Stones are important for the construction of buildings and other civil engineering works. Stones used for building should possess certain properties and characteristics that would make them suitable for engineering works. Without much ado, let us dive into the required properties that any building stone should possess.

1. Durability: Stones used for building works should be durable. They should be capable of withstanding adverse weather effects and natural forces like wind, rain, water and heat.

2. Strength: Stones for building should have sufficient strength. They should be able to resist the load coming on them efficiently. Since almost all stones are structurally strong, this is not a very major problem but in the case of large buildings and edifices, stones should be checked for their bearing capacities, and made sure that they are able to resist the structural loads coming on them.

3. Toughness: Stones should be suitably tough to withstand or sustain the forces developed in the stone fabrics. These forces may be due to vibrations and other loads. Stones used for road works should be tough enough to withstand vibrations from vehicles plying the roads. Vibrations may be due to moving loads or vehicular movements on the stone materials.

4. Hardness: Stones used for floors and pavements should be hard enough to resist the impact of abrasive forces by movement of people and materials.

5. Dressing: This is the ease to which required shape could be given to a stone material. Building stones should be easy to dress but not at the cost of durability and strength.

6. Specific Gravity: Heavy stone materials should be employed for the construction of dams, harbours, retaining walls, docks, and other such heavy constructions. Good building stones usually have a specific gravity of 2.4 – 2.8 Kg/m^3.

7. Absorption & Porosity: Building stones should not be porous and have a low propensity for moisture absorption. When stones absorb water, it reacts with the stone chemicals, thereby causing disintegration of stone fabrics. For this reason stones used for building and construction purposes should be devoid of porous tendencies.

8. Appearance: Appearance becomes an important property of stone to be considered if stone is to be used for face works in building. In this case, stones with good appearance and colour should be selected.

9. Cost: Cost is an important factor in selecting building stones. The distance of the quarry from the construction site also contributes to the cost of stones via hauling cost. Proximity of the quarry to the construction site would bring down the cost of transportation, hence a reduction in the cost of stones.

10. Seasoning: Good stones should be well seasoned and should be free from the quarry sap. Laterites should not be used for construction for 6 to 12 months after quarrying, so as to get rid of quarry sap by the action of nature. This is a process known as seasoning.

It is worthy of note that one stone can not contain all the properties required for construction stones, as one property may contradict the other(s). For instance, strength and durability contradict ease of dressing. It is the duty of the engineer to determine the motive behind the utilization of stones, and select stones that are suitable for such purpose(s).