Stone

Before reading: Stones are natural mineral formations, some types of stone are: limestone, marble, granite, etc. Stones are lasting, strong, resistant, moldable.

Paragraph 2: Stone

In the construction of architectural structures, there are often used various types of materials, according to the kind of structure to be built; the appropriate materials are chosen taking into account their properties and the advantages and disadvantages they bring with them.Stone is a natural material used for construction, it has been used since the Stone Age and it has always been favoured over other materials for monumental architecture, although it has generally been replaced as a structural material by cheaper and more efficient manufactured products. Many advantages are derived from the use of stone, like its durability, adaptability to sculpture treatment, can be used in its natural state. But there also are disadvantages such as difficulty to quarry, transport and cut, it's weak when in tension, what limits its use in beams, lintels and floor supports, it's expensive and unstable with load pushing at angles. There are different ways to work with stone, one of them is rubble, which consists in breaking stones and bound them in mortar; another way, the stronger one and the most used for monumental architecture is ashlar mansory, that is cutting perfect rectangular pieces as blocks, like entablatures; this contrasts with bridges because doesn't depend on strong bondings. Bonding is to use materials not completely bonded. Stone has several applications in the field of construction because of its high consistency and that's why it is an important material for erecting a work of architecture.