10 Reasons to Use Natural Stone

1. Beautiful and Distinctive

The first of 10 reasons to use natural stone is that it is beautiful. Projects that use natural stone are distinctive and exhibit unparalleled character. Natural stone is visually appealing, offers endless design possibilities, and naturally fits into any landscape. Buildings, monuments, and hardscapes that leverage natural stone in their composition provide the people who experience them with a calming, emotional connection.

2. Natural Stone Offers Flexibility

Another reason to use natural stone is its versatility. Stone is the most fluid and flexible building material in the world! HDG supplies Basalt, Granite, Marble, Limestone, Sandstone, Slate, and Travertine for interior and exterior applications including: monuments, interior flooring, exterior patios, walkways, and decking, landscape elements, coping, wall caps, wall cladding, columns, water tables, roofing, pavers, stair treads and risers, planks, assemblies including fireplaces, water features, stone benches, etc. There is a stone variety for most any project, inside, outside, even poolside and curbside.

3. Finishes for any Application

Hand- or machine-applied stone finishes are available to suit nearly any desired design. Some finishes merely provoke the designers imagination whereas other finishes offer practical advantages such as slip resistance. Whether in a landscape or in a building’s architecture, texture is what makes stone exciting. Variations in color, patterns, and texture are visually interesting and impossible to replicate in other materials. Stone finishes include: polished, honed, lychee, adze, flamed, pineapple, mushroom, split/pitched, corduroy, sandblasted, scored, scored & chiseled, antiqued, etched, natural cleft, and engraved. See a sampling of stone finishes and their applications.

4. Natural Stone Means Longevity

Natural stone can appear to be more expensive due to the added cost of quarrying, transportation, and skill required in installing it. But when you consider the life of the finished project whether it is a private residence or public plaza, those who make the investment, believe it to be well worth it. Domestic or commercial structures built with stone can last 100’s of years. Natural stone is impervious to rot, insects, and even fire.

5. Cubic Stone Offers Possibilities

Now with modern computing, any pattern, shape or size that can be drawn can be reproduced in stone. Cool geometric patterns, wave-like patterns and textures created by CNC machines are all possible. Combine that with the character and agelessness of hand-tooled, hammered, adze or scored patterns, and the possibilities are endless.

6. Natural Stone is Durable

Durability of stone can be defined as the measure of the ability of the stone to maintain its essential characteristics of strength, resistance to decay and appearance over time. Properly selected stone varieties, finishes, and sizes for a particular application will allow that stone to endure.

For example, slate roof tiles are perfectly suitable to shed rainwater on a rooftop. Slate has an extremely low water absorption index of less than 0.4%. A slate roof may last 100 years, outliving manmade roofing materials and even the building’s occupants. Those same slate tiles, however, would not hold up well to heavy vehicle traffic. For that, turn to granite. Granite is the go-to material for municipal curbs, where its strength and durability have been documented with decades of vehicular abuse.

Experience Counts. Talk to HDG.

When it come to durability, consider a stone’s properties: water absorption, porosity, fissures, cracks, veins, wear resistance, density. No need to go it alone. HDG’s resident stone expert, Erik Nelson, is happy to guide you on material selection, and the finishes and configurations that will be best-suited to your project. Contact us to leverage our experience.

7. Stone is Less Resource Intensive

Once built, stone structures are less resource intense, retaining heat in the winter and keeping cool in the summer owing to stone’s high thermal mass. This can reduce the costs of temperature control while providing a more comfortable environment for occupants and visitors. Modern architects and builders might opt to leverage the properties of natural stone for some interior or exterior projects but not the structure as a whole. Favorites applications include using marble, limestone, and granite for fireplace surrounds.

8. Natural Stone is Sustainable

The upfront quarrying, cutting, facing and finishing of stone, transportation, and installation on site may seem time and cost intensive but consider a stone structure could last for centuries. Other structures will likely come and go over that time at an even greater environmental cost.

HDG Building Materials can source reclaimed beautiful natural stone that has been with us for 100s of years and has much remaining useful life. Giving natural stone materials a second-life is also good for ecosystems – eliminating the energy, water, and other resources needed to generate new products. When designers use natural stone in their projects it displays concern for the environment.

9. Ease of Maintenance

Compared to man-made materials, little to no cleaning or chemicals are required to maintain natural stone. Homeowners and building owners will need to perform some maintenance as insurance against visual decay. The good news is that since stone has been used as a building material for so long now there are proven practices and products to maintain, restore, and rejuvenate any stone surface whether those surfaces are indoor countertops, shower walls, floors, etc., or outdoor patios, pavers, columns, coping, and cladding.

10. Improves Property Value

Using natural stone in building construction is a long-established method of maintaining and even increasing resale value. Exterior stone applications increase curb appeal attracting more potential buyers. Low maintenance and longevity are factors important to many buyers. Using stone inside and outside the building sets a higher standard for the current and future occupants. Perhaps the most important reason to use natural stone in your building project is because of the increased appreciation you’ll have for your home while you are still living in it.