ZuluGranit

Decorative Stone use:

Modern buildings use decorative stone
for a wide variety of applications; most
visible of these applications is the use
of external cladding on functional
buildings in a quest for decorative
appeal and beauty, clean and maintenance free finishes and for weather-resistant durability. 

The use of Natural Stone for building is
as old as the history of man.

All over the world are durable monuments to man's skill in shaping, designing, building and utilising structures made of Natural Stone.

Many of these date back thousands of years; a testament to man's ingenuity and endeavour

The advent of the industrial age
allowed for the development of
modern machinery that now enables man to accurately cut and shape, finsih and where desired polish (or other finishes) slabs of natual stone that can be used for a wide variety of applications.

A PowerPoint slide show  is available.

Dimension Stone:

• Blocks of stone that have been worked from a quarry and made ready for shipment to a processing facility or cutting and polishing works are referred to as "Dimension Stone".
  
  
• Stone that has been cut to specific size for use in building work is also generally referred to as 'Dimension stone": this includes slate for roofing and floor-tile use paving slabs hewn stone for masonry use.
  
  
• These blocks of Granite, Marble, Sandstone , limestone and other types are limited in size mainly by theior weight and consequent limitations arising with transportation and handling.
  
  
• Size: Typically, blocks of about 7 cubic metres and weighting up  to 30 metric tonne set the practical limit.
  
  
• Processing of Dimension Stone blocks into end-user products, such as slabs and tiles, is done in a cutting and polishing works; - usually located centrally, to receive blocks of differing colours and textures from word-wide resources.
  
  
• The picture (left): Verde Mare quarry that was 'abandoned' some 12 years previously. Scrap and 2nd grade blocks litter the central forground and will be recovered to generate a revenue stream.
  
  
• Small waste will be crushed to make aggregate for consruction use, road building etc.