By

R. DURGA PRASAD
Guest faculty
Department of Civil Engineering
RGUKT- NUZVID
iiitdurgaprasad@gmail.com
 STONES:
The stones which are suitable for the
construction of the structures such as
retaining walls, abutments, dams,
barrages, roads etc are known as
building stones. Building stones should
possess enough strength and durability.
Stones have been considered as one of
the popular building material from the
olden days due to their availability in
abundance from the natural rocks.
 APPLICATIONS OR
COMMON USES OF BUILDING STONE:
It is used in foundations of buildings,
It is used in construction of dams, barrages, etc,
In its crushed (powdered form) it is used as artificial
sand,
It is used as raw material for manufacturing of cement,
In its broken form it is used as material for construction
of road and railway tracks,
It is used as decorative material in buildings,
It is also used as parts of buildings such as lintels and
arches, etc,
It is also used as thin slabs for building roofing,
It is also used for ornamental works in buildings,
In its broken form it is in the manufacturing of concrete,
ABUTMENT
 ARCH DAM

DECORATIVE LINTEL
STONES
 ROAD

ORNAMENTS

THIN SLAB
WALL
CHARACTERISTICS OF
GOOD BUILDING STONES:
There are so many
characteristics of good building
stones, but some important
characteristics are given below.
(1) Hardness:
Hardness denotes several qualities of stones such
as resistance to cutting and resistance to abrasion
( rubwith each other). Specially stones are used in
case of roads and railway tracks. To check the
hardness of stones various tests are conducted in
the laboratories. The more important tests to check
the hardness is LossAngles Abrasion test. It
depends upon the nature of its constituent minerals.
Hardness >17-- good for road construction
Hardness = between 14 to 17 medium hard
Hardness<14 poor hardness not used for road
construction
 (2) Durability:
Durability is the power of stone to resist
atmospheric and other external effects.
It depends upon:
Chemical composition,
Physical structure,
Resistance to weathering effects,
Place where it is used
Stone which contain silicates will be durable than
those stone which contain calcium carbonate
substances.
To make stone durable load must act
perpendicular to the bed
(3) Porosity and Absorption :
Stone can hold water in two ways
Either through porosity or absorption
For building purposes, the better stones are those
which are less porous because they will absorb
less moisture. Porous stones damaged easily.
for good stones % absorbtion by weight after 24
hours should not exceed 60%
(4) Decomposition:
Gases and acids in rain water dissolve some
constituents of stone and cause the stone decay.
(5) Disintegration:
In cold countries water freezes and expands and
thus disintegrates the stones.
Reliability:
When exposed to fire stone should be reliable (goodin
quality).
Weight:
This is an important characteristic of stone. Itdepends
upon the type of structure of stone in whichwe shall use.
E.g. we shall use heavy stones in the construction
ofthe
dams, bridges, etc.
Crushing S t r e n g t h :
It is power of stone to sustain pressure or resistanceto
crushing force.
Good structural stone crushing strength> 100N/mm^2
Appearance and color:
Highly colorful stones are preferred
for architectural purpose but those
are soft and thus less durable.
Therefore, lighter stones are
preferred than to darker ones.
Physical Strength:
Crystalline structures are more
durable than non-crystalline structure
stone.
Seasoning Qualities :
A good building stone should have good
seasoning qualities. All the stones contain some
moisture which is known as quarry sap stones.
The period 3-6 months are enough for
seasoning.
Fire resistance:
A good building stone should be fire resistant.
Some stones such as basalt and trap resist fire
very well but some varieties of igneous and
metamorphic stones are very weak against fire.
 
