Whenever the restoration of a historic building or one of architectural interest requires the use of non-artificial materials (to retain the original exterior appearance and ensure long duration), until now only a thick cladding of natural stone could be used, much more costly and less practical than thin cladding.
This gave rise to the Foglie di Pietra project:
1. Make the use of natural stone as economical and practicable as synthetic materials for external cladding.
2. Obtain the aesthetic effect of real masonry while using a cladding of minimum thickness and weight.
3. Offer the market a "prepackaged" product by mixing various types of stone in appropriate proportions that result in a style associated with specific architectural types of our cultural heritage.
Cont...
The FOGLIE DI PIETRA are produced with real rock with one natural side and one saw-cut side, so as obtain a thickness between 2 and 4 cm at the highest, thickest point. This preserves the aesthetic look of the material so that it can be used as common thin cladding.
The FOGLIE DI PIETRA, in fact, are not "slabs": once the stone is installed, the outer side retains its natural look, in terms of color, form and curvature. The back side is saw-cut, permitting easy, effective binding to the surface beneath. The jointing between stones can be filled later with mortar, as done with "old-style" full thickness walls.
To obtain the appearance of a real wall, like the classic Tuscan country homes, you must mix the types of stone. The façades of country homes, in fact, normally show a mix of grey-blue and yellow-brown sandstone, white-beige limestone, and clay bricks. There is currently in the market no assortment of different types of stone cut as described, with a natural side and the other saw-cut with a thickness of 2-4 cm. Until now, creating this type of finish required a thick wall or the use of cladding of cement, not natural stone.
The FOGLIE DI PIETRA project is to produce and market specific assortments of special types of stone cut to a thickness of 2-4 cm with one side saw-cut and the other natural. With these materials, certain aesthetic effects can be faithfully restored with a thickness within the usual limits of siding.
Since to produce these materials our company starts with natural stone received directly from the quarries, we can personalize the compositions with percentages of stone varied to fit customer needs.
The stone we use comes from seven different quarries, and since it is natural, its characteristics are variable.
The FOGLIE DI PIETRA can also be installed with the normal adhesives used in building, and they are so easy to handle that they are ideal for DIY projects.
