Flexible stone: production technology and installation features

The market for building and finishing materials thanks to new technologies pleases designers with diversity. Today, the new material is a flexible stone, the technology of which, according to experts, was created almost by accident by frugal Germans.

Flexible stone from sand quarries

If exactly, the production and sale of flexible stone, which is a section of sandstone, has been known for decades. This process is labor intensive and expensive, therefore, the resulting finishing material is not cheap and is not available to everyone.

This flexible stone is produced directly in the quarry, which is the first complexity in production. Such places are not so many, but such that the sandstone in them satisfied the requirements of designers and differed in beautiful textured sections, and even less.

When a very thin layer of natural material is cut off and pasted onto the textile substrate with special adhesive compositions, the main component of which is acrylic, a natural flexible stone is obtained. The technology of its production requires not only complex and expensive equipment, but also serious skill of specialists. Staff training is another problem, but it is not so insurmountable against the background of the first two.

It is even hard for the layman to imagine how thick a cut must be, so that the finishing material is flexible enough. At the same time, the color spectrum does not differ in variety and depends only on the composition of the sandstone, where brownish or red clay discolorations or incrustations of a brown shade of iron oxides appear on its yellow base.

Manufacture of flexible stone from bulk materials

There are also more simple technologies for the production of flexible stone. The production process is so simple that it does not require special premises, sophisticated equipment and highly qualified personnel. In addition, when creating a flexible stone from small fractions of natural materials, you can use various fillers, changing the texture, patterns, patterns and color solutions of the finish. Flexible sheets of marble chips keep the shine of natural stone, but they are easy to color.

The production of flexible stone at the initial stage in general requires a minimum of costs for raw materials, all the rest is made from materials and ordinary household tools. And it's not hard to do the work yourself, the process does not require special skills.

Raw materials for production

The main thing in the production of flexible stone with your own hands is the preparation of the composition. Its main component is sandstone or quartz sand. The technology of producing flexible stone from marble chips is the same as in the case of sand.

All components are pigmented if necessary. The most stable natural colorant is iron oxides, it is remarkably suitable for exterior decoration. The connecting element is a flexible and plastic acrylic adhesive. You can do only to them, but you can also use special plasticizers and polymers to enhance its qualities.

The composition is applied to the substrate. It can be a fabric or a fiberglass. Such materials are considered the best option. In addition to good adhesion with glue and flexibility, they are also distinguished by their high strength.

Equipment and premises

The technology of production of flexible stone by oneself does not imply the use of complex equipment. To mix the composition, you need a large capacity and a construction mixer, if the scale of production is large enough. When it is supposed to be made in small batches, the usual perforator and nozzle-mixer to it are the main equipment.

To work still needs a large table and good lighting. To dry the finished product in large quantities, a drying cabinet is needed , and at home production there will be enough wooden racks in a well-ventilated room.

To save space, it is possible to produce pallets from wood-fiber boards and low wooden blocks. They should be installed on each other so that air passes between them, and the sheets of flexible stone laid on them quickly dry out. For marble chips and sand, you need to purchase a sifter, and to cut the finished material - a special machine.

All equipment can be located in the same room. The area of up to one hundred square meters is enough to organize separate sites for the production, drying, storage of raw materials and finished products in compliance with the technological chain.

How to produce a flexible stone

Production technology allows to produce sheets with a thickness of 2 to 5 mm, a width of more than half a meter and a length of more than two meters.

The production cycle itself can be divided into stages or separate operations. First, minerals are treated with dyes. Then, the adhesive composition and the base are prepared, which is processed in the next step by the stone crumb. The product is ready, it remains to dry it and cut the sheets into size if separate tiles are needed. With all the stages of production, one person at home can cope.

Installation of finishing

The technology of installation of flexible stone is not complicated either. Features of the work, perhaps, consist only in the use of a construction hair dryer when gluing the material in the corners and at the joints. In order for the flexible stone to adhere to the surface, it is heated by the air flow, the acrylic resin melts, and the sheet takes the desired form at the point of inflection. A seamless joint is also executed, in which the superimposed overlapping sheets are heated to a continuous mass of stone crumbs with acrylic. It is easily leveled with a spatula.

And the preparation of the surface under the gluing of this finishing material, and its placement, and tools, with the exception of a hair dryer and glue, are no different from working with wallpaper. Small curved surfaces are better to cover with small pieces of material so that you can hold them for several minutes until the glue seizes. By the way, glue and sealant must be acrylic.

Joints can be made invisible even without using a hair dryer. They should be wiped with a small piece of the same material, the crumb peels and fills the space between the tiles, making the surface monolithic. Finally, the glued part is treated with a water-repellent primer or varnish to protect it from the negative effects of dust, moisture, sunlight.

Material Advantages

Flexible stone - a universal technological finishing material, which is easy to assemble. They can decorate a variety of smooth and voluminous surfaces of any geometric shapes in the premises, including stairs, columns and arches, facades of buildings. Even light fixtures or simply light sources can be made out with a material with a unique property - transparency.

For the production of flexible stone used natural and environmentally friendly materials, so it is allowed for use in children's rooms. Its special structure allows you to create seamless coatings with a unique pattern or apply on large surfaces of photo printing.

Flexible stone - the material is wear-resistant and fireproof, durable, withstand temperature changes from -30 to + 65 ° C, easy to care for.

Where is flexible stone used

The production technology, which allows the production of large enough sheets and small tiles, makes the flexible stone irreplaceable wherever wallpaper and tiles can not be used because of the instability to moisture of some and the inflexibility of the other. For example, in a bathroom with specific cranes and bizarre shapes of shells. Since the material without consequences transfers contact with water, it is used in swimming pools, in baths, and in the kitchen.

Flexible stone does not burn, so it is suitable for finishing fireplaces and stoves. Resistance to temperature changes allows it to be used as a finishing trim for heating homes with the help of a "warm floor" system.

Immunity of flexible stone to temperature differences makes it possible to use it for finishing the facades of buildings even in cold climatic zones. It's not for nothing that the technology of producing flexible stone and thermopanels is often combined. The latter easily take the desired geometric shape with a construction hair dryer.

In the market of finishing materials, a flexible stone has appeared recently, and, most likely, its capabilities have not yet been fully explored. But architects and designers, including home-grown, are increasingly using this wonderful material. The demand for it is growing, which means that the production technology will be improved, but it is unlikely to become more difficult.