Compac vs Silestone

Compac vs Silestone. Many of my readers have reached my blog looking for an answer to Compac vs Silestone. I figure many of you will be confronted with the choice Compac Countertops or Silestone Countertops. One thing for sure they are both Spanish companies and 2 of the biggest in the engineered stone sector.
 Things Compac and Silestone have in common?

• Compac and Silestone both use the same technology

The technology that both Compac and Silestone use are Italian know how. In MHO the one that has best results in this business. Although the main technology is similar they tend to differentiate themselves in product R&D. Which I figure Compac is slightly ahead at the moment.

• Compac and Silestone are Spanish owned companies

 Although Compac has it's quartz manufacturing plant in Portugal, due to exclusive rights of the Italian technology. Back in the 90s, Silestone went through a very tough and devastating period, they bought a few production lines and the product was not having such a great acceptance by the market. They negotiated with the Italians a exclusive rights to the Spanish market, basically protecting them from their direct competitors Compac of installing another quartz plant in the Spanish market. So, Compac installed their production plant in Portugal, which is a pain in terms of Logistics, but has proven to be a profitable project.
Compac has it's main headquarters near Valencia in a town called Gandia, which is where their engineered marble plant is located.
Silestone is manufactured at Macael, a town close to Almeria, south of Spain. Home of the Cosentino Group, one of the biggest in Spain.

• Silestone and Compac are both big marketing investors

Silestone was the pioneer, with the advertisement during the Super Bowl a few years ago, really brought them into the spotlight. Never before had anyone in the stone business been so aggressive with marketing and publicity. They've become leaders in this domain. After that they've sponsored other important VIP, namely Fernando Alonso the F1 racer, and other famous chefs.
Compac is a follower, although they've been picking up with the marketing and publicity, they've also sponsored several VIP, being Antonio Banderas one of them. Both Silestone and Compac have been on top of the industry at this level.

• Compac and Silestone have similar expansion strategies

Although Silestone has a wider International network, they both have used the warehousing strategy.

Things that differentiate Compac from Silestone?

• Core business focus

Silestone is more focused than Compac, they only deal with quartz engineered stone, therefore they have 100% of their efforts concentrated in this product line. While Compac has two manufacturing units the quartz engineered stone and the marble engineered stone. They have to concentrate in two different types of products at all levels, from investment to marketing. It's been a difficult task, as they tend to centralize both strategies, which some how slows things down.

• Silestone is the biggest

Yes Silestone is bigger than Compac, they have almost triple the production lines in quartz, and Compacs engineered marble company is having problems in selling their production capacity at the moment.

• Silestone was a bigger sales network

True, Silestone has obtained Worldwide recognition, while Compac has been focusing specifically in certain markets, Compacs main markets are Spain, Portugal and United Kingdom.

• Silestone has more colours available

True Silestone has more engineered quartz colours available. Although if you consider the marble based material, then Compac will be ahead, but in quartz Silestone has more than 50 standard colours available.

• Pure White

For those who have not been aware, Silestones Blanco Zeus was for a few years an objective for many engineered quartz companies. Not until recently did Compac produce on it's own a pure white colour comparable to Silestones Blanco Zeus. Inclusively, Compac in the past was buying from other producers, before they actually dominated technically the pure white production.

• Quality

Between both Compac and Silestone, I would say you'd get a better quality product from Compac, they are ahead in polishing and they've brought some very innovative products to the market lately. The raw materials in one and another are more or less similar.

• Price

Silestones price strategy has placed them at a higher level than Compac. Compacs price list is normally slightly cheaper than Silestone, but that's strategy, Compac is a follower in price list emission.

• Guarantee

Silestone innovated in the 10 years warranty a few years back, this helped them overcome the doubts the consumers had regarding the product. Now they give out lifetime warranty, so does Compac. Although if you have a problem Silestone will be a quick solver, they cherish their market image and an unsatisfied client is something they avoid at all costs.

Interior and Exterior Wall Cladding

Interior and exterior wall cladding with engineered stone has become common, although exterior wall cladding may have more risks associated with this type of application. Interior and exterior wall cladding has specific ruling, especially when related to the fixing techniques. Needless to say that exterior wall cladding above 3m should be done with mechanical fixing.

What is mechanical fixing?

Mechanical fixing is a method which is used to install wall panels, basically stone panels are fixed to the facade of a building with the use of mechanical fixing devices, these devices are normally made from stainless steel or aluminum. In the last decade or so, many anchoring systems have appeared in the market, being that each one has a specific characteristic.
The most common and one of the first wall cladding systems used was the hook or anchor system. This system is the least expensive, but also the one that is more difficult to apply on building facade. It's basically mounted on a one piece hook, the quartz panel (same system for stone panels as well) is held up by 4 hooks on it's ends. Each quartz panel will have to be drilled on the end to fit the plastic bit before it gets set into place.

Although price will play a big part in deciding which system to choose from, the one I recommend for engineered stone application is the ones that are window type anchoring systems.
These systems are easier to install, as you don't have to level each panel, the building facade will have vertical or horizontal grids pre-levelled, therefore the quartz panel will be fitted in quickly.

Their are different types of mechanical fixing elements, some require you to drill or cut the edges of the quartz panel, but you can also find ones that are window type, which the panel just slides into place and is held in position by a simple hooking system.
Due to engineered quartz and engineered marbles thermal expansions and contraction variances these mechanical fixing systems work well, as the pieces will have some room to settle in. Nevertheless the window type system, have no tension points on the material and work perfectly with engineered stone.

What problems may arise with exterior engineered stone applications?

So we've gone through the mechanical fixing, these systems solve most of the application problems regarding engineered stone. However their are other problems which we should mention. Regarding quartz engineered stone, UV effects will in time (think of a 10 year period) destroy the polyester bonding, making the surface look dusty (which is the disaggregation of the resin and the quartz grit), this erosion process will take years and on a building facade you will not notice it due to distance. Some exterior applications have been done with bush hammered finish, which hides the problem. Another thing regarding exterior use, be careful with colours, use white or light colours for external application, or you might end up with a funny looking wall. I once seen engineered quartz wall turn from a navy blue to a baby/greenish blue .... the image of the company was based on a navy blue, they ended up bush hammering the facade improving slightly the colour.
When we look at engineered marble, well as natural marble it has the acid rain effect, this means polish will disappear in the first six months or so, and it will also have the UV problem just like the quartz based material.
Looking at exterior applications, I figure every product which is going to be exposed to weather will eventually end up having less durability, you just have to plan ahead and enjoy the unique look of your facade while it lasts.