Although there is no exact industry standard for quality when it comes to natural stone, your stone supplier can suggest some factors to check the quality of the natural stone. Here are some characteristics that can give you a rough idea of the quality of the stone.
1-Color testing of natural stone
The color of natural stone can vary from pristine white to black. The basic colors of natural stone are black, blue, gray, brown, white, etc. Natural stone has delicate, clear, natural, and eye-catching color shades, beautiful and smooth luster. In terms of color characteristics, it is the most difficult to identify when finding out the quality of natural stone compared to other stones, for example, nowadays there are many types of dyed stones with perfect colors similar to natural stones. So to find high-quality natural stone products, you need to find a trusted and reputable natural stone supplier in the market.
Another way is to be able to visually identify through the color on the back of the stone. To make dyed stone slabs, the whole stone slab is soaked in dyeing chemicals. So the back of the dyed stone will no longer have the translucent gray-white color of natural stone. In addition, when looking at the stone edge of the broken stone, if it is a dyed stone, the dye will seep down into a layer and have a darker color than the natural stone color. It is dyed by single-sided dyeing chemical scanning technology.
2-Veins on natural stone
Veining refers to the elongated, curvy, and sometimes zigzagging lines that dance across and cut through natural stone. In geological terms, the veins are layers or sheets of minerals that have crystallized inside of the rock. Natural stone often has a color that looks more like clouds than streaks of color, or it will have a “salt and pepper” appearance.
3-Check for cracks in the natural stone surface
Check the surface of the stone for cracks or large cracks, then turn over the back of the natural stone slab to check the other side. Quality natural stone has no cracks or breaks throughout, but instead has a smooth surface, with color veins running through it. Some natural stone manufacturers apply fiberglass reinforcement or epoxy mesh on the back of lower quality and weaker stones to ensure the product does not break.
If the percentage of cracks and chips appears above 5% of the stone slab, it will lead to easy breakage during installation. Double-check the natural stone products for smoothness on all surfaces: edges, front and back. In addition, note that when installing natural stone, the substrate should not be used too much because it affects the adhesion ability. Use an epoxy-based thin binder instead of a cement-based one.
4-Natural stone products follow International Standard
Like any other building product, natural stone requires some controls to ensure its quality. Viet Home Stone is a leading manufacturer and exporter of natural stone in Vietnam. At our factory, natural stone products are strictly controlled quality at all production stages.
– Dimensions: length and width tolerance +/-0.5mm, thickness tolerance +/-1mm in accordance with other requirements and designs of customers. The size of the stone set must be standard in length and width, absolutely perpendicular, the thickness can be +/-2mm, if grafted on, it is open. Check the size of the minimum probability of 20% for each pallet, only 30-40% of the set.
– Take photos and measure all kinds of goods sent to customers (or sales in charge) before mass production, packing, detecting errors if any.
– Polishing, sanding, honed grinding, antique imitation, … standard, satisfactory, even, especially the edge area is very often missed. The color of the goods is uniform, the standard is dark, light, and bright.
– Goods packed in pallets must be clean and dust-free.
– With Nghe An black stone, there is absolutely no gold rust or iron ore on the container, must carefully check each stone when packing. To dry ice check carefully, if yellow rust is detected, absolutely do not close the goods.
– Grading stone for a polished white stone.
5-Faulty or patched stone
Sometimes natural stone manufacturers add sealant to cracked or broken areas on the tile. If you notice areas of dullness when holding the slab under light at a slight angle, especially when most of the surface has a mirror-like finish, it may be a lower quality marble or has been faulty. High-quality natural stone with no holes or breaks that require additional sealant.