Flooring For Beginners

Since centuries natural stones have been used for floors. Buildings from pre-historic times are found to have stone slabs carefully laid flat on the ground and offer a good stable floor. These days also we are using stones for flooring but these are processed or engineered stones available in the form of stone tiles. Since they are man-made, you get a very large variety of colors and materials.

These days you get a large variety of stone flooring in varying colors and textures. They have built-in sturdiness and aptness for different conditions. When looking for a flooring material you should not overlook the fact that natural stone flooring is the only material that really improves over time. It lasts forever. That’s why we find even the floors of pre-historic houses looking surprisingly modern.

There aren’t many flooring options with hard-wearing qualities of natural stone. Over a period of time it acquires its own distinctive finish, adding a distinct characteristic that gets associated with flooring made from natural stone. It is easily kept clean and there are many who find it stylish and as modern looking as any other type of flooring.

Stone floors can be formed by three types of basic rocks, namely: sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic. Examples of sedimentary stone would be limestone and travertine, whereas granite is an example of igneous stone, and marble and slate are examples of metamorphic stone.

Reprocessed or machine made stones are not real stones. Tiles made from such materials could never compete with the natural beauty of stone that remains just as nature made it. Though technological processes have facilitated the manufacturing of near natural stones, which are quite good to be true, but they are not real stones.

Engineered stone tiles are new. Real stone on the other hand takes generations to get formed with nature taking its own time. But if you look at the results, you will most certainly agree that they are truly matchless. There is nothing to compete natural stone flooring and that is not likely to change ever.

Flooring made from real stone need not necessarily be rough. In fact, it need not really look like our idea of stone at all. You can have it polished to get a high shine finish, or even given a matte finish for the texture to shine through. It may be dark, black, or light colored, or almost anything in between.

Floors made from natural stone are easy to maintain and remain trouble-free. Once it has been sealed to maintain its integrity, cleaning is no problem at all. Using an appropriate sealant helps preventing staining, maintaining its natural color, and will also help to prolong the life of the floor.

If you are looking for sustainable flooring you won’t find anything better than natural stone. It lasts for as many lifetimes as you wish it to. As a proof, look at the oldest stone floor in Britain, one made of limestone that’s around 7,000 years old and still in amazingly good condition. Could anything be more sustainable!

Exploiting natural stone as a flooring material is not a novel idea. Prehistoric buildings are all found with carefully laid stone slabs that have continued to provide stable floors for innumerable number of years. Of course, we have a wider choice these days because of technically developed stone tiles.

You get many textures and colors for stone flooring. It comes with its built-in durability and is found suitable for many different conditions. While considering a flooring material you should bear in mind that the only flooring material that really improves with passing time is stone. It lasts forever. Floors of prehistoric buildings that still look beautiful testify that.

There are not many options of flooring materials that can beat hardwearing characteristics of natural stone. Its continued use gives it a very distinctive finish that can’t be acquired by any technical process. It is easy to clean and maintain. It looks stylish and surpasses the looks of any modern man-made stone developed for flooring.

Primarily there are three types of rocks from which stone can be derived for the purpose of flooring.  These are sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic. The examples of sedimentary rock are Travertine and limestone.  Granite is igneous rock, whereas slate and marble are examples of metamorphic rock.

Technology has facilitated to make replicas of natural stones. Reconstituting stones makes tiles. Since long manufactures have been trying to make tiles that would look like beautiful natural stones. Though their efforts have not failed completely with some of the products being very good, they continue to be replicas and are not real stones.

It’s not difficult to know the difference between the two. Machine made tiles as a result of a recent technological developments are new, whereas real stones, in certain cases might have taken 300 million years for its making. Formation of natural rocks is a slow phenomenon that takes its own time but the resultant material that we derive from rocks is of immense beauty. There is none denying the fact that natural stone flooring can’t be duplicated and thus has no competitor.

The roughness that is naturally associated with natural stones used for flooring can be treated to get an even and smooth finish by polishing it. As a result, you get shining pieces of natural stones for flooring. Well, if you don’t like it to shine, it can be treated to have matt finish, enabling its texture to stand out. It may be dark or black or even light colored, or in fact anything in between.

Floors made from natural stone are almost maintenance-free. Once it has been sealed properly, the cleaning is easy. A good sealant is one that doesn’t cause any change in its color, and prevents its staining, ultimately prolonging its life.

To the delight of its patrons, natural stone flooring lasts for many generations. You should be aware that the oldest stone floor in Britain is made of limestone that is estimated to be 7000 years old and continues to maintain its good looks. We couldn’t ask for a better proof of sustainability of natural stones!