Restoring "Stonehedge" under a deadline posed many challenges. "Stonehedge" is an estate located in Far Hills, New Jersey originally built in the mid-19th century that recently underwent a multi-million dollar restoration in 2001.  We were awarded the "deck" portion of the restoration after the original contractor withdrew because of the time demands made by the new owner. "We had a lot of casting to do and make and very little time." noted Percio Torraca, President of Torraca Landscape Design. 

He further commented, "I took the Smooth-On mold making seminar two years ago and have been showing my employees how to make molds for the various projects we take on. For this project, the training really paid off."  After the molds were made with Brush-On®50 urethane rubber, support shells were formed using Plasti-Paste® as mother mold material. Once the molds were ready, castings were needed in a hurry. Enter duoMatrix®–C (polymer modified concrete). Mr. Torraca stated, "We knew about duoMatrix®–C and similar products, but had always considered them an unnecessary added expense. But, we were under a big time crunch and could not wait a week or more for the 'standard' concrete to cure. We mixed the concrete and the duoMatrix®–C, cast the balustrades and were already shipping them next day. The molds proved to be bullet proof. After hundreds of castings, we continue to use them on other jobs. We were also surprised with our breakage factor on this job. Of the 400+ pieces cast and transported to the job site, we had zero pieces damaged. I had always thought that these concrete additives were a lot of hype and expensive; but on this job, the duoMatrix®–C  paid for itself and then some!  We'll be using it on many of our future projects".