Getting Stoned
The many faces of Bali stone
When it comes to using stone in building your home in Bali there are stacks of options that can bring a true tropical feel into the design of both your interior and exterior. Stone is both durable and hard wearing as well as providing both colour and texture, which will enhance the overall feel of the design. Indonesian stone is much cheaper than imported stone and is readily available. Here are a few of the more popular options available from a quarry near you.
LIMESTONE
Mainly used for foundations and as a wall cladding, limestone is plentiful in Bali and quarried in the Bukit peninsula. It has a strong rough texture and comes in various colours including pure white, mottled and pink.
PALIMANAN
One of the most popular building stones in Bali. It is a hard wearing sandstone from Palimanan in Central Java. Characterized by brown banding its uses include internal and external flooring and wall cladding and provides a very tropical feeling to any building.
BATU SERAI
A honey-coloured stone from East Bali becoming popular for wall cladding. It has a deeper hue than limestone and brings a more earthy and subdued tone to your environment.
BATU YOGYA
Often erroneously referred to as Palimanan, this sandstone is uniformly cream in colour without the banding of the former. Used extensively as cladding and flooring and provides a more cleaner look for the same purpose.
PARAS KEROBOKAN
A conglomerate stone found extensively throughout Bali and mined in riverbeds. A soft stone made up of various sizes of volcanic particles giving the stone a distinctive speckled look.
BATU SUKABUMI
A green stone from West Java, it is used extensively in Bali for lining swimming pools to provide the serene river-like colouring of so many tropical pools. Often goes unseen beneath the water.
SLATE OR BATU TUMPUK
Many different slates are available in Indonesia, where artisans have developed the beautiful stacked effect called batu tumpuk or stacked stone which gives a more primitive and natural look to walls.
BATU CANDI
A stone of volcanic origin from Central Java, where it was used to build the temples of Borobudur and Prambanan. A dark grey stone used for flooring, paving and wall covering and seen here as the infinity edging for a swimming pool.
ANDESITE
A basalt stone available in various shades of grey-green. This hard wearing stone can be polished, cropped or honed and has a wide range of uses including walls and paving.
