Natural stone or reconstituted stone?

What are the differences between natural stone and engineered stone? 

This is a question here at LivinRoc that comes up regularly in your messages. Many often wonder if our products are actually made ​​of natural stone. The answer is YES! All our products are made ​​from stone blocks are 100% natural, whether travertine, granite, lava stone or marble.

Let us look at the characteristics of these two materials.

The price: it is clear that the reconstituted stone is still a little cheaper than natural stone. However the price difference tends to diminish over time,     

Renewed interest in natural stone sharpened competition and served as leverage to decrease the price significantly. 

 However, be careful to choose a material suitable for the intended use:

> Hard outdoor stone ( if you live in areas with harsh winters )

> Stones slightly porous with a water repellent treatment for easy maintenance inside.

Being a 100% natural material, it is necessary to treat it with respect.

All materials are created equal and it is necessary to seek advice from your mason or dealer to have a long lasting purchase.

- Manufacturing  Reconstituted stone is a semi- natural product. It is a mix of concrete and minerals while remaining closer to the concrete structure as natural stone. Its main advantage is to imitate with talent rendering and texture of natural stone and offer further advantages of modularity in manufacturing that are not uninteresting. Fits particularly well for all uses, indoors and outdoors, and maintenance is very easy.

- Maintenance : Natural stone will provide lasting effects with easy maintenance provided, you follow some basic rules, such an informed choice of stone depending on the intended use, provide protection and maintenance suitable for the type of stone selected. Using our appropriate Stone Care cleansers and waterproof sealers.

For paving, cleaning with hot soapy water or a non-caustic detergent will be sufficient in most cases, whether natural or reconstituted stone.

- Prestige of the material: it goes without saying that a noble and authentic materials such as natural stone will undoubtedly be an addition to your home that will withstand compared to a semi- natural or synthetic material value!

How to set the price of stone?

LivingRoc only will use all natural pure stone in our product line.

Granite Quarry

The kind of material:

The strength varies from one material to another. Some harsh black granites are difficult to extract or cut and require appropriate equipment and a suitable service (worn saw blades ). This will help decide the cost of the product.

The volume of extraction.

Some varieties of stones are scarce because of the quality or operation of the deposit options, impacting the quarrying costs and therefore the selling price of the blocks directly. 

In some cases you will have to sacrifice a part of a block or a slice to use only marketable portions. "Waste" generated at a cost that must be factored into the purchase price of the material.

The cost of labor.

Natural stone in its transformation involves intensive labor. It must be extracted, then worked with infinite precision. Extraction in shaping the cost of labor is an important factor which depends on the origin of the stone and the country in which it is worked.

Rocks are unique, like a diamond. A diamond starts out as a shiny rock that has to be cut and shaped. So too does your granite.

You can view our line of natural stone suited to embrace your bathroom, kitchen, garden patio, dining, and living room  here!

Natural stone: comparing materials!

Here at LivingRoc we strive to provide you with information in helping to choose the rite stone for your home, so that you experience the beauty of our natural trendy stones.

If the stone is universally considered one of the strongest and most durable materials by excellence ratings, we must provide some clarification with this statement. 

The kingdom of stones, not all indeed play in the same division.

Natural stone derives its prestige and strength of the rock from which it originates and gives it strength, authenticity and charm, the fact remains that each stone (as each organization) has its own characteristics, strengths but also has some weaknesses.

Not to mention all stones are not created equal, we note some distinct characteristics that are spoken of granite, marble or other basalts.

Compare and have the clarity to choose the material that suits your decor project, check out our summary table of the natural stone quality levels.

Travertine tables: manufacturing and assembly

Many of you ask how are the tables are made from a block of travertine. Some of the steps required to transform stone into tables of unique designs.

The first step is to remove the block from the quarry which is then transported to the sawmill to be cut into slices of varying thickness according to the needs of the project. These slices are obtained by setting the block on a frame made ​​of steel abrasive blades that use the stone cooled by jets of abundant water throughout the block sawing process.

The slices are then cut at a predetermined size, then worked and drawn thinly. It follows a series of polishing steps in the "polishing" during which they will successively applying abrasive grain adapted to the desired finish. A portable polisher will polish it with water.

Phase pore filler marble (travertine) is usually between the diamond dust finish and the last polishing step. The plates are then assembled together, much like a carpenter with his boards. It is then ready to be applied with a highly resistant adhesive for sealed marble and in some cases connected to a solid steel structure.

At the hands of masons carefully selected sliced wafers are harmoniously placed piece by piece to great such a masterpiece which can be admired and transformed into your surroundings.

We invite you to take a look at our marble travertine tables that have been transformed into perfection  on our website.