MASONRY AND FLAGSTONES

Flagstones are irregular natural stone crazy paving with relatively homogeneous thickness that are used as pavement on terraces, walkways, sidewalks, and pool decks. It is a construction technique from ancient Rome (Opus Incertum in Latin, literally “irregular work”), being one of the first uses of phyllites, slates, and quartzites from our own quarries. Mainly used outdoors since it is not a calibrated product and has all-natural faces, ideal for rustic decorations and environments that evoke nature, such as garden and landscaping works. Due to its irregular shape, it is a product that is usually mortared with cement and jointed, also with compacted soil or held in place with turf. Nowadays, it is more commonly called crazy paving or flagstone, being the most economical way to have natural stone for our floors.

Increasingly used as decorative stone for gardens, such as a stepping stone path with larger slabs, to create a pathway in the lawn or between decorative rocks; simple installations in which you can design the stone decoration of your garden yourself.

In cladding, it is used as masonry; that is, using rubble or stones that can be handled by hand to form the wall. A type of placement widely used in the Mediterranean region, known for its luminosity.

Depending on their placement, these masonries can be:

Dry masonry: the rubble is placed without mortar.

Ordinary masonry: the rubble is jointed with lime or cement mortar. The surfaces are rough.

Coursed masonry: they are also jointed with mortar, but the face of the rubble facing outward is left more or less flat. This gives the exterior appearance a fairly pleasant, flat surface.

Ashlar masonry: in ashlar masonry, the visible face is left flat, and the surfaces in contact with the other surrounding rubble are also more or less flat. The result is rubble with more or less square or rectangular apparent shapes.