Stone Finishes

Natural Cleft

Unique to slate, it has a slightly uneven surface that is still usable for flooring. This finish cannot be created, but occurs naturally as the layers of slate are quarried. One side (back side) can be gauged to facilitate ease of “thin set” installation. Some marbles, sandstones and limestone’s are available with heavy clefting, suitable for wall installations only.

Polished

Grinding, sanding, and buffing produce a high gloss, mirror – like surface.

Honed

Grinding and sanding produces a smooth, yet not glossy finish. This is the best for low maintenance, high traffic situations.

Flamed

A flamed surface is achieved by subjecting the stone to the high temperature flame of a torch and burning most of the carbon content, leaving textured quartzites with gentle coloration.

Sandblasted

This is a rough, but tidy look created by applying a high pressure blast of sand to the stone’s surface.

River Wash

This finish is often given to granites, and provides a non-slippery surface while retaining the coloration and grain structure of the stone.

Leather

Available only in Melange marble, this finish gives the stone a suede look and feel. This texture is smooth and slip-resistant.

Tumbled

Tumbled finish applies only to marble tiles and not marble countertops. The marble tiles are literally tumbled to give the tiles a distressed or weathered look, the edges of the tumbled tiles have much softer edges than non tumbled.

Cross Cut

The cross cut method involves end-cutting blocks of travertine to display a less linear, more rounded “wavy” pattern.

Vein Cut

Opposite of cross-cutting, the veining of the stone is shown as a linear pattern.

Veneer Stone

Any stone used as a decorative facing material as wall cladding which is not meant to be load bearing. Veneer may be made from different finishes, such as split face, cleft, honed, polished, flamed or tumbled.

Gauged vs. Ungauged

Slate is cleft out of blocks of form tiles. When it is cleft by machine or with a saw, it is gauged because a uniform thickness is formed. Un-gauged stone is hand cleft and its thickness may vary up to 5/8 of an inch.