CalStar Unveils Recycled Thru-Wall Unit

By archives on Sep. 22, 2011 | Topics: Materials, Recycled | 15 Comments

Today CalStar Products unveiled a new Thru-Wall unit which combines the structural properties of standard concrete masonry unit with the look of a traditional brick wall. The units are half as tall as standard concrete blocks but still strong enough to do the job of a brick. Plus, the Thru-Wall unit is made with 40% post-industrial recycled material, fly ash, and comes in several different colors.

Thru-Wall is made with 40% post-industrial recycled content as the binder, which doesn’t require energy-hogging kiln firing or the use of Portland cement.

CalStar Products makes the new blocks in sizes of 8″ x 4″ x 16″ and 12″ x 4″ x 16″. Dual-faced units can be shown with a 16″ appearance or filled with mortar to look like an 8″ brick.

They’re available in eight solid colors in stretcher, knockout bond beam, and corner, sash, and splittable units. Thru-Wall units comply with ASTM C 90, which is a standard for load-bearing concrete masonry units.

The new Thru-Wall units are priced competitively with other masonry products on the market and can be purchased through independent distributors throughout North America.

[+] More info about Thru-Wall Units by CalStar Products.

Credit: CalStar Products.

Article tags: CalStar Products

About archives: This article was contributed by the founder of Jetson Green. With the arrival of new ownership in December 2012, Preston left Jetson Green to pursue other business opportunities. If you have questions or need assistance, contact tips@jetsongreen.com.

Justin L

interesting!
- http://mastercraftheating.com Steve Bez
  
  One of the better brick wall facsimiles I’ve ever seen.
Kartik Mishra

a clean product
Peter

I hope this is better than their bricks and pavers.
The bricks are very poor -soft faces and edges that rub easily so you have to handle them gently -and they shrink a lot after setting so you have to repoint with mortar and hope the joints dont open. also inconsistent wetting and mortar lock -many times you have to grind and key them to get the mortar to stick otherwise it slips and the joint fails. And you have to be very careful when you clean up- you cannot cleanup with water wash because the bricks effloresce and form a white powdery surface when they dry. and muriatic eats into the bricks -even in spot cleaning.
the pavers are just as bad- soft not traffic resistant- the surface wears and ruts -you get paver dust and colors transfering- and same problems with washing. also other masons have told me they dont survive frost and they had to reinstall clay or concrete pavers instead when the calstar pavers failed
So i hope that this company now has a product that really is in spec and performs how they claim-ther bricks and pavers are substandard -some of the worst products i have seen in over thirty years as a mason
- Craig Ratchford
  
  Peter,
  Thanks for your feedback. We’re sorry to hear that you had a negative experience. CalStar’s products have generally been quite well received by masons, and we’ve worked hard to make our products easy to work with and lay. They have also passed extensive third-party testing to ASTM standards, including freeze-thaw, and have shown solid performance in the field.
  
  We take all customer comments seriously and want to make sure we fully understand your concerns. If you’d be willing to share a bit more of your time, we would be interested in speaking with you directly to learn more. Please contact CalStar vice president of sales and marketing Craig Ratchford at 877-700-9501.
  
  Thanks again for taking the time to share your views. I look forward to the opportunity to speak with you soon.
  
  Sincerely,
  Craig Ratchford
  CalStar Products
- Tim
  
  Pete- we had similar experiences- had to redo a paver job in BC because of bad Calstar pavers -pavers were soft and dusty- nightmare to cut because of all the dust. trowel set and tamp was bad – edges would chip easily and we had to relay a lot because of cracking. and the coloring was awful- dust and color would rub off in your hands and transfer – we tried extra planks and tarps but it didnt do much good. and we were almost done when we saw shrinkage cracks and bed gaps and white spotting on the pavers. finally stopped the job took a loss and replaced the Calstar pavers with Belgard Hollands – saw no problems there.
  I dont know about their bricks but the pavers were awful- nowhere near spec -cannot imagine how they ever passed tests. heard from people about other jobs that had to be redone- also about frost failure and salts leaching. the company needs to do proper testing and get real certs done before putting any products on the market
Bkwaas

The exodus of management from Calstar Products continues.

