Granite Slabs at AllGranite.org

• Cairngorm Granite Slabs
• Building Granite Stones of the United Kingdom
• Igneous rocks
• Restoration work
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Marble and Granite

Restoration work

SELECTING STONE FOR CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION WORK. The first requirement when a stone building is considered for conservation or restoration is to determine the nature of the stone. Many historic buildings will have archival records which should be scanned for references to the source. Where that does not produce any answers a geologist should be consulted to determine the nature of the stone. The next stage, the determination of the 'provenance', the source of the stone, may be much more difficult. Again it is best referred to a geologist with specialist knowledge of the geology of stone for building and decoration.

Once the provenance is established (which may not always be possible), a search of the area for still working quarries then follows. Those quarries in Great Britain known to be producing dimensional stone are listed in The Natural Stone Directory (see Recommended Reading). If the stone is still available, can it be obtained within the time-frame for restoration?; and can it be obtained in suitable sizes? It must also be recognised that stone from a present day quarry, whilst geologically the same, may in fact present a slightly different appearance from stone quarried in the past. Nevertheless, to preserve the integrity of the building, the same geological stone is always to be preferred.

However, it is not always possible to find the stone required. In that event a geologically appropriate stone should be sought, and the re-use of original or reclaimed stone should be considered. Although many masons object to 'second-hand' stone, there appears to be no scientific reasons why the material should not be re-used, provided that bedding and other criteria are observed.

The matching of stone from a provenance other than the original is a specialist task. Again, advice should be sought from geologists with experience in this field. It may be necessary at this stage, for thin-sections to be cut for microscopical study, or for X-ray diffraction techniques to be used. Guidance will be given by the specialist.