Affinity manufactures a wide variety of stones. Limestone, Travertine, Granite, Marble, Quartzite, Soapstone and man made quartz slabs. With the exception of the man made product all of these materials are found in nature and cut from the earth in blocks and then sliced into slabs by either a diamond studded wire or a gang saw. Finally they are polished (some are resin filled) and shipped to distributors. The materials we fabricate come from all over the world.  Stone quarries can be found on every Continent and in every type of environment from arid dessert climates to rainforests. Some of the quarries have been around for thousands of years. As an example the White Carrara mine that produces slabs for our customers today is the same quarry that   produced the marble for Michangelo’s David.

To begin to understand how stone can best be utilized in certain applications it helps to know the origins of the stones. How a particular stone is created or formed will dictate the hardness of stone and the look and behavior of the stone in the home.  Below is a list of the types on stones, how they were formed and how they are identified in the retail marketplace.

Igneous:

These rocks are formed when molten Magma cools and hardens. These pockets of Magma can cool beneath the Earth’s surface or above ground. When Magma appears above the earth, it is called lava. Lava turns into igneous rock as it cools.

Common Names: Granite, Basalt, Obsidian & Peridotite

Sedimentary:

These rocks are formed from the erosion of larger rocks and minerals. These eroded minerals and rocks are many times carried by wind and water and deposited in layers where over time they are cemented together to form new rocks.

Common Names: Limestone, Travertine, Sandstone, Clay and Chalk

Metamorphic:

These rocks originate as Igneous or sedimentary and through the application of heat and pressure are transformed into new rocks or minerals.

Common Names: Marble, Slate, Granite

It is apparent that how rocks are formed does not limit them to certain retail names. For example granite can be either Metamorphic or Igneous. The Metamorphic granite is formed by heat and pressure so the granite with a lot of movement is usually metamorphic where as the tighter patterns are Igneous. Both Igneous and Metamorphic rock that are listed or described as granite are considered hard which means less porous. Sedimentary rock and metamorphic rock classified as marble is softer or more porous.  Limestone and travertine is even softer than marble and is subsequently very porous.

Because a stone’s porosity is directly linked to it ability to repel liquids the hardness of a stone becomes important when deciding how to use it in the home. A scale was developed to measure hardness called Moh’s Hardness Scale.

Stone masons long ago discovered that a polished stone would repel liquid longer than a honed or unpolished stone. Up until a few years ago this was the only way to increase the surface tension of a stone thus lessening the porosity the stones surface. Today we use sealers that are a calcium carbonate which actually changes the structure and surface tension of the stone regardless if the surface is polished or not. This caused a an emergence of different slab surfaces such as honed, brushed, antiqued and flamed to appear in the marketplace. The new sealer has also opened the door for softer stones to be used in areas like kitchens that experience a wide variety of liquid spills.