The use of natural stone in construction and decoration

Recommendation points

• Granite
• Marble
• Onyx
• Travertine
• Quartzite
• Limestone

The article will tell you about the advantages of exterior and interior decoration with natural stone. You will learn about the structure, appearance and qualities of each variety of popular stone finishing materials. The article also contains the main characteristics and nuances of their application..

Since ancient times, the beauty and reliability of stone has attracted builders and architects. The mesmerizing appearance of each individual element continues to transform ordinary spacious buildings into majestic monuments today.

Granite

A rock, lying in the form of a solid monolith (rocks). Consists of quartz, feldspar, micas and plagioclase. May be light gray (plagiogranite) or pink (alaskite).

Application area

Due to its exceptional properties, granite can be processed in many ways. For this, stone-cutting factories and stone-cutting workshops are being built next to the quarries..

Boulders. They go to art workshops to make sculptural forms – monuments, balustrades, fountains, elements of small architecture. Sometimes used in its original form for commemorative signs or counterweights.

Slabs. Used for decoration of embankments, historical exteriors, tombstones.

Finishing tiles and curly elements. They are used for cladding facades and basements of houses, objects of cultural value.

Granite crushed stone. The most durable crushed stone known. Raw materials for high-strength concrete.

Granite chips. Dusting and spraying material. Used for abrasives, decoration and pressing of products.

Advantages:

1. Exceptional compressive strength – approx. 300 mPa (3 Shore).
2. Extremely low abrasion.
3. Does not require additional protection (varnishing, painting).

Disadvantages:

1. Extremely low water absorption – special expensive glue is required for installation.
2. Large volumetric weight – from 2800 kg / m³.

Marble

Another name is calcite. Has a wavy or fragmented structure with inclusions of other impurities – clay, quartz. This makes the stone pattern unique. Produced and supplied polished.

Application area

In terms of properties and field of application, marble is very close to granite, but has a lower compressive strength – 230–250 mPa. It is used in artistic architecture, restoration and recreation of old interiors, garden and park architecture. It is identical in purpose and application to granite..

The advantages and disadvantages are also close to granite. The main difference between them is their appearance..

Onyx

Quartz mineral. It has a layered structure with wavy stripes of warm shades. The exceptional, inimitable look of a polished cut of even a small stone is mesmerizing. Moreover, on stones of different sizes, they have different thicknesses. This gives the plane a natural finish..

Application area

Onyx is a rather rare mineral, and therefore very valuable. Mainly small decorative items, souvenirs, commemorative signs, table and room interior items, jewelry are made of it. In exceptional cases, you can find slabs and tiles made of onyx or related sardonyx..

Benefits:

1. Highest strength – 6-7 on the Shore scale.
2. Moderate volumetric weight – about 2500 kg / m³.
3. Exceptional appearance.

Disadvantage: high price, especially for large solid elements.

Travertine

Another name is “stone from Tibur”. Calcareous tuff formed by calcium carbonate. A porous, spongy stone of low density. The main color is light, from dark white to grayish. Can be yellow, brown or brownish.

Application area

Indoor wall cladding at a height from the ground. Floor cladding in dry rooms. Earlier (more than 100 years ago) travertine was used for external cladding. The famous Colosseum in Rome is decorated with this stone. But later it turned out that it is chemically unstable and reacts with acids and exhaust gases and breaks down. Today, travertine exterior decoration is not justified, but it is successfully imitated with ordinary concrete..

Benefits:

1. Abrasion resistance.
2. Wide range of appearances (stripes, nebula, pure color).
3. Low volumetric weight 1500-1800 kg / m3³.
4. No special glue required.
5. Good handling.

Disadvantages:

1. Low hardness 1.5-1.8 Shore.
2. Chemical instability.
3. Interior decoration only.

Quartzite

A breed consisting mainly of white, gray or pink quartz. Occurs in Russia and China. Has a sparkling, shiny appearance. Refers to difficult-to-machine substances, high-quality polishing is mainly applied to it.

Application area

Decoration of religious buildings – temples, palaces. Production of acid-resistant dishes, containers, dinas and refractories. Manufacturing of abrasives. Used in metallurgy as a flux.

Advantages:

1. Compressive strength is higher than that of granite – 400-450 kPa (4-4.5 Shore) with a bulk density of 2600 kg / m³.
2. Attractive appearance.
3. Durability. The first signs of destruction appear no earlier than 200 years..
4. Low radioactive capacity. Refers to building materials of the 1st class (100-190 Bq / kg).

Disadvantages:

1. Difficult processing, difficult to make precise curly products.
2. Small distribution area. Often it has to be brought from abroad.

Limestone

Another name is shell rock. A rock of organic or chemogenic origin, including shells and shells of marine animals, molluscs. In the process of metamorphism, the structure of the crystal lattice changes and it turns into marble. Color – predominantly light gray, but can have a variety of monotonous shades depending on the region of production.

Application area

This breed can be roughly divided into two categories:

• hard (2.5-3 Shore) – crushed stone for road works, sculptures and carvings are made from it;
• weak (1.5-2.5 Shore) – limestone is ground to obtain lime, or finishing tiles are made for interior work.

Benefits: a huge array of occurrence and distribution. It can be mined literally in any country. Hence the large assortment of colors and structures.

Disadvantage: weak limestone reacts with water, solutions, acids.

Interesting fact.There is an assumption that it was named by analogy with the word “famous”, that is, widespread.

Summary table of stone characteristics

Finishing with natural stone is a unique and sophisticated solution that will remain for many years and even centuries. These materials are not afraid of time, but on the contrary, over the years they acquire value and new meaning..