pacific, Author at Pacific Stones

Types of Natural Stone for Your Home

Leave a Comment / Natural Stone / By pacific

Natural stone can be used to provide a stunning addition to the interior or exterior of any house. Durable, fireproof and maintenance-free, stone structures that are well-built will stand for centuries as they are able to endure just about any type of weather conditions.

Natural stone is environmentally friendly due to its thermal mass providing natural insulation, which will help decrease your energy bills.

Although natural stone might be pricier than other building materials, its longevity and durability, along with the exquisiteness that it offers, is worth the price in the long run.

Let’s take a look at the seven most sought-after types of natural stone: quartzite, flint, travertine, limestone, granite, marble and sandstone.

1. QUARTZITE

Highly durable with an elegant crystalline sparkle, quartzite is among the world’s hardest natural stones. It has a similar look and durability to marble and can withstand extreme temperatures and scratching. Due to it being resistant to heat, many chemicals and stains, it is low-maintenance, and therefore an excellent choice for bathroom countertops, islands, wall coverings, and vanity tops, and should be just perfect for busy kitchens or families with small children.

2. FLINT

Flint is popular in the construction of stone walls and homes due to its tendency to strongly resist weathering and its ability to be cut and arranged in various patterns that give each home a unique look. Flint comes in a variety of solid colours, including black, grey and blue and is an important building material in the southeast of England, where, for centuries, it has been used in the construction of churches, farmhouses and other structures.

3. TRAVERTINE

Also a popular building material, travertine is one of the most beautiful stones used in home construction. It is oftentimes used on exterior walkways, tiled floors, counters, and inside homes. A major reason this stone is favoured for homes is the numerous colour options, ranging from pink, orange, grey and beige to shades of brown.

Travertine is not only impact-resistant but also wear-resistant, which makes it perfect for your heavy use areas such as kitchen and bathroom floors and showers. Due to travertine being heat and pressure-resistant, it is also ideal building material for fireplaces and areas surrounding your swimming pool.

4. LIMESTONE

With its even texture and ability to be sculpted and tailored, the versatile limestone is an excellent natural stone for your home exterior. Limestone weathers naturally, and so, over the years, it will give your home an enviable, distinctive look.

Highly resilient and with superior fire-resistant characteristics, limestone will maintain its structural integrity for many years. Also thermally stable, limestone will reduce your heat and cooling needs, ensuring greater comfort for your family, a reduction in energy costs.

However, being a porous stone, limestone may scratch and stain easily. Therefore, it is best to avoid using it in functional areas such as your kitchen counters.

5. GRANITE

Considered a prestigious material, granite is used in architecture to produce an appearance of elegance and quality. Granite is an excellent investment for any home construction and decoration. Brown, pink and black is among the most popular granite colours.

Low-maintenance and recyclable, granite is perfect for exteriors, including driveways and swimming pools. In your kitchen, polished granite slabs will create colourful and durable work stations and countertops, as it is resistant to moisture, scratching and heat and so can remain unchanged for decades. Granite tiles can also be used as wall panels and flooring in bathrooms and living rooms to create elegant, high-lustre spaces.

6. MARBLE

This luxurious natural stone is widely used in prestigious architecture and interior design. Commonly used indoors as flooring and kitchen countertops, marble is available in a wide array of colours and patterns, varying from brown to pink, purple and grey, brown, and in mixed hues. While this translucent stone’s smooth and polished texture will require special care when used to embellish the exterior of your home, it will provide impeccable beauty and durability.

7. SANDSTONE

This remarkable stone is usually known for its use in outdoor spaces such as driveways or gardens. Widely acclaimed for its natural strength, durability and slip-resistant properties, sandstone can be comfortably placed in areas where water is used, such as lawns and pools.

Sandstone is not only able to withstand the harshest climates but increases in value and aesthetic appeal over time. It is also ultra low-maintenance and can easily be cleaned with just plain water. It also retains its original colour even after being exposed to sunlight and other elements. Colours vary from white to pink, orange, yellow, and even purple hues.

Are you searching for a natural stone supplier in Surrey?

If you are ready to get started with a natural stone construction project and you are searching for a natural stone supplier in Surrey, contact us at Pacific Art Stone.

For nearly 15 years, Pacific Stone has been a trusted importer of masonry stone with an unwavering reputation for high-quality products and outstanding customer service. At our store, you will find a range of natural stone veneers to choose from, and if you have questions about what type of stone will work best for your home, our friendly team is there to help you make an informed choice.

Modern Fireplace Stone Ideas

Leave a Comment / Natural Stone / By pacific

Your fireplace is one of the most noticeable elements of the interior of your house, as to whether it be large or small, it commands attention. As such, you will certainly want to ensure that your fireplace stone is aesthetically pleasing and reliable.

