Alternative Surfaces

April 3, 2009

Just as many shops have added quartz surfaces to their natural-stone offerings, other non-stone countertop materials may prove to be the difference between a sale and that potential job going down the street.
Two added benefits: They appeal to the current trend to green products, and at least some of them fabricate remarkably like natural stone.

ROCK, PAPER
Surely, no one is going to buy concrete or cardboard – yes, cardboard – countertops when they can get a nice Rain Forest Green, are they?
Unless you’re one heck of a salesman, it’s a good bet that someone in your neighborhood already has concrete countertops. It’s less likely that the cardboard – actually PaperStone™ – has arrived in a subdivision near you, but the material’s gaining market traction.
The larger number of concrete countertops is probably due to its longevity in the market as much as anything. While people have been making concrete countertops since the 1980s, PaperStone – a product of Hoquiam, Wash.-based PanelTech International is a recent arrival on the scene.
There are several companies manufacturing products and training people in the fabrication of concrete countertops, including Cheng Concrete LLC of Berkeley, Calif., and San Francisco-based Buddy Rhodes Studio.
Mark Gunther, a partner in Buddy Rhodes Studio, says it’s a process that often appeals to what he calls “artisan types.”
“Working with concrete is really an artisan experience,” Gunther says. “Every job is a one-off, you have a relationship with the customer, and each form is built separately, specifically for that job.”
In fact, he compares that part of the work to templating for solid-surface or natural-stone countertops.
Despite most people’s immediate impression of concrete arriving in a large truck, the materials for this work are mix-it-yourself, and one of the important aspects of the work is choosing a supplier who’s providing good materials. For instance, Gunther notes that Rhodes’ mix is white, which works well for mixing lighter colors such as yellows and blues.
“The color is integral to the concrete,” he says. “You put it in the mix water, and because the color is all the way through, in case you have to re-buff or re-polish, you’re not going to take the color off.”
As with natural stone, finishing the job is also key. For concrete, Gunther says it’s not uncommon to use several coats of a penetrating sealer on a countertop, followed by a satin sealer and then a bee’s wax coating which customers should reapply two or three times a year.
Most people learn the craft by taking a one- or two-day training course sponsored by a product manufacturer or distributor; Gunther says that, for stone fabricators, it’s just another product option.
“As with stone, every job is unique,” he stresses. “The customer is getting something that was built specifically for them; they can have any shape, any color, any style of edge, anything you can imagine can be realized in concrete.”
Of course, there’s unique, and then there’s unique. And saying that your countertops are made from recycled cardboard or paper makes an interesting story at parties.
PaperStone, which came on the market five years ago, actually offers both. Its original series is made from 100-percent recycled cardboard, while its certified series comes from 100-percent recycled white office paper, according to Ben Horn, vice president of paper composites for parent PanelTech.
“There isn’t any difference in quality between the two,” Horn explains. “Most of our products are in the natural earth tones and we use organic pigments, so there’s a little tonal difference in some of the reds, greens and blues. On the cardboard side we put in more pigments to enhance the color.”
As with concrete, the difficulty stone fabricators may have with PaperStone is that it doesn’t fabricate like Mother Nature’s best.
“All you really need is the same hand-tools people use to do laminated countertops,” he says. “That’s primarily carbide-tipped saws and router bits. Probably 80 percent of the projects are fabricated by hand; you don’t have to invest a lot of money in tooling.”
It also comes in a size most stone shops don’t see: 5’ X 8’ panels. It’s also sold as 5’ X 10’ and 5’ X 12’ slabs, in thicknesses ranging from 1/4” up to 1 1/2”.
At a 1” thickness, the product is strong enough to offer a 2’ unsupported overhang, so it’s going to template somewhat differently. And, finishing is going to involve taking a 3M Scotch-Brite® Scour Pad to the slightly textured surface.
“You can take a Scotch-Brite pad and clean the surface, then apply a wipe-on, wipe-off urethane,” says Horn. “The other option is to take a product we make called PaperStone Finisher. It’s food-safe, and made with non-toxic mineral oil with bee’s wax and carnauba wax. You wipe it on, let it sit for 20 minutes and then buff it out.”
The company also offers a spray-on, wipe-off rejuvenator to improve the product finish; consumers can also apply olive oil or mineral oil.
For a product made from cardboard, perhaps PaperStone’s greatest attraction is that, besides being green, it’s tough. Among the clients who’ve specified the product is MAC Cosmetics.
“They wanted something green that was also competitive in price,” says Horn. “But, they also wanted to be able to easily clean up all the cosmetics people spill. They tested it with nail-polish remover and lacquer thinner and found it extremely durable.”

