2939 Duttons Mill Road Aston, PA  19014  phone (610) 859-8181 fax (610) 859-8558

 All About Stone

Natural stones are considered to be the oldest building material known to man. The use of natural stone materials adds both permanence and elegance to your home. Any natural stone, or combination of natural stones, will enhance your home with an aesthetically pleasing image while providing a façade of high performance with low maintenance.  Whether in a kitchen, bathroom, or other space, the use of natural  increases the value and beauty of your home.

If you have specific questions about what stones are available and what type of natural stone is best suited to your application, please refer to our 'Frequently Asked Questions' web page or contact a Sales Associate at Majesty Marble and Granite, Inc.

Majesty Marble and Granite, Inc. works exclusively with natural stone because we believe that it is the best, most versatile, and most durable surface material available for commercial and residential applications.   We import a variety of stone, from simple to exotic, in order to offer our customers a rich variety of choices, colors, and architectural effects.

Each stone fabrication job completed by Majesty Marble and Granite, Inc.  includes a durable chemical impregnation of the surface material.  We provide customers with information and products to ensure the lasting beauty of natural stone surfaces.

By geological definition, there are hundreds of stone types commonly used as dimensional stone products. The commercial definitions of stones are much broader, allowing stones with similar mineralogy, workability, performance, and behavior to be combined into one classification. Most stones used in dimensional stone applications will fall under one of four commercial definitions: Granite, Marble, Limestone, or Slate.  Each category is appropriate to different applications and requires different levels of care.  More recently, Soapstone and Onyx have emerged as popular natural-stone surface materials

The Granite Group

An excellent choice for kitchen countertops and other heavily used surfaces

Granite, quarried from the mountains of Brazil, Italy, the U.S., India, and dozens of other countries around the world, is one of the most popular natural stones on the market.

Available in a striking array of colors, granite's durability and longevity make it ideal for kitchen countertops and other heavily used surfaces, including table tops.

While some synthetic surfaces scratch easily and melt under hot cookware, granite resists heat. Granite is also one of the most bacteria-resistant kitchen surfaces, and it is not affected by citric acid, coffee, tea, alcohol, or wine. It is also nearly impossible to scratch, and with proper cleaning, will not stain under normal use (Majesty Marble and Granite, Inc also has products and services available to further improve resistance to staining).

A leading consumer magazine recently compared granite with engineered stone, ceramic tile, laminate, butcher block, and other manufactured surfaces. Granite received the highest overall performance rating as a kitchen countertop material.

The granite group is one of the most versatile stone types available.

Granite, and granite-like materials, are capable of taking a wide variety of finishes which allow the designer to custom-tailor the stone to the aesthetic or performance requirements of a specific application.

The Marble Group

Ideal for foyers, bathrooms, floors, and hearths

Marble is found in the mountainous regions of Italy, Brazil, India, Germany, Spain, the U.S., and other countries worldwide. Because of its beauty and elegance, marble is a popular choice for countertops, fireplace facings and hearths, walls, and windowsills.

Marble adds a sophisticated element to your home, and its wonderful appearance, superior engineering characteristics, and ease of maintenance makes it a natural choice for wall coverings, table tops, and bathroom vanity tops, tub decks, and showers.

Another option for marble-loving homeowners is using another natural stone – serpentine – for kitchen counters. Sometimes called the "green" marble, serpentine is not a true marble but offers a marble-like look. And, because it is magnesium-silicate based, it is not sensitive to citric acid and other kitchen spills.

Like granite, the term "marble" has both a geological and commercial definition. Geologically, marble is a "metamorphic rock consisting of fine to coarse-grained recrystallized calcite and/or dolomite." Commercially, the term marble is used to describe any crystallized carbonate rock including true marble and certain limestones (orthomarble) that is capable of taking a polish. Travertine and serpentine, while not true marbles, are usually included in the commercial definition of marble.

The Limestone Group:Travertine, Limestone
Beautiful enhancements for your home, inside and out

Travertine is a type of limestone and one of the most popular natural stones for interior and exterior wall cladding, interior and exterior paving, statuary, and curbing.

Limestone is widely used as a building stone because it is readily available and easy to handle. Popular applications include countertops, flooring, interior and exterior wall cladding, and exterior paving.

Limestone is a sedimentary rock consisting mainly of the mineral calcite (calcium carbonate) with or without dolomite (magnesium carbonate). The color of limestone is altered by the presence of impurities, which broaden the color spectrum of limestone to include white, brown, gray, buff, yellow, red, block, or mixtures of these colors.

Onyx

Semi-precious, delicate, light-emitting

Onyx is a translucent stone through which you can see light and shadow. Light brings out the beautiful colors from within the onyx, creating glowing natural patterns.  Many designers use onyx in applications which allow backlighting, light bathroom vanities and bar tops and bar fronts.  On the surface, the stone appears delicate with a 'milky' texture and strong veining.

Onyx is a chalcedony quartz that is mined in  Brazil , India ,  California and Uruguay . It has a fine texture.  Originally, almost all colors of chalcedony from white to dark brown and black were called onyx.  Today when we think of onyx we often preface the word with black to distinguish it from other varieties of onyx that come in white, reddish brown, geen, peach, brown and banded. A variety of onyx that is reddish brown with white and lighter reddish bands is known as sardonyx. 

Soapstone

A Traditional stone for a country, solid, look

Soapstone is rapidly becoming a very desirable product in today’s home. From kitchens to bathrooms, flooring to fireplaces, soapstone will always add a unique touch to your home.  Soapstone is a metamorphic rock. There are two different materials popularly called Soapstone. The first being Talc , softest mineral on earth mostly used in the manufacturing of cosmetics, refractory materials, sculptures, and everyday items such as toothpaste, baby powder and even chewing gum.

The rock Steatite (also called Soapstone) is the material used for countertops, sinks, masonry heaters, flooring, and many other architectural applications. Steatite was also used to "coat" the famous "Christ the Redeemer" statue in Rio de Janeiro , Brazil . Steatite is composed of several minerals, but the most abundant is Talc. Steatite, because of its additives is harder than Talc, hence suitable for the applications cited above. Soapstone (steatite) in its initial state only comes in shades of gray, unlike Talc, which is available in a variety of colors.

This natural quarried stone is softer than most other naturally occurring minerals. Although soft, Soapstone is a very dense (non-porous) stone ; more so than marble, slate, limestone and even granite. Since Soapstone is impenetrable , it will not stain, no liquid will permeate its surface. Other stones, including granite, have a propensity to soil; this is why Soapstone (Steatite) is widely used in chemistry lab-tops and acid rooms.

The Slate Group  

A natural look typical to fireplace hearths

Slate is a popular flooring material and sandstone and slate are often used for exterior paving stones, oandstone applications include fireplace facings, chimneys, garden walls, patio benches, and poolside. Additional slate applications include kitchen countertops, fireplace facings, tabletops, and roofing.

Slate is a compact, fine grained metamorphic rock, commonly derived from shale. The presence of carbonaceous materials and/or iron compounds are responsible for producing the wide variety of colors available in slates, including gray, black, green, red, purple, yellow, brown, and buff.

Of all the dimension stone types, slate is perhaps the most anisotropic in its behavior and properties with a very pronounced rift. These cleavage planes allow slate to be split into very thin sheets with exceptionally high flexural strength. The combination of easy splitting characteristics and exceptionally high flexural strength allow its use in 3/16" (5 mm) thick roofing materials. It is the only dimension stone type to be used in this application.

Not all slates exhibit permanence of color in exterior exposures, therefore slates are usually classified as being either "fading" or non-fading" varieties.