Concrete or stone – what’s better, which should you choose? Both materials have their pros and cons depending on how and where you plan to use them.
In this article we will take a closer look at both to help you make a more informed decision before you start your next building project.
Concrete and Stone: The Basics
Before we get into the differences and similarities of concrete and stone, we should get an understanding of what exactly each material is.
What Is Concrete?
Concrete is a building material that consists of a mixture of broken stone or gravel, sand, cement, and water. In construction, it is poured as a slab or into forms and molds.
It has been used in construction for millennia. No one truly can know when it was first used to build with, but it’s generally agreed that the Roman Empire was the first to use concrete in the same way we do today.
Concrete can be poured on-site or supplied in prefabricated blocks.
Learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of concrete
What Is Stone?
Stone is a natural building material. It comes in a wide range of differing types, formed by different geological processes.
Limestone forms from sedimentary layers of shells and corals of ancient sea life over millennia in shallow seas. Granite is formed differently. Granite results from slowly cooling magma, deep underground.
Eventually through the movement of the Earth’s crust, granite, sandstone, and other types of stone are found near the surface. In quarries, they can be removed and processed into building material. Stone has been used as a building material since the beginning of human history.
Similarities of Concrete and Stone
Obviously, there are similarities between concrete and stone given that concrete has stone as a major ingredient, but let’s look at a few in detail.
1. Durability
Stone, especially of types formed deep under the Earth’s surface, are extremely durable. There are examples of stone constructions in many parts of the world that appear that they could have been built yesterday when in fact they have stood for well over a thousand years.
The temples of the Mayan civilization of South America and the ancient monument of Stonehenge in England are both good examples of stone’s outstanding durability.
With modern manufacturing methods, concrete can equal or exceed the durability of stone. In some recent studies the use of crushed marble or granite in concrete mix gave the concrete a higher strength and resistance to abrasion than concrete made with traditional stone aggregates.
2. Variety
As we touched on earlier, natural stone comes in many different forms, colors, and textures. It can be polished to a mirror finish like granite or marble or left rough like limestone paving slabs. Because stone is a product of natural processes, not one piece of stone will ever be exactly the same as any other.
When you think about concrete, you probably think of a flat, gray, and rough textured material.
These days concrete can be manufactured in ways that it resembles the natural surface of stone, and with pigments added to the mix, an equally large range of colors and finishes can be achieved.
Stamped concrete can make an ordinary paving slab look like one made of split stone, but with the advantage of being cheaper and readily available, compared with using limestone or other traditional stone paving.
Differences Between Concrete and Stone
Although concrete and stone have some similarities, they do have some differences that should be considered.
1. Environmental Impact
Concrete is a man-made product.
The manufacturing process has a measurable impact on the environment. Large quantities of water are used making concrete that can impact the availability of drinking water in the area it is produced.
As well as CO2 emissions that can contribute to climate change, manufacture of concrete also produces sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and nitric dioxide; chemical compounds that contribute to acid rain. Also, health risks for those in the locality of concrete manufacturing plants are increased due to cement dust.
It can be argued that the production of stone has a lower environmental impact. This is due to the fact that stone is a natural product that requires many less steps and processes than that of concrete.
Minimal resources are used to remove stone from quarries and prepare it for use in construction. It makes sense in areas with large quantities of easily available stone, to use it as a building material in preference to concrete. Less distance to transport the stone results in lower CO2 emissions, the major environmental aspect in stone production.
2. Cost
Concrete is made in huge quantities and its manufacturing process has been gradually made more efficient over time so that it’s a relatively cheap material to build with when compared with natural stone.
The high availability of the ingredients that make up concrete make it easy to manufacture all over the world, so transport costs are lower than stone if you find yourself far away from the nearest stone quarry.
Also, concrete in the form of precast blocks is cheaper and faster to build a wall with than stone. Less specialist skills and tools keep construction costs lower than those used to do the same job with stone.
Stone is a more expensive choice than concrete. Stone is formed over thousands of years and most of it is out easy reach, buried deep in the Earth or underwater. Because of these factors, stone is a limited resource.
Different stone types are not equally distributed across the planet. So if you want a special type of marble only found in Italy and you have to transport it to your building project in California, the costs are much more in comparison to using concrete.
Concrete vs. Stone: Which Should You Use?
Deciding when to use concrete and stone can be made easier when you consider each material may be better used in some applications than others.
1. Pavers
Natural stone pavers look great and they’ll last a long time. If you have access to locally quarried stone, then the cost might be the same or less than concrete pavers. Concrete pavers are more suitable for areas of vehicle traffic, they’ll hold up better to repeated heavy loads than stone pavers otr similar thickness.
2. Fences
Natural stone walls, or fences, although beautiful, take huge quantities of stone and many hours of labor to build. If you live in an area with little available stone or you need to construct a fence quickly, then preformed concrete panels are more suitable.
3. Work Surfaces
Natural stone work surfaces can be found in high-end kitchens, granite and marble being examples of this. Slabs of suitable quality and size are very expensive, so if money is no object then why not?
Concrete is a cheaper alternative, but it doesn’t mean it has to be any less beautiful. It can be polished to a high gloss and when suitably finished it will resist stains and damage as well as any natural stone.
Summary
So really it comes down to economic cost, environmental cost, and aesthetics. Both materials can be used interchangeably in the examples set out here. It’s really up to your personal taste and buying power as well as the environmental impact as to which to choose.