Sintered stone is a new product that is being used increasingly more often because of the extensive design options and extremely strong performance characteristics. It is available in a wide range of standard or custom appearances and colors that allow it to look like natural stone, wood grain, or uniformly finished panels, among others. It provides superior hardness and durability making it very well suited for commercial and institutional buildings areas subject to heavy use. In terms of cost effectiveness, sintered stone panels are typically available in large-format sizes. They are installed using known site cutting and handling techniques with common thinnest application processes.
It is a manufactured stone that includes mineral, metal and ceramic powders. It is non-porous so no need to be sealed. The pricing for these materials is closer to a high-end granite countertop and they are not yet widely available. Altogether, these products are becoming a preferred choice for many wall, floor, and other interior surfaces in commercial, residential and institutional buildings of all types.
With all these high-performance and desirable characteristics, it is easy to have the misconception that using sintered stone for a building surface is expensive. In fact, it has been proven repeatedly as being very cost neutral when looking at first costs and comparing it to many other commodity interior finish products. When considering it over the life of the building and factoring in its anti-graffiti, impact-resistant, and wear-resistant agelessness, it readily lends itself to be an everyday common-sense solution for many architects and designers. Building owners are quick to see its long-term cost saving benefits too when they realize that it is completely vandalism proof (scratch, paint/ink, impact) and virtually maintenance free for the life of the building.
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