Made of calcium carbonate, travertine is classed along with marble under the limestone family. While travertine is a sedimentary rock, marble, having been subjected to intense heat and pressure, is described as a metamorphic rock. The result is that travertine is more porous than marble. Both stones, when hewn and cut into tiles, however, exude [...]

The durability of sandstone, along with its many colors as well as its color blotches, grains, and lines, makes it a suitable material for use in bathrooms walls and floors. Most flooring experts agree that it is rather difficult for most homeowners to install on their own, yet it is not impossible for an accomplished [...]

Onyx is a semi-precious stone that features alternating bands of different colors. You can find virtually all of the colors of the spectrum in the stone, except some shades of purple and blue. Typically, bands of either black or white alternate with bands of toher colors, the most common of which are brown, orange, and [...]

Travertine is a sedimentary rock formed from limestone that is subjected to intense heat and pressure as well as exposed to certain minerals and chemicals. If this is prolonged even further, say, a few million years more, travertine metamorphoses into marble. Travertine is a beautiful stone. It comes in various colors including white, ivory, tan, [...]

Slate is a beautiful and versatile stone that is used from the roof through the walls down to the floor. As a stone, it is impervious to water and thus is quite suited for use in the bathroom. Indeed, apart from its pleasing appearance, its surface has clefts making it less slippery even when wet [...]

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed of minerals and rock grains the size of sand. Most sandstone is made of quartz or feldspar, or a combination of the two, as these are the two most common minerals around. The sand-sized minerals are glued together with a form of mineral cement. Some forms of sandstone are [...]

Marble floors, like any other floor, can get dirty with use and, unless regularly cleaned and maintained, can lose their shine and luster. Cleaning marble, however, requires more care than you would normally expect for such a hard stone. So-called cleaning experts often do not agree on what is the best cleaning medium for marble [...]

Granite is often regarded as a classy, even opulent, building material. It comes across as an elegant and sophisticated natural stone that, especially when polished just so, emits an attractive sheen. Granite has many colors, including, among others, beige, black, blue, gray, green, red, yellow, and white. They can be grained, mottled, or speckled with [...]

Marble is super heated and pressurized limestone or dolomite, which means that it is a metamorphic rock. For thousands of years, until today, marble has been used in architecture and the arts. This is because the stone is beautiful and sturdy. It is used in almost every room in the house, including the bathroom. Like [...]

Unquestionably, stone is a very durable and hard-wearing material, whether it is left in its natural state or cut into slabs or blocks and used for the construction of edifices. You need only to look at the limestone and granite used to build the Great Pyramid of Giza in 2560 BCE. This, of course, is [...]