How to make Sandstone?

Sandstone is the second most common sedimentary rock on the Earth’s surface. This beautiful and natural stone has many qualities such as appealing appearance, strength, durability and many others; these properties have made sandstone a versatile natural stone for many applications. For example, sandstone can be highly durable therefore it has been used as a paving material for various projects in different areas. Due to its beauty, colors, strength and other physical properties, sandstone has been favored and prized as a building material for constructional, architectural and landscaping projects. Even there are many monumental building all over the world to prove that.

About Natural Sandstone

The natural sandstone is a kind of sedimentary rock made out of grains and broken pieces of other natural stones like quartz which are glued together with a cement over time which means that it takes a lot of time to for a natural sandstone block to get shaped.

Reconstituted sandstone

Another feature that sandstone is known for and is mostly prized over in conservational planning, development and goals; is being an eco-friendly material. The sandstone blocks are extracted from quarries, can be recycled easily.

The reconstituted sandstone is a kind of construction material. In the first step for making reconstituted sandstone, the recycled sandstones are crushed into a fine gravel or just a powdery substance. The next step is to combine these grains together with a bonding agent and mold them in different shapes and sizes. For instance, make everything out of them from ornamental stones to slab and tiles for interior design purposes as a result.

Also by knowing the process and a little bit of help and effort you can make your own sandstone block, slab or tile. Most of the time the reconstituted sandstone products can be bought from commercial suppliers; but as we mentioned earlier you can make them yourself for using in building projects. Here in this article we will walk you through its steps. Just keep in mind that the natural sandstone takes a lot of time to be made, so your own handmade sandstone can be less durable and be more fragile.

Supplies that you need to make your own sandstone

• Reconstituted sandstone
• Concrete bonding agent
• Sandstone block mold
• Sledgehammer
• Mixing container or a bucket
• Water
• Trowel

Steps to take for making your own sandstone

Step one:

• Get some reconstituted sandstone

For the first step you need to have some reconstituted sandstone. For purchasing a load of reconstituted sandstone you can go to a local building supplier or company near you. If you want to get better results, look through your local business directories and see whether if you can find the location of a specialized sandstone dealer and get your reconstituted sandstone from it.

Also some sandstone suppliers can get you a deal for crushed sandstones, whole sandstone or just simple and fine sandstone powder such as cement.

Another approach is to contact a local recycler of building materials. They must have ways to get you what you want whether they may have direct access to any recycled sandstone from leftover building materials or they need to get from demolition projects.

As the last resort that can also contain all the above solutions, you need to search the Internet and find valuable resources to help you.

Step 2:

• Make your own reconstituted sandstone out of sandstone chunks

If you didn’t manage to get grains and crushed sandstones, you can just do it yourself. Be careful and do it with proper tools and take safety precautions.

You should crush the large sandstone pieces into small and manageable parts. They need to be manageable because later, you will need to mix these pieces with your cement and then pour the mixture into the mold; so if they are not properly crushed the mixing part of the process can be hard and you won’t get the result you had hoped for.

You should set the sandstone chunks onto a surface like the ground or just a solid or level surface like a wood chopping block. After you placed the sandstone chunks, you should start hitting the sandstone pieces with a sledgehammer and break the large sections into smaller part and pieces. Keep this up and resume to pound the sandstone until you make all the large pieces in to the proper size that you want.

As for the reference in size of your grains, the reconstituted sandstone blocks can be made with both blocks with 1 to 2 inch chunks of sandstone permeating throughout or finely ground sandstone power.

Step 3:

• Mix it all!

In this step you need to mix some water with the concrete bonding agent in a large mixing container that you have set aside from the beginning. If you are using a finely ground sandstone powder in your mixture, you can also combine the sandstone powder with water and create a malleable sandstone paste. Then you can form the malleable sandstone paste into the block molds.

If you want to have a durable sandstone in the end, remember to prepare you cement and the concrete solution exactly according to the package instruction and directions. As the result, if you make a proper cement you can form a solid bond between various sizes of sandstone pieces which adds durability.

When then cement is ready, add it to the sandstone materials and mix them all together. In some cases, if the mixture and solution becomes too thick and difficult to combine, you can add more water but in small increments.

Step 4:

• mold the mixture in to your desirable shapes and sizes.

Sandstone slabs, tiles and blocks have many uses in constructional projects; so they need to be available in various shapes and sizes.

In the last step, based on the application and place that you want to use your own self-made sandstone in; you should pour the sandstone and concrete mixture into sandstone molds that you have prepared before.

Note that you should fill the whole mold to its top edges and then gently shake it to help the mixture settle, remove air bubbles and have a level surface.

Lastly, get a trowel and scrape the top of the mixture and make a smooth and level surface for your tile.

The job is done. All you need to do is to wait and allow the mixture to settle and cure in a warm dry place. When the block has dried up, you can remove it from the mold and get to the installation process.

Notes you should know about:

There are some disadvantages which would make having your own sandstone a hard procces. We have listed some reasons of why not to do this:

• Different qualities

Making sandstone on your own can be a fun project but as a result you may have blocks made in different conditions with various qualities. If you decide to use them all in one place, the different qualities can cause problems for you.

• Not having guaranty

When you make your own sandstone blocks, you won’t get any insurance or help from any supplier which can cause problems or cost you money when time passes.

• Problems of installing

It doesn’t matter whether you use natural sandstone or a manmade one; but you should always remember to use a proper sealant with it. Sandstone has a texture that can absorb water, if you install them in open spaces or near wet area, it won’t last long and in no time your tiles will get damaged easily.

• High price

As we mentioned, sandstone is available all over the world so it can be a budget friendly material and if its presented in higher prices, you must be paying for the quality.

• Repairing costs

This process can end up saving you money in comparison to buying natural tiles form suppliers, but in the long time it can also cost you more maintenance and repair costs.

• Less durability

When the you make your own sandstone block, due to some complications that are only noticeable by a professional, your sandstone won’t be durable as you wanted it to be.

• Less beauty

You can try to recreate the unique colors that natural sandstone has, but it will never be like the beautiful natural stone which has been made through natural process in nature.

• Less value

For the last note, when you buy and use natural stones in your projects; they will add value to your property but the handmade materials do not have such a value.

In the end whether you use natural stones or manmade material for your projects, is all up to you. We just wanted to give you some insights about the matter.

Unikastone is a well-known supplier of natural stones located in New South Wales of Australia. We can provide you great collection of natural stones. For instance, most of our sandstone products are directly imported from India which has the best quality sandstone quarries in all over the world. You can purchase all of our products online. If you have doubts and have questions, contact us. our consultors will do their best to help you in any way they can.

• Hard to cut

Cutting sandstone has its own process to be done and it needs special tools and and also techniques. It would be so hard and such a problem to cut a handmade sandstone by your own.

What are the disadvantages of having handmade sandstone?

1. Different qualities
2. Not having guaranty
3. Problems of installing
4. High price
5. Repairing costs
6. Less durability
7. Less beauty
8. Less value

What are Steps to take for making your own sandstone?

• Get some reconstituted sandstone
• Make your own reconstituted sandstone out of sandstone chunks
• Mix it all!
• mold the mixture in to your desirable shapes and sizes.