Building Materials
Mineral materials
There are two broad categories of minerals used as building materials: those that are used in their natural state, and those that are used as ingredients to manufacture building materials.
- Stone used in its natural state include:
- Alabaster
- Granite
- Limestone
- Marble
- Sandstone
- Slate
- Travertine
- Stone and minerals used as ingredients include:
- Chalk
- Clay
- Diatomaceous earth
- Dolomite
- Ganister
- Gypsum
- Lime (Limestone)
- Marl
- Pumice
- Sand
Plant materials
Generally, plants are also divided into two broad categories: those that produce wood, and those that produce other non-wood building materials. For a discussion of wood, see the “Wood” category. Some non-woody plants that are used as building materials include:
- Cane (bamboo, reed, rattan)
- Cork (Cork oak, Quercus suber)
- Eelgrass (Zostera spp.)
- Reed (Phragmites australis)
- Rice straw (Oryza sativa)
- Sorghum straw (Sorghum bicolor)
- Wheat straw (Triticum spp.)
- Willow (Salix spp.) Note: while willow is a woody plant and is used as such, its bark is also used as a building material.