Split-facednaturalstone panels.
Slate, quartzite, travertine and marble, split along the natural bed rather than sawn flat, so the face carries real depth and texture.
- Stones
- Slate, quartzite, travertine, marble
- Face
- Split-faced, 3D relief
- Sold
- Full boxes only
- Use
- Feature walls, inside and out
- Sealing
- Impregnating sealer
- Fixing
- Mechanical above head height
Natural stone is quarried, so no two pieces are identical. Porcelain can reproduce the look of stone convincingly, and for a floor it is often the more practical buy. Where stone is worth the difference is on a feature wall, where the real material shows.
Split-faced is the important word here. Rather than being sawn and polished into a flat tile, the stone is broken along its natural bed, so the face you see is a fracture rather than a cut. That is where the depth comes from: every strip sits at a slightly different height, the edges are irregular, and the surface throws real shadows instead of printed ones.
The consequence is that this material behaves like relief rather than like colour. Two walls of the same stone will look quite different depending on whether the light rakes across them or hits them square on, which is worth understanding before you choose from a photograph.
Every stone wecarry, side by side.
The whole range is laid up as finished wall rather than shown as loose pieces, which is the only fair way to look at it. A single panel tells you the colour; a run of them tells you what the pattern does once it repeats.
What the lightdoes to it.
Seen square on, a split-faced wall is a pattern. Seen from an angle, under raking light, it becomes a relief with real depth. This is the same wall as above, looked along instead of at, and it is closer to how the material behaves in a room.
Slate
The darkest and the flattest-splitting of the four. Cleaves into clean, thin layers, so the face is sharp-edged and the shadow lines are crisp. Charcoal and near-black through to green and rust multicolour.
Quartzite
The hardest, and the one that glitters. Quartz content catches light directly rather than just casting shadow, so a quartzite wall changes far more between a lamp and daylight than the others do.
Travertine
Warm, open and full of natural pitting. Softest of the four and the most porous, which is what gives it that chalky, sun-bleached quality. Creams, beiges and pale golds.
Marble
The one people are surprised to see split rather than polished. Broken across the bed instead of sawn, it loses the mirror and keeps the veining, which reads as depth rather than gloss.
All four are quarried, so the names describe a rock rather than a colour. Two boxes of the same stone will not match exactly, which is normal for natural material.
Things worth knowing.
Check it under the lighting it will have
Split-faced stone reads by shadow rather than by colour, so it looks noticeably different under a downlight, under a wall washer and in flat daylight. Bring a piece to the space if you can, or tell us which way the wall faces and what is lighting it.
Tone and thickness vary between boxes
This is quarried stone, so pieces vary. Open several boxes and mix from all of them as the wall goes up rather than working through one box at a time, otherwise the batches can show as bands across the finished wall.
Weight and fixing
A split-faced panel weighs considerably more per square metre than a printed tile. Above head height, and on exterior elevations, it needs mechanical fixing rather than adhesive alone. Confirm the weight with your contractor before the wall is built.
Sealing, and where not to use it
Travertine and marble are porous and acid-sensitive; all four take a sealer. A textured face also holds dirt and is awkward to clean, which is why this belongs on feature walls rather than behind a hob or inside a shower enclosure. In a wet area, ask first.
Full boxes, and order the overage
It is sold in full boxes and the coverage per box varies by stone, so the count has to be worked out at the counter rather than guessed. Add for cuts and corners, and buy the overage with the job. Matching a quarried batch months later is not realistic.
Typical figures for the range we hold. Coverage and piece count are per range, so bring your wall dimensions and we will work the boxes out at the counter.
- Face
- Split-faced, natural cleft
- Stones
- Slate, quartzite, travertine, marble
- Panel format
- Ledger panel, varies by range
- Supply
- Full boxes only
- Substrate
- Sound, flat, load-rated
- Adhesive
- C2TE S1, non-slip
- Mechanical fixing
- Above 3 m and all exteriors
- Sealer
- Impregnating, re-apply on exposure
Come and see it lit.
Bring the wall dimensions, a photograph of the space and, if you can, some idea of what is lighting it. We will pull loose pieces so you can hold them at an angle and see how the face catches the light.
LP #61 Limehead Road
Chase Village, Chaguanas
- Monday - Friday
- 8am - 4:30pm
- Saturday
- 8am - 2pm
- Sunday
- Closed