Materials
Natural Stone
Travertine
Travertine is a type of sedimentary rock that is formed by the precipitation of carbonate minerals from groundwater. It is often found in and around hot springs, caves, and lime stone deposits. The primary mineral that makes up travertine is calcite, and the rock has a distinctive appearance characterised by its porous nature and a variety of earthy colours, including shades of white, cream, tan, and rust.
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Travertine comes in various types and classifications based on factors such as colour, patterns, and finishes.
Classic Travertine: This type of travertine is characterised by its neutral and warm tones, usually ranging from beige to light brown. Classic travertine often features subtle variations in color and is known for its timeless and elegant appearance.
Silver Travertine: Silver travertine is notable for its cool grey and silver hues. This type of travertine is often chosen for its contemporary and modern aesthetic, providing a sleek and stylish appearance
Ivory Travertine: Ivory travertine is known for its light and creamy colour palette, providing a sense of brightness and airiness. It is a popular choice for creating a clean and elegant look in both traditional and contemporary settings.
Tumbled Travertine: Tumbled travertine undergoes a process that gives it a weathered and aged appearance. The edges are softened, and the surface is textured, providing a rustic and antique look. Tumbled travertine is commonly used for flooring and outdoor applications.
Travertine possesses a set of physical and chemical properties that make it a popular and versatile material for various applications. Here are some key properties of travertine:
Porosity: One of the defining characteristics of travertine is its high porosity. The stone is formed by the precipitation of minerals from water, creating a porous structure. This porosity can affect the stone’s ability to absorb liquids and may require the application of sealers to reduce staining.
Durability: Travertine is generally durable, making it suitable for use in high-traffic areas. However, its durability can vary based on factors such as the type of travertine, the finish applied, and the specific application. Proper care and maintenance are essential to preserve its appearance and longevity.
Density: Travertine has a moderate to high density, contributing to its strength and durability. The density can vary among different types of travertine, influencing factors such as load-bearing capacity and resistance to wear.
Color Variation: Travertine exhibits a range of colours, including white, cream, beige, tan, brown, and rust. The specific coloration is influenced by the presence of minerals and impurities during the stone’s formation, providing designers and homeowners with a variety of aesthetic options.
Veining and Patterns: Travertine often features natural veining, patterns, and textures that add character and uniqueness to each piece. These variations contribute to the stone’s aesthetic appeal and can be highlighted or minimized depending on the cutting and finishing processes.
Polishability: Travertine has the ability to take a high polish, which enhances its visual appeal. The polishing process reveals the stone’s natural luster, giving it a smooth and glossy finish. This property makes travertine suitable for decorative applications such as countertops and flooring.
Workability: Travertine is relatively easy to cut and shape, making it a favored material for intricate carvings and architectural details. Its workability allows for a variety of finishes, including polished, honed, tumbled, and brushed, each providing a distinct look and feel.
Thermal Insulation: Travertine has natural thermal insulation properties, meaning it can help regulate temperature and maintain a comfortable environment. This characteristic makes it suitable for flooring in both indoor and outdoor spaces.
Sustainability: Quarrying practices and the environmental impact of travertine extraction vary, but responsible practices can make travertine a sustainable choice. Some quarries implement measures to minimize environmental impact and rehabilitate the sites after extraction.
Versatility: Travertine is a versatile stone used in various applications, including flooring, countertops, wall cladding, decorative elements, and outdoor landscaping. Its diverse range of colours and finishes allows for flexibility in design.
Fun Fact
The Colosseum, Rome, Italy
The Colosseum, a symbol of ancient Rome, is one of the most iconic structures constructed with travertine. The exterior features large travertine blocks, showcasing the stone’s durability and timelessness. The Colosseum’s travertine facade has endured for centuries, highlighting the stone’s longevity.
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Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock primarily composed of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in the form of mineral calcite or aragonite. It is one of the most common and widely distributed rocks on Earth, with a wide range of uses in various industries and natural settings. Limestone forms through the accumulation and compaction of marine organisms, primarily the remains of shellfish and coral, over millions of years. This sedimentary rock can exhibit a wide array of textures and colours, depending on its composition
Benefits of Limestone pavers
Limestone pavers offer a variety of benefits that improve both the visual appeal and utility of outdoor spaces, from their natural beauty to their durability and versatility. The following are some major advantages of using Limestone Pavers:
Timeless Elegance: Limestone neutral colours give it a timeless elegance. It transforms any outdoor space into a welcoming and aesthetically beautiful space by adding a touch of sophistication and natural beauty.
Longevity and Durability: Limestone is a long-lasting natural stone that can tolerate inclement weather, making it a great option for outdoor applications. It has a high resistance to moisture, UV rays and temperature variations, extending its lifespan and lowering the replacement frequency.
Slip Resistance: The natural slip resistance of Limestone pavers is one of their most called-for benefits. For pool decks, patios and other areas where slip accidents could happen, Limestone is a safer alternative because of its surface roughness, which offers good traction even when wet.
Versatile Design Possibilities: Limestone pavers are available in a wide range of sizes, shapes and finishes, providing countless design options. Limestone may be tailored to your desired aesthetic, whether you such as a traditional, rustic or contemporary style, enabling you to design one-of-a-kind outdoor environments.
Natural Cooling Properties: Limestone can naturally cool, making it pleasant to walk on even during the hottest days. Limestone pavers are reasonably cold, unlike certain synthetic materials that absorb heat, making them perfect for barefoot enjoyment on warm days.