Amitabh Kumar, the VP of R&D has left.

This follows the departure of the Director of R&D, Kyle Douglas.

This also follows the removal of the CEO, Tom Pounds.
- Green Arrow
  
  Hey moron, what’s up? Please don’t you think I’ve forgotten you pal! So, how are you? Did you ever find yourself? If you did, I know, I bet you wish you hadn’t.
- Green Arrow
  
  Hey moron, what’s up? Please don’t you think I’ve forgotten you pal! So, how are you? Did you ever find yourself? If you did, I know, I bet you wish you hadn’t.
  - bkwaas
    
    Julie Rapoport of Calstar aka Green Arrow again.
    
    Hey Julie – I see that the gaffes continue.
    
    First, the botched leaching test document.
    Then the botched performance claims.
    Then the ridiculous 10 year product warranty.
    Then the botched safety document.
    
    And now the botched sustainability claims.
    So, in the case of your pavers, 1 ton of landfill avoided (ie. fly ash) equals 0.47 million BTUs avoided.
    But miracle of miracles, in the case of your bricks, the figure is over ten-fold higher – 1 ton of landfill avoided equals 6.4 million BTUs.
    
    So, Julie Rapoport, as Product Manager, you are responsible for all these gaffes.
    What’s up? Why the Gaffe-a-Minute?
    
    Or is it just more of your “Creative Marketing”? The product does not perform, so just make up the performance data and hope no one notices?
    
    What will you “invent” next?
    
    Looking forward to hearing from you, Julie Rapoport.
    - Green Arrow
      
      My moron pal is back! Finally someone opened your cage, uh? If you only knew how happy that makes me. And please don’t misunderstand me. I really think you are a bright scientist. But then what’s my opinion worth against thousands of others?
      - bkwaas
        
        Julie Rapoport of Calstar aka Green Arrow
        
        Want to comment on the masons – Pete and Tim’s bad experiences with your “products”. To quote:
        
        “some of the worst products i have seen in over thirty years as a mason”
        
        “we saw shrinkage cracks and bed gaps and white spotting on the pavers. finally stopped the job took a loss and replaced the Calstar pavers with Belgard Hollands”
        
        “the pavers were awful- nowhere near spec -cannot imagine how they ever passed tests. heard from people about other jobs that had to be redone- also about frost failure and salts leaching”
        
        “the company needs to do proper testing and get real certs done before putting any products on the market”
        
        So, Julie Rapoport, it looks like there is plenty for you to work on.
Bkwaas

The exodus of management from Calstar Products continues.

Amitabh Kumar, the VP of R&D has left.

This follows the departure of the Director of R&D, Kyle Douglas.

This also follows the removal of the CEO, Tom Pounds.
Bkwaas

Here are eye-opening examples of Calstar’s sustainability claims – taken directly from Calstar Product’s website.
Latest Brick Example

Milwaukee Scholars School

Energy saved: 255 million BTU

CO2 avoided: 20 tons

Landfill avoided: 40 tons
Latest Paver Project

Main Street Plaza

Energy saved: 4 million BTU

CO2 avoided: 3 tons

Landfill avoided: 8.5 tons
So, in the case of Calstar’s pavers, 1 ton of landfill avoided (ie. fly ash) equals 0.47 million BTUs avoided.
But miraculously, in the case of bricks, the figure is over ten-fold higher – 6.4 million BTUs per ton of landfill avoided.
“Inventive Marketing”?
Or botched reports, like Calstar’s (since corrected, after I pointed
it out) safety document that claimed the non-existent elements “Va” and
“Mb”?
bkwaas

Calstar Products is operating at a large loss and is downsizing further.

Total staffing has been reduced by 70%, and the production workforce is at 25% of capacity.

In the last three years, Calstar has sold only 255,000 bricks and 120,000 pavers.

Total annual production is below 100,000 units – well below the plant capacity of 10 million units.

Revenue is below $ 0.4 million per year – well below the burn rate of $ 2.6 million per year.

CalStar Unveils Recycled Thru-Wall Unit

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