Stunning and hard wearing stone is the perfect flooring for any home.

A stone floor in a property is a feature that instantly gets noticed and remarked on. Visitors to a new building will often look at their feet and comment on what it is made of – asking if it is a real stone floor or a fake one. In truth, you cannot mistake real stone. It has qualities that are hard to reproduce on a production line. Look carefully at a polished granite floor and you will see the quartz in it. Some flooring materials, such as limestone, even have fossils showing through. Yorkshire Flag Stone: these floors come as large slabs of rock cut from a quarry. When laid in a building, they give an impression of age and heritage. We associate this kind of surface with the floors found in pubs and farmhouses. It is often uneven and can be a trip hazard if not laid properly. Experts will be able to fit a flag stone floor in a modern building more precisely than they ever did in many of the grade one and two listed buildings up and down the length of Britain. Flag stone floors are very unforgiving and kitchenware rarely bounces on it! Likewise, if you trip and fall on a flag stone floor – you are likely to come away with less than a bruise. Limestone floors have been used in buildings throughout much of Britain’s history. They were chosen because of how easy it is to quarry the material. It also has a lighter look to it than granite and so leaves the rooms it is used in feeling brighter. You can find it used in many castles, especially on staircases. One of its main problems is related to its softness. A limestone floor will wear out faster. One of the easiest ways to fit a limestone floor is to use limestone tiles. It comes in a range of colours from grey green, through deep blue greys and onto golden greys. Granite floors are often found in old buildings because granite is an exceedingly durable material. We usually think of it as a dark rock found in old Cornish cottages. However, there are various lighter shades of granite available from other parts of the world. One of the types of floor surface favoured by outdoor landscapers is the white Chinese granite. This can be bought in tiles or sets. We are most likely to see it used in street architecture, but it can be used internally too. Slate is another favourite for internal floors. It is easy to cut and is popular in restaurants and kitchens. Some of the best slate flooring comes as tiles from Cumbria, North Wales and Delabole in Cornwall. A slate surface can be polished down to a very smooth surface. Beware that some kinds of slate are softer than others and are more likely to scratch. Marble is a high quality stone that gives the impression of high class because of its association with the classical world. Marble was frequently used in Roman and Greek buildings as a flooring material, as well as for making the columns for temples. There is a range of colours available. The most common is white marble, however cream coloured marble gives a unique country house feel. It is also possible to find darker grey marbles – and even black. This is just a quick overview of some of the main types of stone used in modern and heritage flooring. It can be the perfect finish to any character home or prestigious entrance lobby. Sourcing the right kind of stone for your building’s needs can be helped my using specialist knowledge. Expertise is also required in fitting it as a poorly installed stone floor can be dangerous if left uneven.

Ceramica and Stone offer high quality stone floors which will last you a lifetime, all visitors to your home will admire such lovely stone flooring. You will always receive an excellent service from Ceramica and Stone from the staff in their showroom and their installation team.