NATURAL STONE
“Natural Stone” refers to a number of products quarried from the earth, used over many thousands of years as building materials and decorative enhancements. These products include Granite, Marble, Limestone, Travertine, Slate, Quartzite, Sandstone, Adoquin, Onyx, and others. Each type has its own hardness, porosity and care needs, so the right stone depends on where it will be used.
Natural stone products differ in composition, color, and texture even among pieces from the same source. This is usually considered a benefit, lending itself to one of a kind designs and distinctive, dramatic applications.
In past eras, Natural Stone has mainly been used for large-scale construction and in formal applications such as churches and government buildings. It has also been used for road construction and monuments. For residential construction, wood and brick have been the traditional choice. However, there has been a growing trend in recent years to use Natural Stone in residential construction for both structural and decorative use. Popular applications include entryways, atriums, bathrooms, fireplaces, floors, countertops, and many other surfaces.
Natural stone is prized for its one-of-a-kind patterns, and it is practical too: well-cared-for granite, quartzite and marble surfaces last for decades, and most types only need periodic sealing. Stone is quarried and cut rather than made with resins, but cutting any stone releases silica dust, so fabricators cut it wet with dust control. If you prefer a consistent pattern or no sealing at all, engineered quartz and porcelain are practical alternatives.
Natural Stone products include Granite, Marble, Limestone, Travertine, Slate, Quartzite, Sandstone and Onyx.
Granite
Granite is valued for its durability and low upkeep; a granite countertop mainly needs periodic sealing. It is strong and dense, which is why it has long been used for walls, monuments and other structural work, and its wide range of mineral colours and patterns makes it decorative as well. Granite is commonly used for countertops, vanities, flooring and exterior work.
Marble
Marble is valued for its veining and the high polish it takes, and it comes in plain and strongly veined varieties that are easy to carve and shape. It suits bathrooms, fireplaces, walls and low-wear surfaces; on a busy kitchen countertop it will etch from acids and scratch, so expect a patina over time.
Serpentine (Verde Antique)
Serpentine, often sold as Verde Antique or green marble, is a green stone with white veining. Geologically it is serpentinite rather than a true marble, and some types are set with water-free epoxy because moisture can make them warp.
Slate
Slate forms when fine, clay-rich sediment is compressed and heated over millions of years, and it splits naturally into beautifully textured layers. The various shades of slate products – brown, yellow, dark gray, pink, lavender and more – may even occur within the same piece of stone. Slate is dense and absorbs little water, so it is used for flooring, cladding and landscaping; a sealer still helps against oil and grease stains.
Quartzite
Quartzite is a natural metamorphic stone that forms when quartz-rich sandstone is recrystallized under heat and pressure, which makes it hard and dense. It is not the same as engineered quartz, a man-made surface of crushed quartz bound with resin. Its colour depends on trace minerals, from white, grey and beige to pink and purple. Quartzite is used for countertops, wall cladding and tiles. Split-face (cleft) quartzite has a grippy texture for outdoor paving, but polished quartzite is slippery when wet, so choose a honed or textured finish for floors.
Sandstone
Sandstone has been used for walls, floors and paving for thousands of years. How well it weathers depends on how firmly its grains are cemented together, which varies from quarry to quarry, and its colour varies with its mineral content.
Limestone
Limestone comes in soft beige and tan tones, polished or honed. It suits bathrooms, fireplaces and low-traffic floors; like marble it is soft and etches with acids, so it needs care on a countertop.
Travertine
Travertine is known for its banded, pitted look. It forms when calcium carbonate settles out of mineral-rich spring water, often around hot springs, and the holes are left by gas bubbles and plant matter. Indoors, the holes are often filled with resin or cement and the surface sealed, which gives a smoother finish that is easier to keep clean.
Shell Stone
Shell stone is a limestone full of small shells that show on its surface.
Onyx
The onyx used for slabs is a translucent, banded calcium carbonate stone (sometimes called onyx marble), not the silica onyx used in jewellery. It forms in caves and around springs as calcium carbonate slowly settles out of the water, and it comes in pastel yellows, browns, greens, oranges and whites. It is soft and etches like marble, so it suits walls, bars and backlit features better than busy countertops.
Cantera Stone
Cantera is a volcanic stone quarried in Mexico. It is soft enough to carve, so it is used for columns, mouldings and paving tiles.
The most important difference is this – Natural Stone is a product of nature, and Ceramics are man-made. Durability depends on the material: porcelain is hard and absorbs very little water, while among natural stones granite and quartzite are hard and marble and limestone are softer. A chipped ceramic tile is usually replaced, whereas natural stone can often be honed and re-polished to remove scratches and etching.
COST OF STONE
Stones that are harder and denser are more difficult and expensive to quarry and process. Quarrying methods vary as well; stones may be quarried below ground, which is more expensive than above ground. Also, since natural stone is quarried all over the world, long distance shipping factors into the price.
The larger the stone, the more difficult it is to process, handle, pack, and transport. Larger sizes also tend to have a higher amount of waste compared to the part that is used, which makes them more expensive.
The availability of a particular stone is the most important factor in determining price. However, handling and transportation cost does drop slightly for a larger quantity.
STONE TILE INSTALLATION
Creating an installation without visible grout joints is difficult, but if the surface of the floor is straight and the tiles are perfectly cut, very little grout should be seen. A professional, experienced installer should be chosen to create this look.
The tightest grout joint that you may request is 1/16″.
Because stone is a natural product, there is always some variation within a selection. By sorting out the stone tiles before installing, it is possible to place the tiles on the surface before installing, blending the varying colors, grain, and veining as desired.
- Open all boxes and mix up all of the pieces before installation. This will help to create a visually pleasing distribution of stone variation.
- A good installer knows that green marble and some other stones require water-free epoxy thin-set.
- When stone is installed on a concrete slab at ground level, ensure that a proper moisture barrier is in place prior to installation.
