GREY SANDSTONE FROM MĘCINA 1

Męcina Królewska is grey sandstone from Męcina, a village located 10 km east from Limanowa. It is one of the hardest Polish sandstones which meets the strict norms for railway stones: high compressive strength, low abrasion, low absorption, and frost resistance.

The stone from the Męcina deposits was used in local construction industry already in the inter-war period. Nevertheless, there are no clear information on the beginning of the quarrying. You can find grey sandstone as material for construction of foundations, masonry construction, and for water management constructions from different time periods near the quarry. Since the seventies of the last century, it has been used mainly for road stone, with a little number of slabs and stones for masonry construction. The primitive equipment of the quarrying facility was limiting at the time. The amount of quarried stone has increased since 2009 when the company Wolimex from Limanowa was given a licence for quarrying operations. Since 2014 stone slabs have also been quarried for the production of various stone products and semi-finished products.

Męcina Królewska is thick, fine-grained, sandstone of neutral grey colour, sometimes of light blue shade. The colour is very homogeneous, it is also very repeatable – stone elements made and installed in different time periods therefore will not be very different from each other.

The current fashion of grey colour and matte textures therefore prioritizes the popularity of this material which provides smooth and matte surface and is also shiny at the same time.

You can also find a small amount, around 10-15%, of coffee milk coloured sandstone in the deposits of the quarry. Some blocks also have red-blue lining, which is called skin. They are used for production of three-dimensional cladding of buildings. The natural unevenness of its surface can vary from several to more than twenty centimetres. Męcina Królewska is one of the hardest Polish sandstones. Technologies and tools that are used for granite are also used for its processing.

Thanks to its physical-chemical parameters. it is possible to do various types of surface treatment on this stone: it can be flamed, polished, sandblasted, brushed, grinded, bush-hammered, and any other combination of treatments. The strength of Męcina enables fastening of façade pannels from 3 cm of thickness. Although the standard for sandstone is 4 cm.

Thanks to low water absorption and high frost durability, this material is suitable for outdoor application without any other treatment. It does not require impregnation. Plinths, paving stones, kerbs, paving slabs, stone walls, stone toppers of solid staircases, and staircase cladding, are made of this material.

In interiors, especially in its polished form, it is used for boards, windowsills, stairs, wall elements and floors. It can withstand high temperatures, it does not need any protection when it is used in fireplaces. Thanks to its fashionable colour, it is often used in public buildings for entrances, receptions, and bathroom facilities.

It can be well combined with stones of other colours and create effective compositions. It is an interesting alternative to granite thanks to the possibilities for use, ways of treatment, similar parameters but soft grain and uniform colour.

There is a block stockpile of the material, which is not limited to little stones as is the case in many other sandstones. The only limit for quarrying of the stone blocks are the possibilities of the machine tools. Even the limits on part of the quarrying and transport are in this case secondary because the deposit is easily accessible with good access for vehicles. The biggest from the elements, that have been made so far, is a solid stone staircase which is 3 metres wide. The size of the slabs is 320 x 140 cm. The quarrying is done without the use of explosives. Thanks to that, the material does not have any inner micro-cracks.

It is worth mentioning that for big investments, the repeatability of the material, without any restrictions on availability and short shipping times, especially in emergency situations.

Source: Kurier kamieniarski

Author: Kurier Kamieniarski | Published: 22.09.2022