surface preparations, including a metal lath anchored down, this masonry product can be applied over a variety of surfaces, such as plywood, paneling, concrete, and even metal, without the use of costly footings required by full bed veneer.

2. Natural Look

Natural stone will likely always have a place in home design, simply for its beauty and unique profile. Not only does it lend a rugged, yet sophisticated look to outdoor features, but it can also serve to bring the beauty of nature indoors. And because each piece of natural thin stone veneer is unique, any project that incorporates it will take on a distinctive, timeless look that you won’t find replicated in your neighbor’s home. When it comes down to character, manufactured stone simply can’t compare.

3. Lightweight

Thin stone veneer weighs in at less than 15 pounds per square foot, or up to 75 percent less than full veneer. This makes it significantly easier and more economical to install because it doesn’t require footings or ledges. But that’s not to say that you should tackle this project entirely by yourself. To ensure that everything goes smoothly in the installation process, we do recommend hiring a professional stone mason to accomplish the actual installation.

4. Affordability

The positives of thin stone veneer don’t stop at a light weight; that weight also lowers shipping and installation costs drastically when compared to full veneer building stone. That stone mason you’re contracting to install your new thin stone veneer will have a much easier time shaping and laying this product, making it ultimately cheaper in terms of installation and shipping costs. That being said, the overall cost of your project will depend on the type and quality of the stone you settle on, as well as the scale and requirements of your chosen project.

5. Durability

The oxide colors and other chemicals in cast concrete materials make projects that incorporate manufactured stone prone to fading over time. In contrast, natural thin stone veneer consists entirely of quarried rock and will retain its color and integrity as it weathers, leaving you with a beautiful, lasting project. This makes the material ideal for exterior features like building facades or fire pits that will be exposed to wind, rain, and other weather events.

6. Various Color Combinations

Natural stone is available in a vast variety of types and colors, meaning that the sky’s the limit when it comes to the color palette you can create or complement with your project. At Kafka Granite, we source our exclusive line of natural granite, quartz, and marble stone from quarries across North America. From airy gray tones to warm shades of burgundy, you’re bound to find a unique hue that makes your home project stand out.

7. Attractive Cuts

You might think picking a color is the difficult decision, but wait until you get to the point of choosing between numerous different cuts of stone. Are you looking to convey the beauty of natural stone, but with an ultra-contemporary feel to it? A sawn dimensional cut will serve you well. More interested in adding some country farmhouse flair to your facade? A heritage blend will create that desired feeling of old-world country charm. The choices may seem dizzying, but the good news? High-quality natural thin stone veneer looks handsome in just about any cut and color combination.

Natural Thin Stone Veneer from Kafka Granite

Kafka Granite’s range of marble, granite, and quartz building stone comes in a wide variety of shades and cuts—but no matter which one you choose, you’ll be imbuing your new home feature with a beautiful, natural look. If you’re interested in utilizing natural thin stone veneer in your next project, contact Kafka Granite today. Our knowledgeable sales team is ready and willing to answer any questions you may have and help get your home project started off on the right foot.

A Cut Above the Rest: A Guide to Kafka Granite’s Thin Stone Veneer

June 25, 2019/2 Comments/in Blog, Natural Stone Veneer/by Tiffany

We’ve already sung the praises of natural thin stone veneer. With its light weight, unique look, and unbeatable versatility, this building material is ideal for incorporating the beauty of natural stone into any non-structural project, from exterior facades to interior features.

But with so many different colors and styles of stone to choose from, where do you start? How does a mosaic cut differ from a heritage blend? What kinds of thin stone veneer colors should you even expect to find? We have answers in the form of a helpful guide that should serve as a starting point in your search for the perfect specialty building stone for your project. Here’s an overview of Kafka Granite’s natural thin stone veneer offerings.

How We Came to Produce Natural Thin Stone Veneer

At Kafka Granite, we’ve always been passionate about creating high-quality aggregates and paving the way for future applications and innovative new products. That drive and growth mindset led Kafka Owner and Founder Glenn Kafka to purchase a very unique quarry in Northern Ontario. This quarry held an unprecedented, raw material—multicolored, mica-enriched quartzite.

