Chapter 4.

Stones for various purposes

 4.1 Dimension stone/building stone
4.1.1General introduction
Rock and stone
Rock is the term used to
name a solid portion of the
earth's crust.
It is generally very big in
site .The rocks have one or
more than one materials .
stone- is always obtained from
rock either by quarrying or other
means in the form of stone
blocks, Stone aggregate , stone
slabs etc
There are some confusions whether the terms dimension
stone or building stones are synonymously used or not. This is
b/se there is no standard of naming in this regard. In this
chapter, they are generally used as building stone for our
purpose

Building stones/dimension stone includes all natural stone

used in building construction, whether it be for structural support
(solid masonry) where rock blocks or ashlars are stacked to
form load bearing walls, facing stone where rock slabs are
assembled into curtain walls, veneer, floor tile, or strictly
ornamental use.

Dimension stone (DS) is used in cut or split form, rather than

broken as rock fill or crushed as aggregate
Stones are more used in the construction industry as it
requires little energy for extraction & processing comparing to
the artificially produced materials (e.g. brick, concrete). Thus,
stone has been used as a construction material for thousands
of years
stone is used more or less as it is found except for shaping
and dressing that is necessary before it is used for building
purposes.

DS- is also used extensively for paving and tiling, interior

finishes, landscaping, monuments and statuary, and building
restoration. e.g. marble, limestone, granite, ignimbrite etc
4.1.2. various Uses and criteria of stones
Uses of stone
Following are the various uses of stones
 For masonry work
 for lintels and vertical columns
 for covering floors of building
 for paving of roads and foot paths
 As a covering material for buildings.
 for the construction of roads in form of boulders and aggregate
 as an aggregate in cement as well as lime concretes
 In the construction of masonry dams; Armour stones for coastal
protection etc
Hornbostel (1991) gives detailed descriptions of the various types of stone used in building
construction as summarized in the table below

Stone Type/Use Description

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

 In general Armour stone must be able to withstand rapid and

severe changes in hydraulic pressure, alternate wetting and
drying, thermal changes, wave and sand/gravel impact and
abrasion, as well as salt and solution damage
 Extraction and processing
Extraction of building stone is done by surface mining called
quarrying .

Quarrying hard rock for dimension/building stone

There are two types of hard rock quarry :
(i) the hill-side quarry in which the excavated material is
hauled down slope to a plant and processing area, and
 (ii) the open-pit operation in which the rock has to be
hauled up to the plant area. Hill-side quarries may become
open pit operations once excavation has reached the plant
area datum.
Although many of the rock qualities that make for good
dimension stone can also produce good aggregates, the two
styles of quarrying are incompatible, since blast damage
reduces both the size of blocks obtained and their durability
Factors which need to be taken into account during quarrying include
the following.
(1) The definition of that part of the deposit that can be technically
and economically worked in relation to property boundaries and
surrounding topography; factors which can impose significant
constraints.
(2) The quantity of overburden, waste and nonsaleable materials
which define the basic economics of excavation and, hence, any cut-
off limits.
(3) The nature of geological structure of the deposits. Faults, joint
sets and interbedded materials can determine the orientation and
dimensions of quarry faces, angles of stable slopes which define the
limits to the excavation and preferred direction
of working.
(4) Groundwater conditions of the area also determines the need for
dewatering systems and the methods and equipment required.
(5) The lithology of rock types and any variations within the total
deposit being worked will influence the selection of equipment and
costs of production
 Quarrying operations
Blocks are cut from the rock mass by a combination of line
drilling, wedging, splitting, sawing and sometimes gentle
blasting
The most common method of outlining blocks is by line drilling,
which requires closely spaced holes, at 100–300 mm centres,
with as little as 25 mm of rock bridge left between drill holes.
Holes are drilled vertically and horizontally to envelop the
block, then wedges are inserted to release it.

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.

•Any systematic arranged natural planes of weakness

present within the rock mass include bedding, foliation, flow
banding, cleavage or mineral lineation are very help full to
facilitate splitting during quarrying
STONE PROCESSING

•The factory processing of roughcast quarried blocks can

conveniently be divided into secondary cutting, surface finishing
and stone dressing.
Secondary cutting
Secondary cutting is the trimming, sawing and splitting of
the quarry blocks into ashlars or veneer slabs of
specified dimensions.
Surface finishing
Surface finishing techniques include honing, grit blasting and
polishing. Honing is simply grinding to produce a smooth but
dull surface in granite, marble and hard sandstone. Honed
surfaces are non-slippery and do not show nicks and scuff
marks so easily-hence they are more appropriate for paving
stones than for interior paneling.
Polishing imparts a glossy, ultra-smooth finish to granite,
marble and many close-grained igneous rocks, highlighting the
fabric, mineral texture and colour variety within the stone
Stone dressing
dressed stone can refer to any type of finishing, but it is commonly
restricted to those which require a considerable degree of hand
working

Example of quarry sites/factories for dimension stone

(decorative stone) in Ethiopia
National mining corporation plc
•Awash Marble Processing Plant
•Dalleti Marble Quarry
•Harar Quarry

Saba marble in Tigray,