October 1, 2001

6 Min Read
United Composites and the East Fishkill Project

United Composites and the East Fishkill Project

StenniTM Aggregate panel is lightweight, attractiveand convenient

By Jim Tallia


Aesthetic requirements for a self-storage project led to the choice of a stone-finish aggregate panel.

The town of East Fishkill, N.Y., is a fast-growing community within commutingdistance of New York City. People are finding the area attractive to live in,and property values are rising. The town just celebrated its 150th birthday. Onthe Fourth of July, the American flags are all out and waving. The community hasa lot of civic pride.

As the community grows, so does the need for other facilities, includingself-storage centers like the one built recently by Guardian Self-Storage. Butwhen Guardian came to East Fishkill with its plans, the company encountered atown bylaw that states "no more metal buildings." And it isn't theonly town imposing architectural restrictions on self-storage construction. Thesolution? StenniTM lightweight, attractive architectural-facadepanels that combine the look of stone with the convenience of a panel system.The supplier? United Composites of Mount Bethel, Pa., and Inglewood, Ontario.

No More Metal?

Bob Klein is the chairman of the Architectural Review Board for the town ofEast Fishkill. He recognizes architectural aesthetics can be very subjective."We've made a decision that, in our community, there will be no more metalbuildings in certain areas," states Klein. "But that doesn't mean wewon't look at alternatives."

The Architectural Review Board was established in the early 1980s to assistin ensuring an aesthetic-quality standard be maintained in the town. In the lastfour years, it has been given the power by the Town Council to exercise itsmandate. No commercial or industrial building gets the go-ahead before thereview board approves it.

The board's job is to review applications for construction. People bringforward their ideas and know up front what the town won't accept, so they comewith aesthetically pleasing approaches. "Just as people are concerned aboutthe environment, they realize part of the environment is the architecture,"says Klein, a resident of East Fishkill for more than 25 years. "It's muchnicer to live and shop in an attractive place than in an ugly one."

While originally seen as a restriction, the board's approval process is nowappreciated by people attempting to build in the area, says Klein. "It'smore of a collective activity. Everyone realizes these guidelines help to makeour community more attractive--and more valuable. We're happy if people want toshow us how their alternatives can work," says Klein. "The cladding iscertainly a significant improvement over steel siding, aesthetically."

An Owner's Perspective

Kelley Redl-Hardisty is a partner and co-owner of Guardian's East Fishkillfacility, which operates as a family-run business. Guardian, based inPoughkeepsie, N.Y., built a number of self-storage facilities that traditionallyuse metal siding. Redl-Hardisty chose an aggregate panel for the facade of theFishkill project precisely because of the town's bylaw prohibiting the use ofmetal buildings.

She knew she would have to come up with a design that would please the town'sboard. Working with an architect and her contractor, she looked at differentscenarios for the color and texture of available siding materials. In the end,they chose an aggregate panel that would fit the project's budget and designcriteria. "The Stenni aggregate panel was recommended by ourcontractor," explains Redl-Hardisty. "Obviously, we considered cost,as well as the durability of the panel and its maintenance." She says thatwhile they had not worked with this kind of panel before, the contractor wasknowledgeable of the product. The material arrived on time and the projectproceeded smoothly.

"The quality is great," says Redl-Hardisty. "We're very happywith the project. We think Stenni is a very attractive alternative to ourregular metal buildings. We will definitely consider it for other self-storageprojects in the future," she says.

About the Panel

Stenni aggregate panels are one of a series of architectural and industrialcladding products manufactured by United Composites. The company's otherproducts include Stennex, a smooth aggregate panel; Excelclad(formerly Chemclad), a corrosion-resistant industrial siding; Exceliner,a moisture-proof protective panel; and Excelite, a translucentdaylighting sheeting.

Stenni aggregate panels combine the attractiveness of natural stone with theconvenience and low cost of a panel system. Natural stone aggregate is embeddedin a reinforced polymer to produce a composite panel of tremendous durabilityand versatility. This particular type of architectural facade panel islightweight, fire-resistant and durable, and can be easily installed over woodor metal framing, concrete, masonry units or even existing construction.

Panels are cut to length to minimize waste and field labor; however, they canbe field cut if needed using a carbide or diamond-tip saw blade. They areattached to the building with special color-matched fasteners so the screwsbecome almost invisible. Aggregate panels come in different textures and colors,offering a wide variety of options, and they are adaptable for buildinginteriors and exteriors.

Jody Clayton is vice-president of operations for Kearney, Mo.-based CTIBuilding Systems Inc., the contractor for the Guardian project. The companyconstructs self-storage facilities nationwide, and Clayton, who has been workingwith aggregate panel since 1995, is very familiar with Stenni. He says it was anatural fit for the Guardian project in East Fishkill. "This is anexcellent alternative to metal siding," says Clayton. "We didn't haveto change our footing design. It adapted to the framing easily."

Clayton sees zoning boards increasing their pressure for storage facilitiesto conform to aesthetic guidelines. "They want to see brick, stone and EIFS[exterior insulation and finish system]," says Clayton. He acknowledgesthere are lots of alternatives. "But Stenni is one of the best ones we'veseen."

He says the aggregate panel method costs more than steel but is morecost-effective than EIFS--and a lot more durable. "It's a good-lookingproduct that really holds up. We did a project a few years ago in Kansas Citywith this panel and it looks as good today as when we put it up," Claytonsays.

Because of the way the panel is made--using high-quality raw materials in acontinuous manufacturing process--it is impervious to attack from chemicals,mold or fungus and can be installed below grade. The reinforced compositestructure of the panel gives it high-impact strength and abrasion resistance.

Ross Litteral, operations manager at CTI and the overseer of the EastFishkill project, says he liked the way his team could work with the panelson-site, and that it took his installers little time to get used to installingthe panels. They ordered the panels from the manufacturer bundled "perbuilding," which saved time when working on the installation of theself-storage complex.

Because Stenni does not use a wet application system, installers could workduring the cold weather. Litteral explains that although they were cutting andinstalling the panels in February, their workers had no difficulty handling thematerial. "It attaches well, and the stone gives it an attractiveappearance," he says. CTI has plans to use the product again on a nearbyproject.

Durability and good looks are definitely factors in what tenants seek in aself-storage facility. "The stone panel not only has a nice look,"says CTI's Clayton, "it gives the whole facility a look of solidsecurity." If a self-storage project calls for a solution that's attractiveenough to meet the town's needs and secure enough to meet the needs ofself-storage tenants, United Composite's aggregate panels provide a winningcombination.

Jim Tallia is general manager of United Composites, manufacturer of StenniTMand StennexTM aggregate panels for architectural facades and siding.For more information, call 800.933.8700; visit www.unitedcomposites.com;or contact Mr. Tallia directly at [email protected].

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