 
EXAMINATION AND TESTING OF
STONES:
It is very important to examine the stone
before its selection for any particular
type of engineering structure. For this
purpose various types of tests are to be
conducted to find out the suitability of
stone for engineering structure. There
are so many tests but some important
among them are as follows.
(1) Crushing test:
For this test 04 cubic cm finely dressed
different samples of stones which are placed
in water for about 72 hours are used.Their
type is made flat and horizontal and covered
with plaster of Paris of 5mm. They are tested
in a compression testing machine.The load
must be applied axially and the changes in
the blocks at the corresponding load are
recorded. Theblocks or samples which bear
more loadsare to be selected. Min 3 samples
must be used for testing.
(2) Crystallization or weathering test :
For this test 04 cubic cm different samples of
stones used. They are dried for 72 hours then
weighed and then immersed in a 14 % solution
of sodiumsulphate (NA2SO4) at room
0
temperature for two hours and dried at 100 C .
They are again weighed. The difference in
weight is noted.This process of weighing,
immersing in salt solution, drying and re-
weighing is repeated for 10 to 15 times. A stone
which is not much affected by salt solution is
supposed to have very good weathering
properties.
(3) Porosity and Absorption test :
To ascertain the relative qualities of
different stones, they are immersed in
water for 24 hours and the amount of
water absorbed by each specimen is
noted. Greater absorption of water by
the stone means that it is porous and
can not resist weathering forces well.
The test specimen which absorbs the
smallest amount of water is the best.
(4) Attrition test:
This is the test to check the wear and tear
of stone. To conduct this test different
angular pieces of stones are weighed and
charged into a cylindrical drum along withthe
iron blocks provided. The drum is then rotated
at the rate of 30 to 33 rmp. About 100 to 150
revolutions are made. After that contents are
taken out from machine and passed through
sieve of 1.50 mesh. Then %age of wear is
calculated. The machine used may be Devals
attrition machine. The stone which have less
%wear is considered to be thebest.
(5) Acid test:
This is the best test to find out the presence
of calcium carbonate. For this test about 50
to100 grams sample of stone is immersed in
saolution of 1 % HCl or H2SO4 for about a
week. The sample being agitated (pressed,
disturbed) at intervals. If the edges of stone
are retained and there is no deposition of
any loose particles on the surface, it
indicates that the stone is good other wise
weak and bad.
(6) Smith’s test:
This test is carried out to find out whether the
specimens possess crystalline structure.
Small stone chips are kept for about half an
hour in a glass of water filled to one third. The
glass containing the specimens and water is
moved quickly by giving it a circular motion
with the hand. If the specimen gives out
earthy matter and water gets milky
appearance, it shows that the stone particles
are not properly cemented together.
(7) Hardness test:
This test is conducted to find out the
resistance of stone to abrasion. The
sample piece of stone is cleaned and
rubbed by piece of rubbing
material/paper. The rubbed face of the
stone is examined through a microscope.
If marks of rubbing are visible, it shows
that the stone is soft and it can not be
used for roads, pavements, etc.Dorry's
testing machine is used.
(8) Fire test:
For very important buildings, fire
resistance of stone is also examined. For
this test a small hut or a wall panel of
stone is built. One side of it is subjected
to 9500C and the behaviour of the stone
under fire is studied. If the cracks
developed are deep. Then it should not
be used for important buildings.
(9) Microscopic test:
This is a geological test in which a thin slice of
the sample is examined through the
microscopic to determine the following
physical properties of stone.
The texture of the stone.
The nature of the building materials/stones.
The size, shape and nature of the individual
grains or crystals.
The kind and nature of the mineral present.
The presence of pores, if any.
 
