Landscaping Rocks Blog

Thin natural stone is a popular, versatile product. In the last few years its popularity has exploded, particularly as more and more people have turned to natural stone as an interior material, but it has always had a huge number of outdoor applications as well. In the past, designers were concerned that natural stone would always look rustic, but now people are better educated, and know that thin natural stone can be cut to fit smooth, straight lines and the most up to date urban designs.

We carry many different types of thin natural stone, such as limestone, Penn Blue Sandstone, granite, slate and quartzite. Colours, textures and patterns exist to suit virtually every design scheme and surface. If you want natural stone for flooring, fireplaces, showers or exterior patios laid on cement, thin natural stone is your product of choice.

Thin natural stone is available in specific cut patterns for a formal stone designs incorporating tile-style layouts and straight lines, as well as irregular shapes (“crazy work”) for informal or rustic designs.

Because thin natural stone can be cut to fit almost any design, you are free to concentrate less on fitting the stone in, and more on colour. There are too many colours available to list, ranging from red, rust and brown to dramatic blacks, blues and greens. We have always loved the unique colour of Penn Blue Sandstone, and highly recommend it for matching colour schemes. Whatever colour you choose, you can be assured that the stone we provide will be expertly cut, durable and represent the highest quality. Drop by and see for yourself!

Tags: English, Landscaping Rocks, Natural stone, Sand Stone by mike
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When constructing a home people can face a number of difficulties but the problem can be even worse when they begin to landscape the property and they haven’t used a knowledgeable natural stone wholesaler. You must have experienced poor service from time to time. With the advancement in technology, business/customer relationship is waning day by day. Late delivery of construction material, no loyalty to the products, and communication problems are barriers in a hassle free construction of  a home.

These days, people are utilizing natural stones such as marble, granite and limestone for flooring of their homes or workplace like never before. As natural stones possess unique characteristics such as durability, integrity and timelessness, it has become the first preference of home builders as well as homeowners. It seems as the demand of natural stones is increasing, natural stone retailers are overlooking ‘service’ factor.

In this era of cut-throat competition and economic downturn, organizations employ various marketing strategies from traditional media to social media for their brand promotion. Keeping the major focus on promotion and sales, they forget the crucial part of business which is service. Excellent service is the key to the success of any company. To generate sales, is not difficult but to maintain the growth rate requires effort. Customers expect support from the company, failing of which, results in clients changing companies. For sustaining the business, efficient and personalized service is required.

Stone Haven believes that clients are an asset and strives to fulfill clients’ requirements with complete satisfaction. Stone Haven delivers their customers’ products in a stipulated time frame, and often same day delivery is available. Customer service is of great importance to Stone Haven. Their sales team is available to answer questions at any time, and their staff actually take the time to tour the stone yard with their clients for complete understanding of their clients choices. If a landscaper is what you need, then Stone Haven can offer referrals of qualified stone layers too.  Mike Stone, owner of Stone Haven, says, “the trust and support of our customers is due to the excellent quality of our natural stone products, our efficient deliveries and our knowledgeable staff”.

Tags: English, Flagstones, Granite Stone, Natural stone, Sand Stone, limestone by mike
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Everyone dreams of a beautiful home where he can get refuge and true peace of mind. However, owning a house can be a nightmare if poor quality material is used while constructing it. Nobody wants to live in a house where maintenance is frequently required. Construction of a building needs your active participation. This does not mean that you have to hammer every nail in or raise every pillar up but some basic points should be considered while selecting building materials.

People tend to attract towards attractive materials and ignore durability. You can change the color of your walls every now and then but it is very expensive to change your flooring material. Select flooring material keeping quality as prime concern. Natural stones are good choice for flooring because of its superior quality. Natural stones can withstand different seasons and environment.

Natural stones play a major role in making your building attractive. Nowadays, natural stones are available in extensive variety of colors and textures that are suitable for diverse conditions. High quality natural stones from polished with high finish to a matte look are available in many different colours.

In a tug of war between quality and price, many times price wins.  It totally depends upon the client, whether he wants quality or wants to save a dollar. You should be not compromise quality, as the saying goes,  ”penny wish pound foolish”.  If you save money while constructing your house, you might have to pay more for maintenance afterwards.

Companies like Stone Haven endeavor to achieve customer satisfaction by offering premium quality range of natural stones such as marble, granite, slate, sandstone and others at competitive price.

