Chinese limestone - How good

[higgness]

Has anyone any experience with Chinese limestone?
Does it fade?
What finish would be the best?
Thanks

[henpecked]

Jeez, They can afford to quarry,finish and ship it half way around the world and still be competitive?? :O :O

[higgness]

Yes.
i was wondering how it would hold up in our climate?

[Dave_L]

Badly, most probably............

[danstan]

Its quite a nice product (from Shandong province). It does tend to fade over time, but not as much as black Indian Limestone. Usually available with honed finish and looks very nice sealed. Price range £26-£35 per m2. No problem in UK climate, we have had some on display many years.

[Tony McC]

It's like so much else from China: there's good; there's indifferent; there's bad; and there's utter crap.

Saw some lovely stuff back in the summer, gorgeous texture, rich colour, sharp arrisses, dimensionally accurate, and then I saw some that was allegedly the same stuff being used on a big job where the wastage rate was approaching 15% out of the crates, and another 5-10% during working. The first batch was being sold by someone who has been importing for 12-15 years; the crap stuff came from EBay and was 7 quid/m² cheaper.

Didn't look like quite so much of a bargain as it was being smashed up and chucked in as hardcore backfill.

[London Stone Paving]

Are we talking about the blue limestone from China? If so then its absolutely fine in the UK climate.

There are shit suppliers in every country in the world, including China. The responsobility for shit stone lies with the importer, not the supplier in China. The example mentioned by the gaffer highlights it perfectly. An experienced supplier will do their due diligence before buying anything and the result will be that 9/10 the quality will be absolutely fine. The idiot supplier who sells his stuff on ebay will be shopping around China by email for the cheapest price and will invariably be saddled with a pile of crap.

Its annoying because it gives the whole industry a bad name. You should always buy stone from a supplier who can show you the stone you are buying prior to purchase.

[dig dug dan]

That's sound advice there Steve. Shame customers think they are getting a bargain, when as said, it's a pile of hardcore!

[lutonlagerlout]

^^ i concur
LLL

[GB_Groundworks]

buy cheap buy twice, applies to everything really

[simeonronacrete]

If relevant our experience as a manufacturer in China may help. We routinely and regularly source and buy sands, cements and aggregates including "stones" from China, especially now that we're selling our RonaDeck Resin Bound Surfacing System there and elsewhere in Asia.

Unlike the UK where our experience is good, what is often submitted to us in China as samples rarely matches what is then shipped to us in bulk. Being local and "on the ground" we can sipmply send it back and await another delivery. But if we were shipping it all the ways from China to the Uk - major risk and potentially big headache.

Happy days!

[London Stone Paving]

Sourcing from abroad can be tricky. I have always found Turkey to be the most challenging place to buy from. They will literally try and tell you that black is white.