Instead of using this glistening stone exclusively for crushing, Glenn decided to introduce Kafka Granite’s first specialty building stone products. Our line of natural thin stone veneer now consists of stunning granite, marble, and quartz building stone sourced from our network of quarries across North America. The unique features of thin stone veneer, coupled with Kafka’s dedication to quality, create a product that stands apart from anything else on the market.

Thin Stone Veneer in Classic Kafka Colors

In our opinion, you can never have too many colors to choose from—that’s why we’re constantly expanding our selection and searching for the next fierce, fiery red or cool-toned grey to introduce. Our current thin stone veneer collection features some of the classic Kafka Granite colors that designers and builders know and love.

Chateau Granite: a unique, natural granite blend characterized by grays, blacks, and hints of pink
Galaxy Glitter: a sparkling stone with tones ranging from deep gray to black
Gun Metal Marble: a cool-toned, blue-gray marble
Imperial Gray Granite: a traditional, deep gray granite
Misty Gray Marble: a light gray marble
Sedona Glitter: a glistening stone with warm burgundy, desert, and rose tones
Sierra Granite: a taupe-gray granite
Starlight Granite: a rich black granite

Available Thin Stone Veneer Cuts

Natural thin stone veneer is incredibly versatile. Not only can it give a project the rugged, beautiful look of natural stone, but this specialty building product can also be cut to fit in with a clean, contemporary style. This means that the kind of cut you choose for your natural building stone can drastically alter the final look of your project. For example, a mosaic cut can give a building facade a casual, irregular look, while the same natural stone in a castle cut would create a more sophisticated style.

While it’s true that cut is typically driven by style, the cost of the product and its installation may also end up playing a role in this decision. Again, take the the mosaic cut. These irregular stones would take more effort—as well as more time and money—to lay than stone with a dimensional cut, which has a perfect 2:1 ratio.

Every style of our natural thin stone veneer weighs less than 15 pounds per square foot and maintains a variable thickness of ¾”-1½”. Here’s what you can expect from each cut.

Castle Cut

The castle cut is an elegant, sophisticated square cut with each stone varying from 4”-30” in length and 2”-9” in height. This cut creates a clean, classic look.

Rustic Cut

With stones measuring between 4”-30” in length and 2”-9” in height, the rustic cut offers a natural seam face that shows off the exterior of the rock. This surface once collected sap, mineral deposits, and other unique features that add a unique color and character to the stone.

Dimensional Cut

Thin stone veneer featuring a dimensional cut has a smooth, clean finish, fitting perfectly into a more contemporary style. For this cut, stones vary in length from 4”-30”, with sawn heights of 2¼”, 5”, and 7¾”.

Sawn Dimensional

In contrast to the dimensional cut, each unit of our thin stone veneer with a sawn dimensional will have a smooth, sawn face rather than a more natural, split face. This added characteristic maintains the clean, smooth finish of the dimensional cut but creates an ultra-contemporary end result. This product comes in consistent, 5” heights, while additional heights may be available with special order.

Mosaic Cut

The mosaic cut is ideal for projects designed to have more of a casual feel. Irregular lengths and heights of 6”-16” create thin stone veneer units that combine for an easy, rugged presentation.

Heritage Blend

Add some country farmhouse flair to your project with a heritage blend, featuring stones with irregular length and height from 2”-10”. This style complements projects seeking to instill some old-world country charm.

Ashlar Cut

The ashlar cut features masonry units with a natural split face, random length of 4”-30”, and random height of 2”-9”. While these dimensions are the same as the rustic cut, the split face of the ashlar cut shows off the interior of the stone, rather than the exterior.

Make Your Project Stand Out with Kafka Granite

At Kafka Granite, we take immense pride in introducing new, innovative products while maintaining the strength and quality that our customers have come to expect. Our thin stone veneer checks those quality boxes. With beautiful, natural colors and a light weight that helps reduce production, shipping, and installation costs, this specialty building stone could be precisely what you need to take your project from solid to stellar. Contact us today with any questions, or to learn more about our diverse selection of natural thin stone veneer products.