What's So Good About Granite?

No matter where on Earth you are, chances are there'll be granite under your feet. It may be beneath a few tons of soil or a few hundred feet of sea, but it'll be there in some form or another as granitoid, the general descriptive term encompassing the many varieties of granite, is ubiquitous in the Earth's crust. Granite is highly durable and is the second hardest naturally occurring mineral after diamond, yet fortunately it's far more abundant. As such, granite has been used in architecture throughout the ages. The ancient Egyptians worked solid granite into columns, door and window lintels, floor tiles and even the Great Pyramid of Giza was built from huge blocks granite over four and half thousand years ago.

Its colour generally varies from pink to grey and features a medium to coarse grain structure and its name derives from the Latin granum; meaning grain. Granite is aesthetically pleasing and as such, is commonly used as decorative stone for interior use. It's been used in stately homes and public buildings such as the British and Natural History Museums for centuries. These day's it's not uncommon to find granite used in more modest domestic dwellings and it's use ranges from floor and wall tiles to kitchen worktops. It's is becoming increasingly popular as bathroom floor tiles or wall tiles as its pale pinkish hue is particularly suited to what is often one of the smaller rooms in most houses.

Granite floor tiles are also popular in the bathroom as it retains ambient temperature well and is therefore relatively warm under foot. Nobody wants to step out of the bath or shower in the bleak midwinter to be confronted with a freezing cold floor whose temperature refuses to budge far above zero! If you're laying your bathroom floor tiles over an underfloor heating system, then granite floor tiles are as good a choice as slate, porcelain or ceramic floor tiles; all of which distribute and conserve heat well.

As previously mentioned, granite generally varies from pink to grey in colour, however, depending on where about on the planet the granite is formed, its colour can diversify considerably. Almost, but not completely black granite is quarried in Scandinavia, South Africa, Australia and India. Brazil and Spain are the principal sources of 'blue' granite and even gold, copper, yellow and brown granites are available from quarries in the far flung corners of the planet. This makes granite a far more versatile option for wall and floor tiles than most people would think.