Using Limestone in Your Home

Meghan Carter: When those people want to get in touch with nature, they go to a beach or take a hike but I? I go look at limestone. I am so excited for today because today, we’re looking at limestone. And I really, really like limestone. It is so beautiful. It has so much this raw organic look to it where even after it’s been intricately carved; it still looks like it came straight from the quarry. You don’t see that very often. Plus, unlike other stones, it has a very warm feeling to it that I really like so when I got an email asking me about limestone, let’s just say, there was no way I was going to pass out on the opportunity to check it out myself. Today’s take away, just south of Los Angeles in the City of Torrance California is a fantastic spot to find a large variety of limestone. That’s right. I said a variety. Oh! Look at it in here. It’s so beautiful! You know a lot of people think that limestone all comes in the same color but it does not. Limestone comes in tons of different colors. I mean just look up there. Sure! You have a lot of the beiges but you’ve also got the greens and the blacks. You can even get red and if you look at this floor there’s brown. It’s amazing what colors you can get at limestone, but even more than that a lot of people think that limestone is like this fireplace over here where it’s all just very blunt, the same. But really, you can get a lot of damming in limestone. You can even get fossils or if you look at these limes over here, look at that little fossils that you see in there, isn’t that cool? But you know what, I bet Ronald is looking for me so I better go. Ronald Williams, the owner of Impression has a long history with limestone that goes all the way back to his childhood. After all, he is from France where some of the finest limestone in the world can be found. And for the past 20 years or so, he has introduced that fine French limestone to America along with his good accent and casual attitude. Ronald Williams: Yes. Meghan Carter: What is limestone made up? Ronald Williams: Calcium, calcium carbonate basically shellfish fell down at the bottom of the ocean that compressed and created those interesting patterns. Meghan Carter: So, it’s basically the same thing as marble then? Ronald Williams: It is except marble got heated after. And burned the shells and crystallized them. Limestone has not been crystallized yet. Meghan Carter: Does that make limestone more porous than marble? Ronald Williams: It can be more porous than marble although depending on the compression. It can be extremely dense and also extremely porous. Meghan Carter: So, really there’s a range. Ronald Williams: There’s a wide range of porosity and density with limestone, yes. Meghan Carter: How can you tell if you have porous versus the dense limestone? Ronald Williams: You could almost see it. Meghan Carter: Really? You can see it? Ronald Williams: Yes. You can see it. You can see the openings in the stone and after that you can weigh it. Meghan Carter: Really? So, it’s heavier. Ronald Williams: It can be doubled, yes. Meghan Carter: Really? So, is there a correlation between the color of limestone and its density or— Ronald Williams: No. Meghan Carter: No. Because limestone varies so greatly in density, it can be use in a wide variety of applications. The very dense pieces of limestone are typically saved for intricate carvings. Using a dense piece of limestone limits the possibilities of a weak spot ruining the carvers design. Medium density pieces are used for the more utilitarian applications such as countertops and sinks. And I’m guessing you were not expecting that. Typically, the harder the better, right? Well, not with limestone. Ronald Williams: But it’s important to use the right stone, not too dense and not too soft either. And that’s why it’s important to talk to someone that knows the limestone that can tell you which one to use, which one not to use. Meghan Carter: You don’t want it too dense? Ronald Williams: You don’t want it too dense either, because to bring out the color,