When it comes to Victoria, the primary stone that comes to our mind is the Bluestone. It is installed in the kerbs, the laneways, the bank buildings, the side streets and almost everywhere you can imagine as council also approves it for their projects.
We supply it in 30mm and 20mm pavers and 12mm to 15mm tiles alongside travertine, limestone, granite, sandstone and marble. You can also get Porphyry if you have a budget. Our Victorian warehouse is at Ivanhoe, 3079 and a third party warehouse at Dandenong. We have been in the stone business since 1993 and serving across the globe.
Victoria has the shortest laying season. Most adhesives need above 5°C during application and curing and Melbourne mornings sit under that through much of winter.
Are you in Melbourne, go to our Melbourne page
Outside Melbourne, keep reading below mate.
Bass Strait wind carries salt further inland than still air does. Properties a km back from open water on the exposed southern side of the Bellarine still take a salt load.
Granite and bluestone sit under 0.5% absorption and handle it. Ocean Grove, Barwon Heads and Point Lonsdale all face open water.
Towns: Geelong.
Ballarat sits at roughly 435m, the coldest of Victoria’s major cities. Frost falls on a large share of winter mornings and snow is not unheard of.
Victoria’s cold is wet as well as cold, which means more water sitting in the stone before it freezes than in a dry frost climate like Canberra’s. Drainage does more work here than sealer does. Hold your installer to a minimum 1:100 fall.
Towns: Ballarat
Bendigo sits around 220m, takes about 550mm of rain a year, and passes 40°C in summer. Central Victoria went through severe restrictions in the Millennium Drought, and a lot of Bendigo gardens are still built around low water use.
Paving replaces lawn that would need irrigating. Cobblestones on a permeable base keep rainfall on your soil rather than sending it to the street.
Towns: Bendigo
Mildura takes around 285mm of rain a year and is the hottest part of the state. Irrigation along the Murray has raised groundwater and mobilised salt across parts of the Sunraysia.
Salt rising through paving crystallises at the surface and frets the stone. It shows as white staining that returns after cleaning. Granite and bluestone are the safer pick on affected ground.
Towns: Mildura and Albury on the border.
Victorian bluestone or imported basalt is the usual question. Both are basalt. Imported generally lands cheaper and runs more uniform. Local matters when you are matching heritage stonework. Full comparison on our Dandenong page.
Bluestone pavers, bluestone tiles
Pool surrounds and alfresco. Honed and unfilled at 30mm for pool edges, at P4 or P5 under AS 4586.
Travertine pavers, travertine tiles
Absorption around 2% to 6%. Alfresco and indoor+ outdoor flooring, sealed.
Limestone pavers, limestone tiles
Driveways and commercial work, where bluestone will not take the traffic.
Granite pavers, granite tiles
Garden walling and warmer-toned paths. Absorption 3% to 8%, so seal it.
sandstone tiles, Sandstone pavers
Luxury taste for indoors and outdoors.
Marble tiles, marble pavers
Tiles at 12mm or 15mm. Indoor and covered areas.
Pavers at 20mm or 30mm. Outdoor paving, roughly 75kg to 85kg per square metre.
Pool coping. Bullnose, pencil edge and drop face.
Cobblestones at 1000x100x20mm, 100x100x30mm or 100x100x50mm. Driveways and permeable installs. On the reactive clay across Melbourne’s west, a flexible install that lifts and relays beats a slab that cracks.
Crazy paving 20mm or 30mm or any custom. Irregular pieces in a random pattern.
Walling. Stacked stone and free style and split style.
Sizes run 400x400mm, 600x400mm and 800x400mm. We can do custom sizes if you give us a good quantity and some time to import.
It is the industry standard for most adhesives and mortars to be applied atleast when the temperature is around 5°C. This is the baseline for it to settle down as well. Melbourne winter mornings sit under that regularly. Ballarat at 435m sits under it more often again.
Cool damp conditions play a significant role. It delays the settling process so adhesives take longer to settle down and reach its strength than the same stones would do in Brisbane.
Spring through autumn is the workable window statewide or nationwide. Winter work needs a lot of hassles : arrange cover, products as per temperature increasing your costs and a builder who will not stop for a bad forecast.
Pool barriers. Victoria requires pools and spas to be registered with the local council, and barrier compliance certified on a set cycle. Landscaping inside the non-climbable zone can fail that inspection.
Bushfire. Land under a Bushfire Management Overlay carries requirements set by the assessment on that property. Stone is non-combustible, which is why it appears in cleared zones.
Retaining walls. A building permit is generally needed above about one metre. A driveway or pool above a wall can bring a lower wall into scope.
Heritage overlays. Common through Brighton, the inner suburbs, Ballarat and Bendigo. A planning permit for a front path takes longer than a delivery does.
Site classification. Melbourne’s west sits on basalt clay that often classifies H1, H2 or E under AS 2870. Your soil report states the class. It tells you what the base has to handle.
Look at samples outdoors before deciding. You can rely on our photography as we used the best people to click our natural stones. Stone photography is shot in the bright sun and indoors too. Melbourne’s overcast light reads warm stones cooler and flattens greys. Ivanhoe
For commercial and industrial paving, including forecourts and dealership display areas where forklift point loads apply, see Campbellfield
No. Both are basalt and quarry to quarry variation will exist butits all about the matching and the shaderequired.
Cats paw on bluestone are small holes in a pattern on the surface. In easy words, image acat walking randomly and its footprints left behind to create the random design on top. It is completely Natural and not a defect.
Yes, with proper cover and pavers/tiles which can handle the frost. Adhesives need the temperature to be above 5degree Celsius.
Flamed finish is the ideal choice for wet outdoor areas. Good grip andappropriate texture.
Granite or bluestone mate. They have good absorption rates.
Yes. Stone planet delivers to Geelong 100km, Ballarat 120km, Bendigo 150km, Mildura 550km. Distance from our warehouse has been mentioned. Mildura clients can get fromSydney warehouse too.
