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Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 10:18 am
by Nuala
I would be grateful for any opinions on the best limestone or sandstone paving to go for. I am after a pale, white or cream and need 60 m2.
The ones I've looked at are Marshalls Fairstone & London Stone Moleanos Beige, Jura stone and also like the look of the new Sophia Limestone.
I had a few samples last year which I just left out in a pretty damp dark area of the garden, the moleanos and Jura still look as good as new. The other beige sandstone are now very green.
I was hoping to get something a bit cheaper than £50/£60 m2 but seems you get what you pay for.
Also noticed Mrs stone has Moleanos at around £49m2 inc vat. Seems quite a bit cheaper than London Stone. Has anyone heard of Mrs Stone or know if there slabs are as good quality?
Any advice appreciated as Im losing the will to live. Thanks
Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 12:19 pm
by London Stone Paving
Hello Nuala
London Stone is our company but I am more than happy to give you impartial advice.
Its good that you've left the stone in a damp/dark area because this is a really good way to test out how the stone will perform in your garden.
I have never heard of Mrs stone before. I took a look on their website and the price for Moleanos beige of £49 inc VAT is a very good price. I cant give you any further info on the company because I don't know anything at all about them. I see from your profile that you are based reasonably local to Mrs Stone. The best thing to do to put your mind at rest is to ask if you can go to their warehouse/yard and take a look at the stone for yourself.
There is a slight difference in the finish they are offering. Our Moleanos is flame textured where as the stuff supplied by Mrs stone is bush hammered. This difference in the finish will have no effect whatsoever on the technical performance of the stone but in my personal opinion bush hammering removes a lot of the stones natural charcteristics and can make the stone look a little bland (if you laid a flamed peice of Moleanos alongside a bush hammered piece of Moleanos, they would look like different stones). Where as a stone that's been flamed textured will retain its original character more. This is just my opinion though and you may see it differently. Again the way to find out for yourself is to get a sample of each and see what you prefer.
FYI we have just introduced a new Egyptian limestone product which is very, very similar to our Moleanos beige but only costs £50 + VAT per m2. Its also extremely hard. See picture below:
Cheers
Steve
Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 4:29 pm
by Nuala
Thanks Steve, I took a drive up to Mrs Stone today. I'm glad i did. The lady I spoke to was very helpful & seemed to know her stuff but had a look at the Moleanos in the warehouse & I was shocked at how different they look. They are extremely bland with the hammered finish and nothing like the sample from London Stone so have pretty much ruled that out.
I was told I could use thinner slabs (20mm or less)on a concrete bed rather than the usual MOT way but not sure if thats the way to go. Do you have an opinion on this? I do like the look of the stone in your picture, is it similar in appearance to the Jura & Moleanos you stock as at the moment they are my favourite.
Thanks again.
Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 5:06 pm
by London Stone Paving
Hello Nuala
The advise you have been given regarding laying on a concrete base is not the correct installation method for natural stone. Natural stone (unless exceptional site conditions demand otherwise) should be laid on a mortar bed on a base of MOT type 1
If you send me your email address I will forward you some installation documents for natural stone. The advice given in these guides can be applied to all types of exterior stone paving
As regards to the thickness, I believe that 20mm is a little on the tight side however stone is regularly sold for exterior use in what is now becoming an industry standard thickness of 22mm, so with the correct installation there is in theory, no issues with it. Although its not correct per se to say that 20mm stone is suitable for outside. It would depend on the type of stone as some stone is much harder than others
The Egyptian limestone is not similar to the Jura but it its very close to the Moleanos. One of the reasons we started to import this Egyptian limestone IS because it is very similar to the Moleanos. The Moleanos is one of our most popular products but sometimes we do have supply issues due to the nature of the quarrying in Portugal.