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Field/rough stone Also known as rough building stone. Consists of rock faced masses of various sizes and shapes
Rubble stone This refers to irregular stone fragments having at least one good face that are obtained from
quarries. It can be cut and made into blocks and pieces for building walls, veneers, copings, sills
etc
Dimension stone Also referred to as cut stone or ashlar
It may be obtained as finished products from stone mills done to a specific size, squared to
dimensions each way and to specific thickness
There are two types of finishes:
• The surface is rough or the natural split of the stone
• The surface is smooth, slightly textured or polished
It can be used for exterior or interior surface veneers of buildings, prefabricated panels, , toilet
partitions, flooring, copings, stair treads, sills, bearing walls etc
Ashlar is now included under dimension stone; it refers to smaller, rectangular stone with a flat-
faced surface, generally square or rectangular, having sawed or dressed beds and joints
Monumental stone Refers to flat slabs of thin stone generally from 1 to 2 in. (25.4 to 50.8 mm) thick,
either irregular or squared, with the surfaces smooth, slightly rough, or polished
Flagstone is used in the exterior for paths, walks, and terraces and on the interior
as stair treads, flooring, blackboards, coping, sills, countertops, etc
Crushed stone Crushed or broken stone consist of chips, granules, or irregular shapes that have
been graded and sized for construction work
Crushed stone usually begins at ¼ in. (6.35 mm) and runs by various stages to
2½ in. (63.5 mm) size
It differs from large-size gravel in being usually composed of only one kind of
rock
It is used as aggregate in concrete work and asphalt walks, roads, driveway paths,
and other travelled areas, as surfacing material for asphalt shingles, siding, and
built-up roofing; and in terrazzo and artificial stonework
Stone dust Stone dust or powder is used for surfacing asphalt paving, as fill in paints, for
resilient flooring e.t.c
General Selection criteria or factors to determine whether a rock
will be feasible as a building stone include :
Most technical criteria mentioned in the Aggregate more or
less holds true here also.
it should be hard and strong – for usual building purposes, a
compressive strength of 35 MPa is satisfactory
It should be durable (less affected by weathering)
Should be with less of deleterious materials
Should be dressable (easy to shape)
Should have good aesthetic and appearance especially for
those to be used as decorative stone. The appearances of a
stone largely depends on its colour and texture.
e.g., blue, green colored marbles are most demanded one in
the market
Should have minimum water absorption and less porous
There should be enough volume of material that can be
quarried
the amount of overburden that has to be removed also
affects the economics of quarrying
the ease with which it can be quarried (quarried depends
to a large extent on geological structures)
the wastage resulting upon quarrying
the cost of transportation
4.2. Stones for masonry work
Processed dimension stone (decorative stones)
4.3 Armour stone – refers to large blocks of rock that are
used to protect civil engineering structures
It is used for coastal protection, for riprap in dams, river bank
and bed protection and stabilization,
Requirement :
For stones to be used as Armour or riprap stones criteria like
block size, grading, density, water absorption, abrasion
resistance, impact resistance, strength and durability of the
rock material are very necessary and must be considered
during the design stage of a particular project
Wire saws use a system of thin steel cables, pulleys and wet
sand abrasive to cut sandstone and marble, but diamond-
impregnated wire can even cut granite. Mobile circular saws
and large tungsten carbide chain saws are used for cutting soft
and non-abrasive limestone.
•Hard and abrasive rock such as granite is sometimes presplit
using low explosives in narrow, closely spaced drill holes.
Alternatively, blocks may be broken out using non-explosive
bursting agents (synthetic swelling compounds), hydraulic
chisels and jacks.