There are several forms of stones available, such as basalt, marble, calcareous, sandstone, quartzite, travertine, slate, gneiss, laterite and granite which can be used as building materials. Building stones should be rough, strong, rugged, and clear of weathered soft patches of rock, holes, and other flaws that are responsible for diminishing strength and toughness. Stones are produced by quarrying from large huge stones, for building purposes.
Depending on its materials, each type of stone lends itself to specific building applications. For eg, certain forms such as basalt and granite have superior characteristics such as high compressive strength and longevity and are thus used in large construction works. However, there are stones whose characteristics (such weak compressive strength and the inclusion of deleterious materials in their constituents) render them ideal for gneiss building works. Stones are often used as a building material and often for decorative purposes.
Table of Contents
Marble
Marble is used in posts, floorings, and stairs for facial and ornamental functions. Marble compressive intensity ranges from 70MPa to 75MPa. Marble stones are relatively solid, texture uniform, least brittle, and they take an excellent polish. It can be sliced and shaped into different forms, comfortably. Marble is sold in different colors, such as white and purple.
Granite
The use of granite in building design includes bridge piers, retaining walls, bridges, curbs, stone poles, as gritty concrete rubble, railway ballast, as damp-proof path and exterior wall cladding, and historic applications. Granite is crystalline in structure, fine to coarse grain.
For More Details, visit: Civil engineering
It is considerably strong and robust and varies from 100MPa to 250MPa in compression power. It also has weak absorption capacity, less porosity, strong frost, and weathering tolerance but it has bad fire tolerance. It needs well polishing, and the color ranges from light gray to purple. The painted granite may be used as tabletops, for column and wall cladding.
Sandstone
For the buildings of large size, sandstones are used in conjunction with silica cement. This is also used in masonry operations, locks, bridge piers, and walls to the water. It consists of quartz and feldspar and can be contained in different colors such as white, blue, purple, buff, orange, black, and dark grey. The compressive intensity ranges from 20MPa to 170MPa, and the gravity defined differs from 1.85 to 2,7. Weathering sandstone would be considered to make it unsuitable for building construction.
Limestone
Not all Limestones are helpful for construction. Unwanted forms are abundant in clay or are extremely fragile and practically useless for building activities. However, thick, lightweight, and fine-textured forms that are clear of cavities and cracks can be dressing quickly and require a very fine polishing. Limestone is used as a building material for cement flooring, roofing, pavements, etc. The use of calcareous stones as facing stones should be avoided in places where the air is polluted with chemical gasses, and even in coastal regions where salt winds can strike them.
Basalt
Basalt stone, also known as traps, is widely used as an aggregate in concrete manufacturing, rubble maçonnery works for bridge piers, river walls, and dams in road building. The composition of basalt stones is lightweight and medium to fine-grained.
This form of stone’s compression strength varies from 200MPa to 350Mpa, and its weight is between 18KN / m3 and 29KN / m3. Basalt has excellent weather tolerance, impervious to rain, very durable and very hard to dress in delicate forms. The basalt color ranges from dark grey to black.
Travertine
Travertine is used as pavement, as well as garden paths and courtyards. This has a lower gravity of 1.68 and a compressive power of 80-120 MPa. In its composition, the stone is distinguished by cut holes and troughs which implies it has a porous composition and compact texture. It can be finished to a flawless, vibrant finish and ranges from grey to coral-red in several colors.
Slate
Slate displays considerable variety in its building properties that depend on sheet thickness and rock color. It is used as roofing tiles, slabs, and pavements. It consists of minerals produced from quartz, mica, and clay. Slate’s compression intensity ranges from 100MPa to 200MPa, and its color can be dark grey, greenish-brown, purple-grey or black. The slate composition is fine-grained and its specific gravity is 2.6 to 2.7.
Quartzite
Quartzite is used for the building of bricks, slabs, and concrete aggregates. The quartzite composition is fine to coarse grain, and is largely granular and labeled, and consists mostly of small amounts of feldspar and mica. The crushing intensity varies from 50MPa to 300MPa. They are available in numerous colors such as white, black, purple.
Laterite
Laterite is used as a building material because it has to be plastered on the exterior surface. This has a strong iron oxide content which can quickly be sliced into pieces. Laterite grows in soft and hard varieties and laterite’s compressive intensity varies from 1.9MPa to 2.3 MPa, which improves its intensity with seasoning. Laterite can be brownish, red, purple, redd, and grey.
Stones are often used as a building material and often for decorative purposes. Depending on materials, each type of stone is used for specific building applications. Say, for instance, basalt and granite have superior characteristics such as high compressive strength and longevity and are thus used in large construction works. We’ve briefly covered 9 major types of stones utilized for construction purposes. We hope this article helped you.