While there are various materials that can be used to create your fireplace, you will not regret choosing to make the structure from stone, as not only does stone stand out due to its timeless appeal, but it is durable, eco-friendly, heat-resistant and also adds value to your home.

Stone is the earliest and perhaps most enduring material of choice for fireplace construction. Whether you want your fireplace to be contemporary, elegant and formal; clean and simple, rustic, polished or carved, there are various types of natural stone that are perfect for your fireplace. The most popular choices are:

Granite

Granite is a prestigious material used in architecture to produce an appearance of elegance and quality. Low-maintenance and recyclable, it is scratch, chip and crack-resistant, and because it is resistant to heat, it can remain unchanged for decades. In addition, it is very easy to keep clean and so, is a perfect fit for your fireplace.

Limestone

Limestone is one of the less expensive natural stone options and is commonly used for gas and electric fireplaces. It can be either elegant or rustic, depending on the type and treatment. Although durable, limestone is porous and so fireplaces made from it need to be sealed properly and regularly as it may scratch and stain easily. Highly resilient, thermally stable and possessing superior fire-resistant characteristics, limestone will keep its structural integrity for many years.

Marble

Marble is widely used in prestige architecture and interior design. Your fireplace will have a modern, bright and sleek look when surrounded by this luxurious natural stone.

Although marble requires more maintenance than its other natural stone counterparts, as long as it is properly cared for, it can last a long time. It can be also be polished or left unpolished. Marble is available in a wide array of colours and patterns, varying from brown to pink, purple and grey, among others.

Quartzite

Quartzite is among the world’s hardest types of natural stone and remains a major preference for the construction of fireplaces. Highly durable, with an elegant crystalline sparkle, it can withstand extreme temperatures and scratch. With an extensive colour palette, timeless quartzite adds a finished look to any fireplace. Due to it being resistant to heat, as well as many chemicals and stains, it is low-maintenance and, therefore, an excellent fireplace stone choice.

Slate

If your desire is for a style that is more rustic or you are aiming at a cottage feel, slate is the perfect option. It can either be staked or used as tiles for a clean look. Slate is a strong stone that easily bears all the heat emerging from gas and electric fireplaces and can be safely used for many years without fear of breakage, as it resists cracking, fading and erosion. Available in various shades of green, grey, copper and brown, this highly durable stone, however, require regular cleaning and occasionally, deep cleaning to keep its pristine condition.

Travertine

Heat and pressure-resistant, travertine is ideal for electric and gas fireplaces. This popular building material is one of the most beautiful stones used in home construction and comes in numerous colours ranging from pink, orange, grey and beige to shades of brown. Also very versatile, it can be installed as stacked bricks for a more rustic look, laid as tiles for a more modern look, or carved for an older look.

Are you searching for a natural stone supplier in Surrey?

If you are ready to get started with a natural stone construction project and you are searching for a natural stone supplier in Surrey, contact us at Pacific Stone.

For nearly 15 years, Pacific Stone has been a trusted importer of masonry stone with an unwavering reputation for high-quality products and outstanding customer service. At our store, you will find a range of natural stone to choose from, and if you have questions about what type of stone will work best for your home, our friendly team is there to help you make an informed choice.

Choosing Stone for Your Home’s Exterior

Stone facades add a prestigious look to your home and go a far way in enhancing its value, regardless of the architectural style. Even limited application of stone can make a huge difference, but siding the entire house with stone is even more majestic. However, the issue of the cost usually influences homeowners’ decision-making where stone accents are concerned.

Among the first major decisions, you must make regarding stone siding is whether to use natural quarried stone or manufactured stone veneer. Nevertheless, unless you are a pro, it might be somewhat difficult for you to tell the difference on sight. Let us look at some of the characteristics of the two options:

Natural stone vs. manufactured stone veneer

Natural stones are 100 percent pure, hard, compact rocks quarried directly from the earth and can be carved to the desired shape, such as blocks for building, sheets for walls, or tiles for flooring.

Natural stone is revered globally as a premier building material due not only to the fact that it is durable, stable, and colourfast but also because it reflects unique character and stateliness.

A manufactured stone veneer, on the other hand, is an engineered stone that is manufactured to look like natural stone. In fact, quality manufactured stone veneer can look so genuine that you may mistake it for the real thing.

Manufactured stone veneer is a slurry of cement, aggregates, and other materials that are finished with pigments to get the desired look. It is less costly than natural stone, though, as a result of, among other things, availability and lighter shipping weight.

Individual pieces vs. panels

If you intend to cover large swaths of your home exterior in stone, panels will be especially helpful. Because they have staggered, interlocking side edges, this helps in achieving a natural look. If your preference is dry-stack applications with less visible or obscured grout, panels are still ideal.

On the flip side, if you prefer a rougher and more rustic look with visible grout, laying individual stones would be a better option. With individual stones, you can freely decide what joint width, style, and colours you wish to use.

