Masonry Magazine November 2010 Page. 18
INDIANA LIMESTONE
Once Limestone block is sawn, compressed air bags inflate to force the 12-ten block onto its side in preparation for extraction from this Indiana Limestone Co. quarry.
Photo ©2010 Indiana Limestone Company/Myers Croton Group
These deposits are part of the geological formation known as Salem limestone, an outcropping that trends in a belt with a width ranging from one to nearly 10 miles wide, and winding through three counties in south central Indiana. Indiana limestone is quarried from this belt.
While early pioneer settlers used some Indiana limestone for foundations, door sills and memorial markers, the earliest quarry on record opened in 1827. Railroads came through the area in mid-19th century, expanding the market and increasing demand. After extensive fires in Chicago and Boston, Indiana limestone showed its durability, which again increased demand. By 1929, at the height of architecture utilizing American natural stone, Indiana limestone accounted for 12 million cubic feet of dimension stone used.
How it stacks up
INDIANA LIMESTONE is a freestone, and it is a grainstone of uniform texture and grade that has gained recognition throughout the world as a premier dimension stone. Indiana limestone exhibits no preferential direction of splitting. Therefore, it can be cut or carved in almost limitless ways and in a variety of shapes and sizes. This property allows the stone to be sawn, planed, turned on a lathe, hand cut, or hand carved, so that it meets the requirements from the most basic of jobs or the most demanding of architectural designs.
Indiana limestone is classified by the Indiana Limestone Institute into two colors and four grades. Colors are buff and gray, though color options are available in more subtle variations to match most every project need.
Safety Performance Awards
Eden Stone Co., Valders Stone & Marble Receive Seven Safety Awards
Eden Stone Co. and Valders Stone & Marble Inc., a division of Eden Stone, received seven safety performance awards, presented by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) in Washington, D.C., and the Joseph A. Holmes Safety Association. These awards honor the employees and the company for exceptional safety performance at several quarry locations.
The "Sentinel of Safety" annual award program recognizes achievement of outstanding safety records in an effort to stimulate greater interest in safety and encourage development of more effective accident-prevention programs among the nation's mineral extraction industries. This awards program is co-sponsored by the MSHA and the National Mining Association (NMA). Eden Stone and Valders Stone & Marble received five of these awards.
The Joseph A. Holmes Safety awards are Federal and National awards that honor the efforts and safety performance of employees, supervisors and safety committees. Eden Stone and Valders Stone & Marble received two of these awards.
Award-winning renovation
A project featured through Valders Stone is the renovation of the O.C. Tanner Co. in Salt Lake City. The renovation was designed by local firm MJSA Architects. Originally built and donated to the city as a book depository in 1906, the building served as a planetarium prior to being acquired by its current owner. More than 600,000 pounds of Valders Buff Limestone were used to complete the renovation. Valders Buff Pavers with a thermal finish were used, and omate cut stone elements were fabricated to match the existing building facade. A three-story glass curtain wall is framed by 18 laser-engraved stone panels that feature scenes depicting the history of the building, completed by Turned to Stone. Tapered copings, radial panels, profiled accents, interior flooring, stair systems, and other showpieces from VSM complete the store's intricate detail.
The O.C. Tanner building has won numerous awards, including
* 2010 Heritage Award Stabilization, Renovation, Restoration Project - Utah Heritage Foundation
* 2010 Tucker Design Award - Building Stone Institute
* 2010 Pinnacle Award of Excellence - Marble Institute of America
* 2009 Building Project of the Year $0-25 Million - Association of General Contractors Utah
* 2009 Historical Restoration over $5 Million Honorable Mention - ABC Utah
* 2009 Champion of ABC Award - Associated Builders and Contractors Utah
* America's Coolest Store 2010 - Instore Magazine.
For more information on this and other projects, visit www.valdersstone.com.
For instance, Indiana Limestone Co., through its different quarries, also offers Full Color Blend, a natural compilation of the full range of buff to light gray shades with subtle veining; Silver Buff, a buff color with subtle silver colored veining in the foreground; and Variegated, an unselected mixture of buff and gray tones with a wide range of grain structure and veining (it's also a grade).
Grade classifications for Indiana limestone are based on the degree of fineness of the grain particles and other natural