Dolit
A dense limestone for surfaces that are walked on all year.
Croatian architectural and building limestone, from the Dalmalit quarry.
- Compressive strength
- 134 MPa
- Water absorption
- 0.20 %
- Böhme abrasion
- 17.1 cm³ / 50 cm²
How it looks
Dolit is a warm beige stone with quiet grey and brown veining. How much of it any one slab carries depends on where in the deposit the block came from: the same field gives up calm slabs and heavily figured ones alike.
What it is specified for does not show on a sample. Dolit is dense, and it takes up about a fifth of one per cent of water, roughly five times less than Plano, so neither moisture nor what moisture brings with it gets inside the stone. It also wears more slowly: 17.1 cm³ per 50 cm² on the Böhme test against Plano's 21.8.
So it ends up where surfaces take a beating. A seafront promenade on Pag, a town square, a terrace facing the bura, a flight of steps climbed all year: surfaces nothing but rain ever washes, and that are expected not to change.
Polished, that same density closes to a mirror and lets the veining come up in full colour. That is Dolit indoors: worktops, cladding, and the details that get looked at from half a metre.
Colour: warm beige with quiet grey and brown veining
One stone, nine finishes
The finish decides how much light the surface gives back and how rough it is underfoot. Polished it mirrors and deepens in colour, bush-hammered it is broken open and lightens, and between them are the degrees chosen by whether the surface will ever be wet. All of it is done in our own plant at Plano.
- Raw block
- Before any finish
- Polished
- Mirror gloss, colour at its deepest
- Honed
- Matt and smooth, no glare
- Brushed
- Matt and smooth, no glare
- Sandblasted
- Finely rough, non-slip
- Bush-hammered
- A hammered, grainy face
- Sandblasted and brushed
- Roughened, then softened
- Bush-hammered and brushed
- Hammered, then brushed back
- Coarse bush-hammered
- The deep mark of the chisel
- Coarse bush-hammered and brushed
- Deeply hammered, then softened
We send a sample of any finish on request, and photographs of the samples are being prepared. Until then we would rather not show a computed picture of the stone: a finish is chosen on how the surface looks in the hand, and no rendering stands in for that.
Where it is used
- external and internal floors
- stairs, treads and risers
- public spaces and promenades
- terraces
- pool copings
- wall copings
- window sills
- thresholds
- adhered stone cladding
- kitchen worktops
- wall cladding
- cut-to-size elements
Technical data
These figures come from a quality report supplied with the deposit, and we are still checking them. The report itself goes up here as soon as it is confirmed.
- Real density
- 2695 kg/m³
- Apparent density
- 2685 kg/m³
- Compressive strength
- 134 MPa
- Flexural strength
- 10.5 MPa
- Water absorption
- 0.20 %
- Absolute porosity
- 0.37 %
- Böhme abrasion
- 17.1 cm³ / 50 cm²
Technical documentation
The Declaration of Performance, the technical data sheet and the exploitation field report are sent on request.
Where it comes from
Built in Dolit
How it behaves over the years
Dolit asks less of its owner than most limestones do, and the reason is physical. Density and low water absorption keep moisture and dirt on the surface instead of letting them into the stone.
Outdoors that leaves most of the work to the rain. Deposits and patina that do build up sit on the face and wash off, with no consequence for the structure.
Indoors the rule that holds for every limestone holds here too: no acid. Wine, lemon and acid-based cleaners etch calcium carbonate and leave a matt mark on a polished face. Wipe a spill rather than leave it standing.
Why Dolit rather than Plano?
It comes down to how hard the surface is used. Plano is paler and quieter and holds a large surface without a break, which is what puts it on facades and on floors that are meant to be looked at. Dolit is denser, absorbs less and wears more slowly, which is what puts it on public ground, promenades and outdoor steps. A house often ends up with both: Plano on the facade, Dolit on the terrace and the steps.
How much veining will show?
That depends on the block. One field yields slabs that are nearly plain and slabs that are strongly figured, so for any single surface the slabs are selected from one block and laid in the order they were sawn. The sample you see at a fair or in the plant is one block, not the whole deposit.
Will it take a pool surround or a seafront walk?
Yes, and that is what most of it goes into. Choose a rougher finish, sandblasted or bush-hammered, since a wet polished face is slippery. Copings are made with a rounded edge and a drip groove underneath, so water leaves the edge instead of tracking back under the slab.
Does it work in a kitchen?
It will take a hot pan and a knife. It will not take acid. Limestone is calcium carbonate: wine, lemon and vinegar leave a matt mark on a polished top, and that mark comes out by re-polishing rather than by any cleaner. If those are daily ingredients, seal the top and wipe spills as they happen.
Can it be cut to size?
Yes. Worktops with cut-outs for the sink and the hob, copings with a drip groove, treads together with their risers, all to the drawing and marked by position.
Get a quote
To price this stone we need to know where it is going, how much there is and in which finish. That is three taps on the form.
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