Making Riven Yorkstone Paving: A Traditional Yorkshire Skill

Traditional stonemason skills are alive and well in West Yorkshire. Stone cutters known as 'delvers' continue to create the yorkstone flags which have been used for over a century to pave most of the major towns and cities in the UK. Yorkstone is a natural sandstone quarried in Yorkshire which makes stone paving of very high quality.

Making traditional riven yorkstone paving

Riven paving has a naturally rough surface because it is hand split, or 'riven', from large flagstone paving blocks. The blocks are formed in sedimentary layers called strata or beds which allows the stone to be split with hand tools. Flagstone blocks are hand-riven by a delver into riven yorkstone flags for paving using only a traditional hammer and chisel.

Sizes of yorkstone flags

Yorkstone paving stones are usually made in random sizes due to the natural shape of the flagstone blocks. However the flagstones can also be cut or 'gauged' in specific widths and lengths to create custom paving patterns. Standard yorkstone flags are usually 40mm - 60mm in thickness but can easily be cut to any thickness required.

How yorkstone paving is graded

Yorkstone riven paving is usually graded: the top grade and the most expensive is a hard stone in a sandy yellow colour with dressed or fettled edges and gauged widths and lengths; the lowest and cheapest grade is the softer brown 'self-faced' paving with sawn edges and random widths and lengths. The term self-faced comes from the way the paving is easily peeled from very loose natural beds. The loose beds are much easier to rive apart than the harder layered beds of the fettled flags.

Laminated paving should be avoided when looking for yorkstone paving flagstones. Laminating stone flags can split on their own or have very loose beds that look open. The loose beds are likely to split when the paving stone dries out. Laminated flagstones come from soft silty layers that have not compressed enough or from blocks damaged by frost before they have fully dried.

Riven yorkstone paving for residential and commercial use

Riven yorkstone paving is still widely used for large scale paving projects in town centres. It is also used for pavements, patios and driveways in homes and gardens and is increasingly used for interior flooring because of it's range of colours. Yorkstone paving has varying natural colours from sandy yellows through to greys and browns depending on the amount of iron oxide present in the flagstone blocks.

Finished Basements Need to Be Made Mold-Proof

If you manage to remodel your basement into the type of room that you have always dreamed of having then you can be rightly proud of your achievement. But before you congratulate yourself too much, have you made sure that your new space is mold-proof? This is a common mistake and finished basements that are not mold-proof can turn from the stuff of dreams to the stuff of nightmares. In many instances finished basements actually make mold more likely to occur because it creates the conditions that this fungus loves.

Mold is not a fussy guest; it just requires a few basic conditions and it is good to go. For mold to prosper it needs some dead organic material and a bit of moisture. These are things which can be commonly found in most basements. Remodeling your basement can add to the problem because all that wood paneling and floor boards you are adding are giving it more to grow on. If you install a poorly ventilated shower to your basement you may as well have opened up a mold-hotel, because that is what you are going to be getting. You may not even notice that you have mold because if moisture is coming from the outside behind your wood paneling or underneath your new floor boards then this mold can be growing where you can't even see it. Mold that you can't see is the worst type of mold because it could lead to all sorts of damage to your health and finances.

So what are you to do? Should you just abandon the whole idea of finished basements? No way, no that you know how the problem arises you can take steps to prevent it happening. Prior to commencing any finished basements project you will need to first check to see if you have damp anywhere. If you find some and you are not certain about whether it is coming from inside or outside the house there is a little test you can perform. Put some plastic sheeting on the wall where you feel the dampness and leave for a day or two. If the water is on the outside of the plastic then you know you have condensation problems while if it is inside then you have water from the outside. Whatever the cause, you will need to remedy the situation before beginning any work on finishing your basement.