In addition, the possibilities for the final look are endless as it matters not the type of stone you like since, with this choice, there is everything from flat-faced, modern ledgestone to smooth, rounded rocks extracted from rivers.

Here are several other factors to take into consideration when choosing your stone:

Decide on your style

Choosing your stone comes down to personal preference, even though architecture often plays a huge role. But once you figure out your style, it will be a lot easier to decide. Bear in mind that you should choose a stone facade that matches the style of your home. Doing so will ensure the stone highlights your home’s design rather than compete against it.

That said, you first have to visualize the general look you want, from shapes to profiles, lines and colours. It is also important to decide whether you are going for simplicity, blending in or matching your surroundings or for something that is more intricate.

Select the right colour combination

Before choosing your stone, it is recommended that you select a colour palette, which takes into account the other colours on your home exterior.

At times, it is difficult to find a perfect match for the various types of exterior finishes, so it is better to select complementary colours to achieve a design that is in harmony with the rest of the building.

Ensure the roof complements the stone

Whether you are constructing a new home or updating an existing one, it is wise to take the colour of the roof into account at the outset. You do not want to have a situation where the roof clashes with your new stone facade after spending copious amounts of time poring over colours, patterns, finishes, and textures to create what you deem to be your perfect stone design.

Are you searching for a stone supplier in Surrey?

If you are ready to get started with a natural stone or manufactured stone construction project and you are searching for a stone supplier in Surrey for your exterior, contact us at Pacific Stone.

For nearly 15 years, Pacific Stone has been a trusted importer of masonry stone with an unwavering reputation for high-quality products and outstanding customer service. At our store, you will find a range of natural and manufactured stone veneers to choose from, and if you have questions about what type of stone will work best for your home, our friendly team is there to help you make an informed choice.

benefits-of-thin-stone-veneer-for-your-fireplace

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / By pacific

Winter is a season when you want to spend more time indoors, particularly around the fireplace.

While you want to be cozy and revel in the warmth coming from the fireplace, you most certainly want to enjoy its beauty as well. This is how thin stone veneer rises to the occasion. Thin stone veneer is an affordable alternative to solid stone fireplace construction.

With a stone veneer, you can turn a plain fireplace into an eye-catching centrepiece.

Two excellent choices of fireplace stone materials

The thin stone veneer comes in natural stone and faux stone. As the name implies, natural stone veneers are made using real, quarried rocks that are cut into thin layers. Faux stone veneers are manufactured to look like the real thing.

Using a stone veneer is the quickest and most cost-effective way to give your fireplace a face-lift. That is only the tip of the iceberg, though. There are many other advantages of a stone veneer for your fireplace, which you are bound to appreciate.

Let us look at a few of them:

Stone veneer is versatile

The stone veneer is ideal for fireplaces as it is lightweight, unlike full-sized natural stone. With full-sized natural stone, you may need to reinforce your floor due to the combined weight of the stone, hearth and mantel. A stone veneer fireplace needs no reinforcement.

Stone veneer is fireproof

Non-combustible and non-flammable, stone veneer is a smart, safe choice regardless of whether you’re updating a wood or gas fireplace.

Fireplace stone veneer is easy to install

You do not have to be an expert mason to be able to work with a thin stone veneer. In fact, with simple preparation and application tips, you can quickly and effectively transform your fireplace into one of grandeur.

Stone veneer requires little maintenance

Once it is installed, a thin stone veneer requires very little upkeep. The only things that are recommended are periodic inspection and cleaning.

During the inspection, you should look for rare cracks or signs of damage. You can clean your thin stone veneer fireplace with a low setting on a power washer or by using a soft brush.

Suitable for interior and exterior placement

The Stone veneer does not need repainting as it will not fade or discolour over time, and scratches and chips are not easily noticeable. Thin stone veneer is also able to withstand any weather, which makes it suitable for not only indoor fireplaces but outdoor fireplaces as well.

Fireplace stone is attractive

No matter where it is used, a stone veneer is aesthetically pleasing. In fact, because modern cutting techniques create the illusion that each veneer is a lot bigger and fuller than it really is, it will be hard to tell that your fireplace was not built entirely of stone.

Thin stone veneer is the perfect choice if you wish to create an appearance of luxury without breaking your budget.

Are you searching for a thin stone veneer supplier in Surrey?

If you are ready to get started with a thin stone veneer fireplace construction project and you are searching for a stone veneer supplier in Surrey, contact us at Pacific Stone.

For nearly 15 years, Pacific Stone has been a trusted importer of masonry stone with an unwavering reputation for high-quality products and outstanding customer service. At our store, you will find a range of stone veneers to choose from, and if you have questions about what type of stone will work best for your home, our friendly team is there to help you make an informed choice.