A guide to the design, construction, and maintenance of natural stone facades

Nowadays, the architectural problems found in the different types of natural stone façade cladding appear to originate, fundamentally, from a shortage of the specialist knowledge required to correctly interpret the characterization tests carried out on the material, from errors in the construction design and, above all, from insufficient quality control during installation.

This guide to the design, construction, and maintenance of natural stone façades covers, in an organized and logical way, the three problem areas mentioned above: understanding the stone’s properties through laboratory tests, calculation of the construction design proposed by the planner, and onsite incoming quality control of both the materials and the implementing units.

Information about the practical significance of the CE mark and the regulatory and legal provisions that apply to façade materials and maintenance have also been included.

In the final chapter, the guide addresses the “granite price database”. This application works in the Standard Spanish Format for the Interchange of Construction Databases (FIEBDC) and provides a detailed description and approximate price for all granite construction jobs.

All the above explained in simple terms designed to be easily interpreted by design consultants. Because it is with them in mind that this publication, which forms part of the “Guides to construction solutions” collection, has been produced.

Technical lead: Javier De la Puente Crespo (industrial engineer, University of Vigo and the Serafin Ocaña Foundation) and Dr. Fernando López González-Mesones (mining engineer, Madrid Polytechnic University).

Technical team: Natalia Núñez Duro (architect Granite Technology Centre), Eva Portas Fernández (technical architect Granite Technology Centre) and Luis Caride Tesouro (industrial technical engineer G.O.C., S.A.).