Natural Construction Material – Stone

Natural Construction Material – Stone, Types, and uses of natural stones.

This course is suitable for students of the polytechnic college ( Diploma level). As per the Maharashtra State Board of Technical Education (MSBTE), first-year students have subject as Construction materials in the second semester. Other curriculums can also have this subject so this course will be useful for all the students having construction materials as a subject or student who wants to study about stones.

Stone is an essential and more permanent building material in construction than other natural building materials. Based on the type, stones can be used in buildings for flooring, roofing, masonry, paving roads, and also as aggregates for concrete.

Most of the prehistoric monuments are built with natural stones as they remain stable with time. Before the advent of concrete, stones were highly preferred for heavy engineering works like bridge piers, harbor walls, seaside walls, and facing works.

Stones for construction purposes are obtained by quarrying from solid massive rocks. The stones used for masonry construction should be hard, durable, tough, and should be free from weathered soft patches of material, cracks, and other defects that are responsible for the reduction of strength and durability.

Stones form one of the most important building materials in civil engineering. Stones are derived from rocks, which form the earth’s crust and have no definite shape or chemical combination but are mixtures of two or more minerals. The mineral is a substance that is formed by the natural inorganic process and possesses a definite chemical combination and molecular structure. They are strong, durable, and decent in appearance.

The main uses of stone as a building material are:

1. As a principal material for the foundation of civil engineering works, and for the construction of walls, arches, abutments, and dams.
2. In stone masonry in places where it is naturally available.
3. As coarse aggregate in cement concrete (a crushed form of rock)