HINT OF FAMILIARITY
For many stone shops, the green products with the most appeal may be surfaces that mix recycled glass into a cement or epoxy substrate. For one thing, the products come in slab sizes familiar to fabricators; and, working the slabs involves much the same tooling, templating, fabrication and installation as natural stone.
The concept of putting a decorative aggregate in concrete or epoxy flooring, then polishing it, certainly isn’t new. However, the idea of incorporating pre- and post-consumer recycled glass into cement slabs that can then be fabricated into countertops didn’t really emerge until the 1990s, when two products – Brooklyn, N.Y.-based IceStone® LLC and Richmond, Calif.-based Vetrazzo® LLC – first made their appearances.
Since then, a number of other, similar products have come on the market, each touting its own attributes.
IceStone LLC, for instance, earned kudos in the green community for a multitude of reasons, from being VOC (volatile organic compound) free to the natural lighting in its factory and the way it recycles its own waste materials.
And, Vetrazzo president James Sheppard notes that his product offers a story in every surface, because the fabricator provides the customer a certificate telling where their particular glass came from.
“We’re very focused on finding new glass sources,” he says. “When a city moves from glass to acrylic, we’ll take the old traffic lights. We recently took all of San Jose International’s glass runway lights because they’re making the transition to plastic. We also get all of SKYY Vodka’s bottling-line breakage and turn it into a mix we call Cobalt Skyy®.”
Wausau, Wis.-based Wausau Tile Inc. not only produces slabs, which it offers under the name of Rinato through its Wheeling, Ill.-based master distributor Terrazzo and Marble Supply, but it also turns the product into everything from exterior furnishings – including pavers – to interior tile. All the cement-based products are suitable for use in outdoor kitchens and restaurant service and dining areas.
And, Tim Whaley, president of the Plano, Texas-based Enviroglas LLC, stands out a bit from the crowd because his recycled glass is cast in epoxy resin, rather than Portland cement.
Whaley is quick to mention that the plastic he’s using as his base doesn’t emit VOCs, although he says its biggest sales attribute is that he’s able to offer a level of product customization not found with concrete-based products.
“People are able to choose their own color deck,” he says. “In fact, we make it just like you make paint. Once we have the color-base binder, they then pick the combination of glass they’d like from the different colors and sizes we offer.”
Its other selling point: Because it’s a plastic, it doesn’t need to be sealed. That isn’t the case with the concrete products, whose care level is a bit closer to marble or limestone than to granite.
Not only do most recommend an impregnating sealer –Santa Ana, Calif.-based Urbanslabs™ , offering nine different background colors with its cement-based slabs, developed its own VOC-compliant sealer – but carnauba wax is standard in the care kit for most of these.
The other specific for these products: lots of a pH-neutral cleaner.
Epoxy- or cement-based, these products have other similarities with natural stone, as well. Slab sizes are similar, and depending on the manufacturer, they’re offered in either 3/4” and 1 1/4” or 2cm and 3cm thicknesses.
Again, depending on the project, their manufacturers say they pretty much template and install the way natural stone would. For instance, Joe Giglio, general manager of sales and marketing with Terrazzo and Marble Supply, recommends those fabricating Rinato follow Marble Institute of America recommendations on issues such as rodding cutouts and size of overhangs.
“Also, when you’re templating and cutting, I recommend you observe the stone like you would granite,” Giglio says. “There’s going to be some variability in the color of the stone that’s just part of the pigmenting process with Rinato. Even moisture levels at the factory when it’s being produced can produce slightly different pigment colors.”
There are exceptions, of course. One is that while the materials will support any edge profile used with natural stone, the material looks its best with the more-modern edges.
And, one of the managing members of Urbanslabs, John Collins, notes that those doing wet fabrication, which is recommended, take a little extra care with it.
“Because it’s cement, they can’t leave the slab soaking in water for any period of time,” he says. “It needs to be fabricated then and removed from the equipment.”
Because of these product-specific issues, many of the manufacturers offer training programs on how to fabricate their materials; most also have fabrication guidelines online to reduce the potential for problems.

