I’m sure you are all aware that natural stones for home use have been in existence for centuries, way before the mass production of human-made material.
The first uses of natural stones of any sort of altered state after being excavated was for building use, some examples could be found as far back as 9000 years ago. At a site in Scotland, built around 3000 BC a cluster of houses was found made with horizontal layers of close-fitting stone slabs, this particular region of Scotland didn’t have many trees therefore stones were used to their advantage. Even furniture within these homes was made up of natural stones.
Since 4200 BC in the Neolithic village of Western Europe stone use in buildings was thought of as an important architectural innovation, some of these historic structures can still be seen today. In history and to this day, natural stone has always been considered an important raw material for buildings.
Natural stone, the definition
Essentially, rock that is taken from soil has properties defined by the variety of minerals within its composition which has formed over thousands of years. These are the primary reasons why every stone type is so unique with the characteristic that defines their look and feels and ultimately change the way your home looks and feels to you and anyone that has the pleasure of visiting it.
In the modern day now with sophisticated and highly developed machinery and the guidance of hundreds of years of construction experience from the past centuries, the manufacturers of wonderful natural stone tiles for home or offices use, came up with new ideas not just for shape and design but also for the type of edge finish and the top finish of natural stones, however, the improvements never stop in designing new natural stones with a constant hunger to strive towards perfection and even more diversity.
The most commonly used stone types in homes and offices
Marble: The crown jewel has to be natural marble as this special stone type has not only now com-monly is being used in construction but it has a rich history of being used as carving stone for mon-uments, sculptures etc. Although we commonly associate the colour white when we think of natural marble. In the developed world of construction, this special stone type is available in many more different colours like Silver Classic, Marquina Black, Botticino Cream and Calacatta Violet just to name a few of our natural marble range.
Natural marble is commonly used as countertops, in kitchens and bathrooms
Travertine: When you see travertine stone, you instantly recognise why it is one of the most popu-lar natural stones used in homes in modern days. The character of this stone range is unmatched, the natural holes and brilliant natural variation in tones as well as the shapes, sizes and types of finish that is available to you with our travertine range means you will find one you will surely fall in love with. The most popular ranges are our Premium Ivory and the Classic range which is available in different sizes patterns and finishes. But don’t discount our increasingly popular Silver Grey Traver-tine, Noce Brown and the Rustico ranges. Don’t stop there, you can request free samples for all our ranges.
Travertine stone is commonly used in kitchens, hallways, patios and bathrooms
Limestone: Limestone also has a rich history when it comes to usage as a building material as it was discovered, dating as far back as 4000 BC when limestone was used for plastering the pyramids in Egypt.
These days although structures are a bit more subtle than the pyramids, we still want the best for our homes of course. Limestone is a beautiful and durable stone that is excellent for use as kitchen, bathroom and living room tiles. Our Limestone ranges are readily available in many different colours and shapes from our Bordeaux grey to Moleanos fine gain, Antalya Cream to Vienne yellow, and let us not forget that special limestone, Salem Gold, which even shows natural life shells and fossils within it.
Slate tiles: This natural stone type tends to have a more riven finish when it comes to its top surface, this is because, during the manufacturing of this stone type, the slabs are split from one another ra-ther than machine cut like most other stone ranges. This means you get a natural top surface that provides some natural slip resistance. Available in various formats like our Rust multicolour and Oyster slate claddings, our Brazilian hexagon tiles as well as regular full-size tiles. Slate tile's diverse formats mean they can be used anywhere from kitchens, bathrooms, and hallways, as splashback tiles or even external applications with some of our ranges.
Special format tiles, Split face, Mosaics and borders: These categories include a range of all different stone types from Marble to Limestone, Slates to Travertine.
With thousands of years of history, rest assured that any natural stone will transform any area of your home no matter what new look you aim to achieve. Our ancestors were right in one thing, natural stones will continue to be used to achieve the best results in a home or office transformation for many years to come.
Why don’t you have a look through our website and request your free samples to view your next special stone in person?