By giving prime importance to quality, Stone Haven strives to give you the best.  Make your house beautiful by selecting natural stones today.

Tags: English, Granite Stone, Landscaping Rocks, Natural stone, Sand Stone, limestone by mike
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Most seasoned tradesmen in the dry stone laying field have at least one person helping them out while learning the ins and outs of working with natural stone. That’s the apprentice: someone participating in an ancient tradition that continues to help train stone layers, masons and other professionals working in natural stone to the highest levels of skill.

A skilled apprentice learns to work with two or three tradesmen at once. He learns the major types and properties of natural stone and its role in landscaping, construction, veneers, interiors – the exact degree of knowledge depends on how much the apprentice’s teacher knows. Beginner’s knowledge in the trade is enough to fulfil requests quickly, including selecting materials, ordering from natural stone retailers and helping with actual stone laying.

Through it all, it’s the apprentice’s duty to keep his eyes open, ears alert and mind inquisitive. He should ask questions about the trade whenever his teachers can spare the time to answer them, get plenty of practice in all aspects of the trade – and be patient. It takes time to learn to professional standards. I’ve seen many young apprentices work for a trades-person for one year or less, start a business of their own, and leave a trail of disappointed clients in their wake. No amount of (over)confidence and talent can replace practice.

It takes years of working with good stone layers to acquire the ability to visit any job site and work through the different tasks that arise. So if a tradesman that tells you he apprenticed under an excellent professional, get the teacher’s name. Learn his reputation and give him a call. If the natural stone worker you’re thinking of hiring is skilled, his or her teacher will be proud to recommend the former apprentice.

Tags: Sand Stone by mike
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Coordinating your renovation’s colour scheme to account for natural stone interiors requires more than just picking a colour and finding the stones with the closest colours. You need to plan carefully so that natural stone interior elements fit with the rest of your vision for a particular room.

Pick the type of stone you want to use before settling on interior colours. Natural stone comes in hundreds of amazing colours and shades, but not all types of stone come in all shades. That’s why you need to start by asking yourself what you’ll be using the stone for, as that will determine the best basic type of stone. Do you want veneers on your walls? Do you want a stone floor? What about stone counters and shelving? Depending on colour and texture your choice of stone could be limestone, Penn Blue sandstone, slate or granite.

To make the right choice you’ll not only need the help of someone who knows natural stone, but a stone retailer who combines that experience with access to a large selection of different types of natural stone. While you might read about a particular type of stone, what if it isn’t the best choice for that particular interior feature? What if the retailer doesn’t have it in stock? At Stone Haven we pride ourselves on access to a diverse array of natural stone varieties, along with the experience to guide you to the best possible choice.

As there are so many options available it’s possible to use natural stone to meet very specific interior design specifications. At the same time, natural stone is an enduring material that may last longer than your plans for a specific room in the house. You may want to choose a textured might to medium grey colour if you plan on changing your interior spaces regularly. Grey is a neutral colour and won’t clash with others.

On the other hand, don’t think you have to pick grey. One of the great things about natural stone is that almost any colour comes off as neutral compared to non-stone interior elements. Natural stone’s appearance and range of textures means that any colour takes new “dressing” (the addition of furniture, shelving and other interior pieces) well.

Once you’ve narrowed down the type of stone you want to use and found the right colour, it’s easy to decorate the rest of your interior. By determining your base colour, your natural stone guides you to the right wall colour, furniture and other elements, but doesn’t lock you into that choice forever. If you’d like some specific examples of how natural stone makes your interiors more attractive, contact us at Stone Haven. We’ll share our experience with successful designs.

Tags: English, Flagstones, Granite Stone, Landscaping Rocks, Sand Stone, Stone Veneer, Uncategorized by mike
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As time is such a valued commodity nowadays, a low maintenance property lets you be creative and enjoy the property without devoting the long hours you need for work and family. That’s why low maintenance landscaping is not only a practical choice for institutions and property management firms but also individuals who want a beautiful landscape, but aren’t sure of their ability to make a time or financial commitment.

Once completed, you can take care of a low maintenance landscape for a fraction of the time required for its high maintenance counterpart. The disadvantage is that a low maintenance property can rarely match the spectacular features of a harder to maintain properties.