STRONG FUTURE
In the end, the question of whether or not to fabricate and install these materials boils down to the time needed to learn their peculiarities and how to deal with them.
Offering them is another matter, and there are probably several good reasons to take the plunge. First is the appeal factor: Green is definitely a hot marketing hook.
When it comes the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design™ (LEED®) program, all of these materials claim LEED points.
“In particular, architects are becoming increasing sensitive to environmental concerns and conservation issues,” says Vetrazzo’s Sheppard. “The whole idea behind our product is that it’s made in America; it takes waste glass and transforms it into a durable, gorgeous product.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, Sheppard adds that his company is now looking to build a second plant in the Northeast. It’s a matter of the product’s carbon footprint, and whether it’s fabricated within 500 miles of where it’s used, which also earns a LEED point.
“It’s important that it’s made locally,” says Terrazzo and Marble Supply’s Giglio. “You’ve got companies on both coasts and we’re here in the middle, if you will. For architects, designers and builders who are looking for something regionally available, there aren’t a lot of options like that in natural stone.”
The emphasis on LEED points is making the product especially attractive for commercial projects and government buildings, including schools, most of which are being designed today with LEED specifications in mind. Sheppard says his company often gets people anxious to become certified fabricators after they land a big commercial project.
However, other manufacturers, such as Wausau Tile, say they’re seeing strong interest from individuals, too. Tom Hale, the company’s vice president of sales, says its people-appeal shows in hotel and condo projects, as well as high-end residential jobs.
Both Hale and Giglio acknowledge that its price may impact how it’s perceived in the residential market.
“For residential projects, it’s going to be mostly those who have a little more discretionary income,” says Giglio. “It’s a slightly smaller population than you’re dealing with when it comes to natural stone, because this isn’t going to work for people who can barely afford Uba Tuba.”
There is another reason higher-end residential customers – or designers for that matter – specify the product – they like the look.
“It may be eco-friendly, but it also offers sparkling beauty and lustrous colors,” says Miranda Magagnini, co-CEO of IceStone. “I think people buy IceStone because it’s beautiful. People won’t buy a product that isn’t beautiful. They want it to be beautiful and then they’re concerned about durability and that it’s green and made in the USA.”
The real bottom line, however, is that this is a growing market category, even though at the moment the Raleigh, N.C.-based Concrete Countertop Institute estimates it makes up only about one percent of the countertop market.
Urbanslabs’ Collins predicts that will change for the better, fueled, he says by advancements in sealers.
“With that, you’ll see a lot of different surfaces and a lot of different looks,” he says. “We hope we can go with a little coarser glass and some new colors, but in five years we’re surely going to have more than one percent of the market.”
Predicting just how much and how fast that growth will actually be isn’t easy, though. For instance, Giglio says that given the economy he doesn’t think the growth rate will be as quick as it’s been for quartz products.
“I see recycled countertops or environmentally-friendly countertops carving themselves a nice niche,” he says. “Everyone’s playing the green game right now.”
PaperStone’s Horn agrees. He notes many of these manufacturers aren’t just paying lip service to being environmentally concerned, but are incorporating a green set of core values into their materials, their manufacturing processes and even the way they do business.
“Green is here to stay,” Horn concludes. “People are going to be more-conscious, not just of energy conservation, but also of the carbon footprint. In doing that, we think there’s a great future and a great opportunity for our product.”