General Shale Brick
From a small local brick manufacturer in Tennessee in 1928, we have grown to be a complete masonry supplier for North America. For residential, commercial or institutional projects, only masonry allows you complete design flexibility and the confidence of using the most trusted building material. Our masonry products will stand the test of time in both style and sustainability. You can expect the very best from General Shale Brick.
Current News
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[Posted on December 28, 2011]
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Build Your Outdoor Living Dreams!
Outdoor living is one of the finest parts of home ownership! Sure you can spend lots of time and money on the inside of your home, but on a warm summer night or a perfect autumn day, you don’t want to be cooped up indoors! Most likely you want to spend as much time as possible outside in good weather and you can make your backyard or other outdoor living spaces as beautiful as your interior ones.
Start by thinking about what features you might like in your outdoor living space. Will you be cooking? Grilling? Entertaining large groups of friends and family? Whatever function this space will serve will inform what you build there. An outdoor kitchen made from limestone and other masonry materials is a great addition to any yard, no matter the size. In this kitchen, you can include a range, grill, cabinets, warming drawers, and even a sink. Be sure to also include counter space for preparing and serving food. As far as seating you can build benches into the stone around the kitchen, or you can just opt for a large table and chair set somewhere in the outdoor living space. Covering your outdoor kitchen with a permanent overhang is also a smart idea so your valuable appliances don’t rust or face weather damage.
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[Posted on November 4, 2011]
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Retaining Walls: Dream Big!
A retaining wall is a functional piece of landscaping—it is there to hold back earth and terrace a yard. It should be strong, watertight, and made of a suitable material for the job at hand. Even with that said, however, there is no reason you cannot have fun with this hardscape feature. Dream big when it comes these walls and their uses in your yard!
One of the best parts about a retaining wall is that you can use it to create many layers in a sloped yard. For example, you can build several tiers of wide flower boxes using retaining walls. Connect these tiers with stone steps, platforms for benches and perhaps a fountain and you have a very unique and polished looking yard.
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[Posted on October 20, 2011]
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Redo your Walkway and Patio with Clay Pavers!
One of the most consistent homeowner complaints about a poured concrete patio or sidewalk is that they crack and break due to time and weathering. This can be dangerous to little feet and hands and it can also be a visual blight on a backyard (especially if a homeowner tries to fill the cracks with caulk or other materials). In order to repair the patio or walkway sufficiently, a person can pull up and re-pour an entire patio or they can simply choose to pave with another material. There are dozens of different paver options, and clay pavers are some of the best choices in terms of beauty, affordability, and durability.
Clay pavers are simply clay stones that can be placed closely next to each other in order to build patios and walkways. They come in many shapes—squares, rectangles, circles, and half-moons, just to name a few. When you place these clay pavers, you can mix and match shapes and colors as well in order to create mosaics or to accent parts of your design (such as making the bulk of a patio with one color and shape paver and then creating a border with another color and type). Check out all the varieties of store at your local masonry materials store to really have an idea of the design possibilities!
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[Posted on October 11, 2011]
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Explore the Potential of Landscape Stone!
In the realm of outdoor living, landscape stone offers tremendous design potential! Comprised of many types and colors of gravel, large stones, and building stones, these masonry materials can help bring hardscapes, like patios or outdoor fireplace and seating areas, together. It can also help you create unique and surprisingly fun stand-alone features in your yard, like accent rocks, retaining walls, and walkways.
Before deciding on where to use landscape stone, it is important to know what options you have. This is where a trip to a local concrete and stone store will help you. While it might seem like there cannot be much variety in rocks and stones, this assumption is far from the truth. Landscape stone gravels, for example, can be made of natural stones, like limestone. Accordingly, these come in grays and similar hues. You can also buy gravels made of chips of bricks. This type of gravel will be red, tan, white, or gray. Each type of gravel works well in different places in a yard, and talking to masonry and landscaping professionals will help you find the best material for your application.
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[Posted on September 22, 2011]
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Brick Veneers are Great Choices for Indoor Renovations!
If you are looking for a striking, yet different look for your kitchen floor, above-the-stove splashback, accent wall or other places in your home, consider using something other than common materials like ceramic or stone. A brick veneer is perfect for these sorts of projects because it comes in many different styles and colors, can be used in all sorts of indoor renovations, and it is incredibly durable.
A brick veneer is a covering of thin bricks—or bricks that are cut thinner than normal bricks—that can be placed over existing surfaces. It works well on kitchen, bathroom, and four season room floors, on walls, in front of fireplaces, on countertops, and on kitchen islands. Since it is lighter than normal sized bricks, this brick veneer will not require much excavation if it is on the floor and it will not be too heavy for walls to support.
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