Limestone Learning Center

Block of limestone that can be turned into many decorative things in your home

Limestone and Natural Things You Use

Limestone is Part of Your Everyday

If you think that limestone isn’t part of your life, think again! There are so many, many used for limestone, you’d be surprised by where you’ve probably seen it. If you’re not using limestone, then there is probably a long list of natural materials that you’re using without being aware of any of them. Natural materials come from nature, but they are also materials that have a variety of uses from building elements to clothing to decoration.

Limestone

Limestone is a strong, durable rock that results from the calcified animal remains in water being pressed for thousands of years. When limestone forms, it can take the form of stalagmites, the jagged rocks on the ceilings of caves, or it can form the smooth, dry pebbles you’ve seen on the beach. Limestone has been used for thousands of years to building homes and public-use buildings. Marble is actually a type of limestone. When limestone is pressed and exposed to extreme heat, marble forms. Buildings made with limestone usually have very long lives, and an element of weather resistance.

Bamboo

Unlike limestone, which is found and mined all of the world, bamboo originated in the world’s tropical climates, and is a fast-growing, renewable resource that serves more purposes than most people realize. Bamboo tends to be grown in forests, and is chopped down, stalks tied together, and shipped all over the world. Bamboo stalks make an appearance in Japanese cuisine for their fibrous content. They are commonly found in ramen bowls in Japan, potato dishes in Nepal, and rice dishes in China. Bamboo is eaten, certainly, but also used as a renewable type of flooring for homes. Bamboo mimics the look and feel of hardwood floors.

Trees

Wood is a resource that we’ve used almost as long as we’ve used limestone. Wood, of course, comes from trees, and we use it to build homes as often as we use it to build fires. Trees themselves hold our swings, our tree houses, our fruit, and some of our nuts. Between the food, shade, and stability they provide, trees do quite a bit for us. And then, there’s the paper. Even in the digital age, we still rely on paper to help us communicate, and get things done. Printed copies are official copies of various things, and we’re in trouble without them.

Stone

Another beautiful and durable material, we use stone for so many purposes, there is no way to list them all! Flint stones can start fires, which keep us warm, and cook food. For all of human history until about the last 150 years, they were the only way that we had to start a fire. Stones paved the streets of the present-day United States, and much of Western Europe.  Indigenous people all over the world used stone for buildings, and to contain the fires that they started with the flints. Stone today is used to create texture, and you’ll find it lining fireplaces in contemporary homes, as part of driveways and gardens, and in fountains. People will also use stone to make borders between buildings, and eclectic jewelry.