If your new construction or renovation project includes a large exterior with either interlocking channel sections or continuous rows of clips, using story poles with your pre-panelized stone system could be a good idea. A story pole is a long piece of wood or metal that has notches that assist in positioning the extrusions on walls. Story poles are often used two at a time, as builders would require a story pole for both sides of an extrusion. Also, it\’s important to note that if your project includes especially high walls, builders may want to have a few story poles to allow them to go all the way to the upmost point of the structure where panelized stone systems are being installed.
One of the biggest things that installers of StoneLite® from Stone Panels, Inc. should watch out for (if they plan on incorporating story poles) is that the story poles match each other. This is important because even minimal variations have the potential to create problems as installations continue upwards. At Stone Panels, Inc., we suggest incorporating aluminum (or possibly another metal) to put together story poles, so that the problem of mismatched story poles is less likely to occur during installation. At the very least, extrusion elevations need to be reviewed with each floor line, so that builders can make certain that there haven\’t been any mistakes made concerning story pole alignment.
If it\’s doable, we at Stone Panels, Inc. also recommend anchoring story poles to walls and feeding extrusions through slots. This is important if you\’re incorporating story poles with your panelized stone system, as anchoring story poles and feeding extrusions through slots avoids errors that would otherwise result from story pole movement. Of course, less story pole movement means more accurately placed extrusions.
Now, as far as making a story pole for use with your panelized stone system is concerned, installers will cut a notch in either a piece of wood or metal (in order for the poles to be placed on top of the first row of extrusions). In addition, more notches will be cut to allow the bottom of the above extrusions to sit on the bottom of the notch.