Low Maintenance: Limestone pavers require little upkeep, making it easier to maintain outdoor spaces. They can usually be kept clean by routine sweeping and occasional washing with water and a little detergent. Additionally, Limestone doesn’t need to be sealed and is inherently stain-resistant, which lowers care requirements and expenses.
Eco-Friendly Choice: Limestone is a natural, enduring material that is an environmentally responsible choice for outdoor applications. It has minimal influence on the environment because it is plentiful and accessible. Limestone’s lack of toxic chemicals or pollution also makes a cleaner outdoor environment possible.
Fun Fact
The ancient Great Pyramids of Giza and the ruins of the centuries-old Megalithic Temples of Malta are examples of the strength and beauty of Limestone employed in construction.
Australian Blue Stone
Bluestone is not actually a geological term and the stone doesn’t fall into any particular category such as igneous or metamorphic. In Australia, bluestone is a type of basalt and is characterised by its blue-grey colour tones.
What is commonly referred to as 'bluestone' is actually olivine basalt, and was formed by a massive Pleistocene lava flow which covered most of what is now south-western Victoria. The basalt plains of Victoria are the third-largest in the world, extending from the west of Melbourne to the South Australian border.
As it is an igneous rock, its colour and consistency can vary, depending on the rate at which it initially cooled. The volcanic stones that have formed and textured over millions of years.
Bluestone is a popular stone product for indoor and outdoor environments, admired for its combination of strength and beauty. The earthy colour range suits a variety of architectural styles, effectively blending the contemporary and natural environments. From a structural perspective, Australian bluestone is proven to be strong, incredibly dense, durable and stain resistant
Main benefits of bluestone:
Durability: The most prominent quality of the bluestone natural stone is durability as it can resist extreme weather conditions and adjust very well with the environment. Its toughness and dense composition make it the most durable natural stone.
Non-Slippery: Bluestone has the highest non-slippery rating as compared to the materialistic tiling materials such as concrete, porcelain, etc. This standalone quality makes the Victorian Government choose bluestone for paving the Melbourne CBD.
Long-lasting: Without any doubt, you can trust the longevity of bluestone. They are the most reliable natural stone into existence and with proper maintenance, they can last for decades or even for centuries. Consider the example of the enormous Stonehenge prehistoric
monuments in England built 5000 years ago, still standing tall with no effect of the natural disaster on it.
Easy Installation: Although bluestone is quite heavy but is super easy to install for the experts due to its flat surface and quality of the material.
Cost-effective: The best advantage of the bluestone as it is very affordable and cost almost the same as the un-natural or materials tiling products. With hundreds of advantages, reliability, longevity, naturally attractive patterns and affordable price makes it the best tiling and paving material for the Australian homeowners, builders, and architectures.
Aesthetic Natural Beauty: Bluestone tiles and bluestone pavers are the perfect blends of beautiful colours and unique textures of the earth art. Each piece of bluestone tiles and pavers come with its own unique style which adds a natural aesthetic look to your property.
Fun Fact
Bluestone played a key role in the construction of many significant buildings constructed in Melbourne in the 19th and early 20th century, which, while not built of bluestone, had bluestone foundations, sourced from Footscray quarries. Examples include Parliament House (1855), the old Treasury Building (1858), Melbourne Town Hall (1867), St Paul's Cathedral (1880-1931), the General Post Office (1861), and Flinders Street Station (1905)
Granite
Granite is an igneous rock, which means it formed from magma, or melted rock. It forms deep inside the Earth under a mountain or volcano when melted rock cools or crystallises into solid rock. Over time, wind, ice, and water wear away at the mountain or volcano above it, and the granite is exposed to the surfaceIt is composed of minerals such as feldspar, quartz, and mica, and has several physical and chemical properties that make it a desirable material for various applications.
Benefits of Granite:
Hardness: Granite is a very hard and durable material
Density: Granite has a high density, with an average specific gravity of 2.65 grams per cubic centimetre.
Colour: Granite comes in a wide range of colours, including white, black, grey, pink, and red.
Porosity: Granite has low porosity, which means that it is resistant to water absorption and weathering
Texture: The texture of granite is generally described as coarse-grained and granular, which means that it is composed of visible mineral grains. The individual grains of minerals can vary in size and shape, but they are typically larger than the grains found in other types of rocks. This coarse-grained texture gives granite its characteristic appearance and durability, making it a popular choice for use in construction and building materials.
Grain size: The grain size of granite can vary depending on the conditions under which it was formed. The size of the mineral grains in granite is generally determined by the rate at which the magma cools and solidifies. If the magma cools slowly, the mineral grains will be larger, whereas if it cools quickly, the mineral grains will be smaller. As a result, the grain size of granite can vary from fine-grained to very coarse-grained, depending on the rate of cooling.
The grain size of granite can also have an impact on its properties. Coarse-grained granite is generally more durable and resistant to weathering than fine-grained granite because it has a stronger interlocking structure. However, fine-grained granite can have a smoother texture and be easier to work with, which makes it a popular choice for use in decorative applications such as countertops and tiles.
Fun Fact
Mount Rushmore was carved from a mountain that was made of exposed granite. Mount Rushmore includes the faces of American Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.
In addition the Great Pyramid in Giza are constructed of granite and different limestones.