Still, you can get a lot out of a little effort by sticking to a design philosophy of elegant simplicity. This gives you low maintenance property gardens, but only at key locations where they’ll have maximum visual impact. Even the most labour intensive property can end up looking gaudy and overdone compared to a low maintenance landscape with correct composition and a solid construction/

Use landscaping stones such as sandstone and granite stone as tough decorative elements. If you choose the right variety from a stone retailer it can serve as its own decoration above and beyond any gardens or the other soft landscaping features it supports.

Stone retaining walls along with other practical or decorative stone walls are great additions to a landscaped property. Retaining walls let you reshape the property to be less prone to serious erosion, and if you choose the right landscaping stone (such as sandstone, limestone or granite) your walls, if properly built, should work perfectly without demanding maintenance for several years.

Lawns that have a rolling appearance also add interest to a property, and can be used to better control drainage than a flat grassy area. The key is to combine practical and visual goals, and try to do a little perfectly, instead of doing too much with too little money and materials.

Tags: English, Granite Stone, Landscaping Rocks, Retaining Walls, Sand Stone by mike
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Penn Blue Sandstone is one of the most versatile forms of landscaping rock due to its color and physical properties. It’s a form of sandstone, so it cleanly cuts into many different shapes, allowing it to fill the same role as concrete pavers, but with considerably more elegance and a distinct natural feel.

Once Penn Blue comes out of the ground it can be bought in a variety of regular and irregular shapes, including what we offer in our landscape showroom. Landscapers most often pick rectangular pavers for roles such as the surface around a swimming pool or an inset path to the front or back doors of a house. Penn Blue is ideal for these roles for two reasons. First of all, people enjoy the blue-grey color that gives the sandstone its name. Secondly, while it cuts quite smooth, as a sandstone it still has the granulated texture that, while practically invisible to the naked eye, is enough to give anyone walking on it traction even in wet weather. (This is a reason why it’s an excellent material for the areas around swimming pools.)

You can also use thick Penn Blue pavers for purely decorative purposes. Stacking a few large pavers to create a vertical element in your landscape like a rock pile or (assuming you have the expertise) a wall makes a dramatic statement that breaks up a flat yard.

When you use Penn Blue, remember that it’s a natural, quarried material. That means there’s no “factory standard.” While we only stock high quality landscaping rocks of this (or any other) type, every paver has a different color, based on how it’s been shaped by natural processes. Don’t try to find perfectly matching Penn Blue pavers, but understand that different shades and tones work together, creating a rustic natural look instead, of the bland but consistent colors of artificial solutions.

In fact, we suggest that you play up the natural qualities of Penn Blue Sandstone in your landscaping designs. See how a rough, rustic look would benefit the space by using tabled rocks and irregular pavers. Tumbled rocks have rough edges. Just as you might guess, irregular pavers don’t interlock closely because each one has a unique outline. Try fitting them together like puzzle pieces over a path with room for sand and earth between the landscaping rocks.

Like we said, come to our landscape showroom to see more, or contact us today with your questions.

Tags: English, Landscaping Rocks, Sand Stone, Uncategorized by mike
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Sandstone has an incredible amount of variety, and you can usually find a type to match your project. Our Penn Blue Sandstone is ideal for temperate climates due to both its colour and material properties.

Penn Blue is a tough, fine grained sandstone that we offer in smooth ( cut and flamed), tumbled, and natural faced varieties. 400 million years of heat and pressure give it a smooth texture and almost luminous true blue as well as our full colour (grey, brown, and rust colours) that make it ideal for building facades, walls, patios, steps and walkways. It’s also popular for interior features such as flooring and fireplaces.

Here at Stone Haven Inc., we have some of the most durable and beautiful sandstone around. People have used Penn Blue to build houses and even bridges, so it should suit your landscaping and interior home needs just fine. Drop by our Pergola showroom to see how you might use it for walls, paths, steps and more.

Until then, take a look!

Tags: Flagstones, Landscaping Rocks, Sand Stone by mike
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My wife Sue and I would like to welcome home owners, landscapers, architects, stone masons and retailers to our store and show room at 570 Knowlton Road, Lac Brome , Qc. Canada. I have, as of this year, been working in the stone and landscape trade for 40 years! With over 3 1/2 acres of natural stone we have one of the largest selections of landscape and building stone in Quebec.  Deliveries are usually within 24 hours or the same day.  The coffee is always on and our expert staff would be pleased to answer your questions and make sure your order(s) go out on time .
Mike Stone / President

Tags: English, Fieldstone, Flagstones, Granite Stone, Landscaping Rocks, Retaining Walls, Sand Stone by mike
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