Syrian Stone for Wall Cladding and Facades: A Buyer's Guide

Syrian Stone for Wall Cladding and Facades: A Buyer's Guide

Buyers who look for Syrian stone for wall cladding usually start with an elevation drawing and a feeling: bright and even, warm and soft, textured, or dark. This guide matches those feelings to the stones we quarry and process in Syria, explains how the finish and the format change the result on a wall, and lists what to specify so that offers can be compared on the same basis.

What cladding is

Cladding is the application of one material over another to provide a skin or layer; in construction it provides a degree of thermal insulation and weather resistance, and improves the appearance of buildings.¹ Stone cladding is that skin in natural stone: panels cut from slabs, or blocks laid as masonry, on the outside of a building or on interior walls. Limestone has long been cut for facing stone, floor tiles, stair treads and window sills,² and thin slabs of basalt are cut and sometimes polished for building veneer.³

In Syria, pale limestone and black basalt have dressed whole streets for centuries. Our article Damascus, Written in Limestone and Basalt walks through that tradition.

Choosing the stone by the character of the building

All nine of our stones are listed for wall cladding and facades. Grouped by the effect they give on a wall:

• Bright and even: Extra White Limestone, a clean white tone with minimal natural movement, naturally limited in availability; and Selected Milky White Limestone, light ivory-white with restrained movement.
• Warm and soft: Ivory Silk Limestone, warm ivory and finely layered; and Crema Limestone, warm cream with subtle fossil character.
• More movement: Venato Milky White Limestone, a milky white base with warm beige undertones and mottled markings.
• Visible fossils: Bianco Shell Stone and Damascus Shell Stone, fossil limestones with embedded shell formations that read up close and soften at a distance. Our fossil limestone guide explains them.
• Texture and light: Silver Travertine, silver-grey with linear movement; unfilled, its open cavities are expressive on walls and facades, where light catches their edges.
• Contrast: Volcanic Black Basalt, charcoal to black, for plinths, bands and window surrounds, or for a whole dark facade.

Pale limestone and black basalt also work together on one elevation, a combination with a long history in Syrian building. Our Syrian limestone guide compares the limestones, and The Many Whites of Syrian Limestone sets the four palest side by side.

How the finish changes a wall

On a wall, the finish decides how the stone takes light through the day:

• Raw: left as cut, a natural, slightly rough surface; the strongest texture, with shadows at low sun.
• Antique: a softly worn, textured surface with an aged look, typically produced by brushing or tumbling; at home on traditional and restoration work.
• Honed: ground flat to a smooth matte or satin surface without gloss; a calm plane that shows the colour evenly.
• Polished: ground and buffed to a reflective gloss that deepens the colour; used where a reflective surface is wanted, often in entrance halls and interiors.
• Flamed (basalt): roughened with intense heat for a textured surface.

Each stone page lists the finishes available for that stone. Ask for samples in the finish you will use, and look at them outside, in daylight, at the distance the wall will be seen from.

Format and fixing

Cladding is usually supplied as cut-to-size panels, cut from slabs to the sizes on your elevation drawings, or as blocks for solid masonry. The fixing method, whether mechanical fixings on a ventilated facade, adhesive on interior walls or traditional masonry, is chosen by your architect or facade engineer. It sets the thickness, the edge details and any preparation the pieces need, so send the fixing details with the enquiry and we cut the pieces for them.

Special pieces make a facade look finished: corners, window sills and surrounds, copings for parapets, and plinth pieces at ground level. List them with their quantities, because they are cut one by one.

What to specify

1. The stone and its rock type, for example Ivory Silk Limestone, limestone.
2. The colour range you accept, seen on range samples rather than a single panel.
3. The finish, on each elevation if they differ.
4. The format: panel sizes, thickness, tolerances and the special pieces, with quantities.
5. The fixing system and who designs it.
6. Where the stone goes: outside or inside, which elevations, and the climate.
7. The quantity and the destination port.

Dimension stone is judged on colour, grain texture and pattern, surface finish, and durability and strength for the intended use,⁴ so agree a reference sample or photographs of the production, and the acceptable range of natural variation, before production starts. Our specification checklist covers the full list.

How to order

• Orders start at one 20 ft container, usually about 300 to 350 m² of stone depending on the thickness and format; a 20 ft container carries about 16 to 25 tonnes. A large facade often ships in several containers; ask for production of one stone to be planned together, so the colour stays within the agreed range. Ordering by the container explains the arithmetic.
• Production typically takes about 14 days, sometimes up to around 20, before the goods are ready to ship.
• We quote FOB Latakia, CIF to your port or EXW, depending on the order and route. On FOB Latakia, our delivery is complete when the goods are on board the vessel at the port of Latakia, and sea freight and insurance from there are arranged by the buyer.
• Before loading, we send photos and video of the actual stone in your order, and you are welcome to inspect it in person. Every crate is numbered and documented, and the shipment travels with a packing list and a certificate of origin.

The factors behind a quote are set out in What Drives the Price of Syrian Limestone; cut-to-size work and special pieces add to them.

Producer or trader

Cladding stone from Syria reaches buyers from producers that quarry and process it, and from companies that buy it and sell it on. Both can serve a project. For a facade, where the colour range has to hold across hundreds of panels, it helps to know who operates the quarry, where the stone is processed and which port it ships from. Our guide Producer or Trader? lists the questions.

Questions buyers ask

Which Syrian stones can be used for facades?

All nine of our stones are listed for wall cladding and facades: five limestones, two shell stones, Silver Travertine and Volcanic Black Basalt.

Can I combine limestone and basalt on one facade?

Yes. Pale limestone with black basalt bands, plinths or window surrounds is a long-standing combination in Syria, and both can be supplied in one order.

Can I see the stone before it is shipped?

Yes. We send photos and video of the actual stone in your order before loading, and you can inspect it in person.

Short answers on quotes, inspection before loading, delivery, payment and export documents are in our buyer questions.