Natural Stone

What is Natural Stone?

Natural Stone as defined by the (Natural Stone Institute) is “Mother Nature’s original green building material”. Extracted from Earth’s crust, Natural Stone is known for its durability and versatility making it the number one most used product for projects. This multifaceted stone comes in a variety of colors, patterns, and textures.

Different Types of Natural Stone.

Marble Stone: The building block of royalty commonly used in Palaces, Monuments and Temples around the world. A Metamorphic rock made up of calcium carbonate and naturally recrystallized. Can be found in many countries such as United States, Greece, and Turkey as well as Italy, India, China, and Spain who hold almost half the marble in the world.

Granite Stone: Considered the oldest, hardest, and most durable stone is an Igneous rock formed from the slow crystallization of magma. Composed of quartz, felspar, mica, amphiboles, and other minerals. Granite has been commonly used for Cathedrals, Bridges, and most of the Public Buildings. Quarried from around the world, the most exotic colors of Granite can be found in Brazil, India, China, Finland, South Africa, and North America.

Limestone: A Sedimentary rock formed in the shallow, warm oceans in the world over millions of years, composed of shells and fossilized debris, makes Limestone one of the most diverse and highly sought after stones in construction and design. Limestone can be found in Canyons and Cliffs where large bodies of water have receded in places like United States, France, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Israel, and Egypt. Due to Limestones exceptional durability and resistant to weather it has been used to create some of the world’s most sought-after architectural masterpieces.

Sandstone: A Sedimentary rock composed of sand-size silicate grains, known for its natural strength, durability and slip resistant properties. This environmentally friendly stone is found all over the world where there is a lot of sand accumulations, such as deserts, riverbeds, or coastal areas. Popularly used for outdoor projects and areas where water is used.

Quartzite: A Metamorphic rock made almost entirely of mineral quartz. This highly durable crystalline stone is among the world’s hardest natural stones coming in at a level 7 on the Mohs hardness scale. Quartzite can be found throughout mountains around the world primarily where tectonic plates boundaries converge.

Travertine: A Sedimentary rock also known as the terrestrial landform version of Limestone. With its warm hues and crystalline-texture Travertine is known to be formed by calcium-rich hot spring water. The Travertine forming process is said to be quite the experience to witness as nature creates and unfolds. Some of the major Travertine quarries can be found in Turkey, Mexico, China, Peru, India, and Italy being the most popular. Although Travertine may be considered the “youngest” of its Natural Stone siblings, it has been proven to withstand the test of time for over 200,000 thousand years. In Roman times Travertine was considered the building material of choice for iconic sculptures and structures like the Colosseum.

Soapstone: Also known as Steatite or Soaprock, is a Metamorphic rock that consists primarily of talc but can contain various traces of other mineral deposits such as chlorite, micas, amphiboles, and carbonates. Soapstone is said to be one of the first quarried Natural Stone, molded by the Native Americans for various objects but more commonly used for cooking bowls due to its unique high level of heat resistance. Soapstone can be found all over the world displaying different properties from which the country it was quarried from. The most productive quarries are located in the United States, Brazil, Finland and India.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Natural Stone.

Like any other material, Natural Stone comes with its own list of pros and cons with the pros outweighing the cons.

There are many advantages of using Natural Stone with the most popular reason being its unique and timeless appearances. Since Natural Stone is quarried from all over the world it comes in a variety of colors, textures and sizes making the design capabilities endless. Other advantages of Natural Stone are durability, long lifespan, energy-efficiency, its versatility to be utilized indoor and outdoor, and the value using Natural Stone brings to your designs.

There aren’t many disadvantages to using Natural Stone, but the few known disadvantages vary based on the actual stone. Some Natural Stones require more maintenance than others due to the levels of porosity and prone to scratching and staining.

High Maintenance Stones:

·         Marble

·         Limestone

·         Travertine (depending on the finish)

Low Maintenance Stones:

·         Granite

·         Sandstone

·         Soapstone

·         Quartzite

·         Travertine (depending on the finish)