Kirby Stone products to appear on TV show
PHOTO BY DAVID LOWE Kirby Stone, which has a quarry near Lometa, donated sandstone for a home to be featured in a Sunday airing of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." Kirby Stone's handiwork is on display in venues as varied as the Dallas Cowboys' training facility, the San Antonio Riverwalk extension and a 28,000-square-foothome of one of Google Inc.'s founders.
On Sunday, the company will add to that list, as an ABC "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" episode will feature a house remade with sandstone from Kirby Stone's quarry southwest of Lometa.
The one-hour program, set to air at 7 p.m., will show the reconstruction -- completed in two days -- of a disabled Dallas police officer's home in Lancaster.
Carlton Marshall, a police lieutenant, was shot in the neck in October 2007 while leading a Special Weapons and Tactics team in serving a narcotics warrant at an Oak Cliff residence. The gunshot wound caused severe spinal cord damage, and Marshall later suffered hearing loss and a stroke, according to Kirby Stone and general contractor Web log entries about the upcoming television show.
The "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," led by show host Ty Pennington, in one week repaired the Marshall home's foundation and septic system and provided wheelchair accessibility, among other improvements.
Marshall, his wife Susan -- a homicide detective -- and their two young children spent a week in mid-July on vacation at Disneyland while the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" crew completed its work on their house.
Cheldan Homes, one of the largest homebuilders in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, initiated Kirby Stone's involvement, as Cheldan had a construction agreement with Acme Brick, a longtime Kirby Stone retailer.
Kirby Stone donated 3,000 square feet of tan-colored natural chopped sandstone, or about 75 tons, for the "Extreme Makeover" project, Lometa quarry manager William Kelley said.
The remodel featured the first complete masonry application on an "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" episode, Kelley said.
"We thought it would be an opportunity to promote the company," the quarry manager said. "Everybody was real excited about it."
Using a fast-drying mortar mix, a team of 50 masons completed the rock work on the home's exterior in just two days. Exterior masonry of that extent usually takes two months to complete, Kelley said.
Sandstone's natural look and durability make the sedimentary material good for building, he added.
"There are houses all over Lampasas and Lometa built out of sandstone where the cement's gone out and the sandstone's still there," Kelley said.
Founded in 1981 by Lometan Weldon Kirby, Kirby Stone operates its sandstone quarry on about 1,400 acres of leased land southwest of Lometa. A limestone quarry near Salado began production about three years ago.
The company sold in 2004 and has its headquarters in Baytown.
Filmed interviews with Kelley may not be included on the upcoming TV segment, the general manager said, but behind-the-scenes information about Kirby Stone's involvement in the Marshall home remodeling may be available at http://abc.go.com/shows/extrememakeover home-edition#.
Other information can be found at Kirby Stone's Web log, http:// kirbystonecompany.blogspot.com.









