VANCOUVER, BC, 11/27/2018 – CornerStone Wall Solutions Inc., a leading inventors of retaining wall block and hardscape products for residential and commercial use, proudly announce a manufacturing partnership with Lee Building Products, formerly know as Lee Brick and Block of Kentucky and Tennessee. Lee Building Products will begin producing MagnumStone, Cornerstone’s big block solution for small to large retaining wall construction, as of November 26, 2018.
MagnumStone continues CornerStone’s tradition of beautiful, expertly engineered wall solutions that provide unmatched economic advantages and environmental benefits. Its hollow-core design uses 40% less concrete than solid blocks, allowing more block to be transported with fewer trucks and less fuel. Once it’s on-site, a small crew can easily install up to 1,200 square feet of MagnumStone per day.
“Being able to install and lay 8 sq ft or retaining wall per swing of a machine using relatively small equipment is a huge advantage for all contractors,” says CornerStone Vice President Alain Michaud. “Plus the trucking advantage really maximizes every load of Big Block, when using the MagnumStone retaining wall. It was all about the installers and environment first. When crews and contractors get the strength and stability they need, and get it more efficiently, everyone’s happier.”
MagnumStone’s patented, mortarless SecureLug interlocking system allows for flexible designs and easy installation. Once blocks are in place, their hollow cores are filled with gravel to provide mass and stability comparable to that of solid blocks. When gravity walls are called for, this may be enough. When extra reinforcement is needed, MagnumStone easily accommodates positive or friction-based connections to all popular types of geogrid. This flexibility makes it perfect for everything from simple landscaping to critical roadside and waterfront applications.
Of course, a retaining wall’s not really complete until the owner who is paying for it is satisfied. That’s why CornerStone spent time perfecting MagnumStone’s aesthetics along with its structure. The result is a system that allows Engineers a terrific amount of freedom in designing their own retaining wall projects, from 20ft + gravity walls to geogrid and even Positive connection walls using 1 block system provides significant advantages to the design community.
Those options are made possible by a bit of a departure for CornerStone: while their small-block products are produced using a machine-intensive dry-casting process, MagnumStone is wet cast concrete. This involves pouring a fairly typical concrete mix with minimum 4,000 PSI into a custom-designed mold and using a combination of additives and precisely controlled environmental conditions to ensure that the result cures to exactly the desired end result.
“Dry casting block has a lot to do with calibration and the equipment is very costly,” Michaud points out. “It’s not easy, but it’s relatively predictable. Wet casting on our scale, for our purposes, is currently the way to go and needs the right team. That’s why Lee Brick and Block is the perfect manufacturer that we trust with MagnumStone.”
And with good reason. Over the course of Lee Building Product’s 55 years in the masonry business and nearly 45 years as a manufacturer, it has become one of the Kentucky and Tennessee regions foremost producers of architectural block and hardscape solutions, such as retaining walls and paving stone products. In fact, it is one of only a few manufacturers of architectural block to earn a UL rating. Despite its reputation and steady success, the business had stayed in the Lee family in Kentucky and Tennessee: all ten of its locations are within the Two states.
That means quite a bit to company President Carol Lee. “We’re always looking for better, greener and inventive options for our clients,” he says. “And we’re very excited to offer the MagnumStone retaining wall system to our very large base of engineers and contractors and architects here in the Kentucky, Tennessee region.”
To learn more about the partnership, or about what MagnumStone can mean for your retaining wall project, please contact Alain Michaud at alain@cornerstonwallsolutions.com