DETERIORATION OF STONES:
Deterioration of stone is the process of their breaking
or their decay. Atmospheric agencies such as:
rain,temperature,wind,frost, and living organisms, etc
are responsible for their deterioration and these
agencies bring about physical and chemical changes in
the stones and disintegrate them. So, the stones which
can resist the effect of all these agencies are said to be
durable. Some preservative materials which are used
to preserve the stones from deterioration are:
coal tar, linseed oil, barium hydrate solution, alum soap
solution (mixture of alum and soft soap).
By applying some of above preservative materials,
stones can be preserved from the decaying.
CLASSIFICATION OF ROCKS (STONES) OR
VARIETIES OF STONES:
There are three main classes of rocks.
(1) CHEMICAL CLASSIFICATION:
Chemically stones are stones are classified into
three groups.
(i) Argillaceous Rocks:
Argillaceous or clay stones are those stones which
contain (alumina Al2O3) (clay) as principal
constituent. These stones are less durable stones.
All clay stones belong to this group.
The examples of argillaceous rocks are Slate,
Laterite, etc.
(ii) Silicious Rocks:
The stones which contain (Silica SiO2) as principal
constituent are called silicious rocks. These stones
are durable stones.
The examples of silicious rocks are granite, Quartzite
and Sand stone etc.
• (ii) Calcareous Rocks:
• The stones which contain
calcareous material (CaCO3) as
principal constituent are called
calcareous rocks. They also
contain some proportion of
siliceous and clay matter.
• The examples of calcareous rocks
are marble stone and lime stone,
etc.
(2) PHYSICAL CLASSIFICATION:
Physically rocks are classified as:
(i) Stratified Rocks:
The rocks which are split into thin slabs or
layers easily are called stratified rocks. All
sedimentary rocks are essentially stratified
and metamorphic rocks may be either
stratified or unstartified depending upon its
parent rock.
The examples of stratified rocks are Slate,
Sand stone and Lime stone.
• (ii) Unstratified Rocks:
• These rocks do not show sign of
stratification and can not be easily split
into thin slabs or layers are called
unstratified rocks. All igneous rocks are
essentially unstratified and metamorphic
rocks may be either stratified or
unstartified.
• The examples of unstratified rocks are
Granite, Basalt and Lime Trap.
• (3) GEOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION:
• Geologically stones are stones are
classified into three groups.
• (i) Igneous or Primary Rocks:
• These are primary rocks which are formed
from molten magma. They represent
different structural features depending
upon the condition of solidification and
composition. Generally igneous rocks are
strong and durable.
(ii) Sedimentary or Secondary Rocks:
• These are secondary rocks and are
formed by the denudation and deposition
of previously existing rocks due to
weathering actions. Water (rain) is the
most powerful and principal weathering
agent. The other destructive agents are
frost, winds and chemical actions. The
destructive agents break up the surface of
earth which gets further broken up when
carried down by rains and rivers. When
the velocity of water in the rivers those
• (iii) Metamorphic or Tertiary Rocks:
• Rocks which are formed due to
metamorphic action of pressure or internal
heat or by both (or) alteration of original
structure due to heat and excessive
pressure) are called Metamorphic Rocks.
• Examples: Marble etc.
• QUARRYINFG OF STONES:
• Stones are extracted from natural rocks in
different sizes. The various methods which
are involved in the extraction of stones
from rock beds are collectively termed as
“Quarrying of Stones”.
• Open part of the natural rock from which
useful material is obtained is known as
quarry.
• For this purpose particular rock is
• Methods of quarrying:
• It is depending upon the rock and purpose
for which it is to be used.
• Commonly two methods are used for
quarrying.
• (1) Quarrying by digging
• (2) Quarrying by blasting
• (1) Quarrying by digging:
• This is done by three methods.
• (a) By driving steel wedges into
fissures:
• Fissures, cracks, planes of cleavages are
all weak points in the rock and by taking
the advantage of these weak points, steel
wedges are driven in these natural
fissures or cracks, so that rock splits
easily.
• (b) By drilling artificial line of holes:
• Some times line of holes (in rows) is
drilled with the help of chisel and hammer.
Thus, the solidity of rock mark is divided
into small portions and artificial fissures
are made. Steel wedges are driven in
these artificially made fissures. Then all
the wedges are hammered simultaneously
and consequently the rock cracks along
the face of holes.
• (c) By swelling hard wooden pegs:
• Some times hard wooden pegs are driven
in either natural or artificially made
fissures and are kept soaked with water.
And in this way rock is splitted.
•
• (d) Quarrying by blasting:
• When the rock is very hard and unfissured
then quarrying is done by blasting. Blasting
is the process of loosening the hard and
closely packed material with the help of
explosive materials. Various explosives
which are used for blasting purposes are:
• Gun powder or black powder
• Dynamite
• Cordite Detonator
• Fuses
But mostly two explosives are used which
are gun powder and dynamite. Where gun
powder is the mixture of potassium nitrate,
charcoal and sulphur and dynamite is the
mixture of nitroglycerine.
There are four main operations are involved
in blasting.
•Boring hole in the rock
•Charging with the explosives
•Tamping
•Firing.
• DRESSING OF STONES:
• Dressing of stones is a process in which
their surfaces are prepared to a form, fit to
be used for any constructional purpose.
Dressing is according to the type of work
and demand.
• Purpose of Dressing:
• To give them good looking.
• To provide horizontal and vertical joints in
the masonry.
• To make them fit, to be used for particular
• Methods of Dressing
Rough dressing Fair dressing

OR
• Dressing at quarry site
Dressing at construction site
•
• Scabbling Hammering Self faced,
quarry faced Chisel Tooled
Fluted Pointed
• OR
• (1) ROUGH DRESSING OR DRESSING
AT QUARRY SITE:
• There are three main methods of rough
dressing, which are a sunder:
• (i) Scabbling:
• In scabbling only irregular angels are
taken off with a scabbling hammer and
therefore that dressing is called scabbling.
• (ii) Hammer Dressing:
• (iii) Self faced, quarry faced (OR) Rock
faced Dressing:
• In this type of dressing, stone are only
splitted into either as face stones or as
corner stones and nothing special is done.
• (2) FAIR DRESSING OR DRESSING AT
BUILDING SITE:
• There are four main methods of Fair
dressing, which are a sunder:
• (i) Chiseled Dressing:
• About one inch width on all the four sides
of the exposed surfaces of the stones is
chiseled to give them a better
appearance. This work is done with the
help of chisel made of cast iron.