Whether you’re building a new home, remodeling your current home, or looking for a statement piece for a smaller project, Natural Stone is a great choice to bring life, style, and personality into your home. When choosing natural stone, you will find that there are many different styles and types that will bring a different design aesthetic and feeling into your home.
What is Natural Stone and How is it Made?
The Story Behind Natural Stone is more in-depth than this, but in its simplest definition, natural stone is stone that was formed and created from the movement in the earth’s crusts over billions of years.
What are the Different Natural Stone Types?
There are many varieties of natural stone including Dolomite, Granite, Marble, Limestone, Onyx, Quartzite, Sandstone, Semi-Precious Stone, Slate, Travertine, and more. The most popular for in-home use, such as kitchen and vanity countertops, are Dolomite, Granite, Marble, Quartzite, and Semi-Precious Stone.
Dolomite is formed mostly from compacted, magnesium-rich sediment at the bottom of ancient rivers or lagoons with a combination of chemical reactions, warm temperatures, and extreme pressure from the water above. This process makes it a quite dense and heavy Natural Stone. It often will not contain white Calcium Carbonate, giving it a great amount of strength and rigidity.
Granite is the most common igneous rock found on Earth and the main component of the continental crust. Believed to have been formed roughly 300 million years ago, granite is known as a “plutonic” rock, meaning that it is formed deep underground. Created by the crystallization of magma, granite is composed largely of quartz, feldspar, mica, amphiboles, and other minerals. One of the hardest substances in the world, second only to diamonds, granite has a density of about 162 pounds per cubic foot, making it over two times heavier than the same volume of water.
Marble is formed when materials like Limestone or Dolomite are mixed with Calcium Carbonate crystals and subjected to metamorphic heat and pressure. This extreme heat over millions of years refines the stone into the gorgeous white Marble patterns we all know and love! The veining or crystallized patterns in Marble are often deposits of Dolomite, Limestone, Quartz, and a number of other minerals.
Quartzite is a naturally occurring metamorphic rock that was originally pure quartz sandstone. When the Earth’s crust shifts, it causes tectonic plate compression. This, in turn, causes extreme heat and pressure, crystalizing the quartz in swirls of color within the sandstone. When the stones are mined, they are sawn into slabs that exhibit the beauty of nature’s creative process.
Semi-Precious stones are common gemstones that have many different forms. From agates, gemstones, quartz crystals, to petrified wood, each semi-precious stone is formed by mother nature herself. Agates and quartz crystals are formed in the earth’s crust when a common mineral, silica, from groundwater seeps into the crack of rocks that were formed by tectonic activities. Petrified wood on the other hand is formed when minerals from volcanic ash absorb into the pores of wood over thousands of years.
How Can Natural Stone Be Used in My Home?
While natural stone is one of the most popular materials for kitchen and bathroom countertops, there are quite a few other uses for it. Throughout history, natural stone has been used in churches, palaces, temples, pyramids, and an assortment of other places that have stood the test of time. These days, due to its natural beauty and durability, natural stone can be used in a variety of ways for both residential or commercial settings. From countertops and coffee tables to wall paneling and fireplaces, The Many Uses of Natural Stone extends as far as the mind can imagine.
