Review of durability testing of building stone with annotated bibliography

The search for a method to test the durability of building stone has been in practice for centuries. There is no universally accepted method of testing all building stone. The differences in mineralogical. chemical, and physical properties of rocks are too great to have one test evaluate all. The standard ASTM physical tests for building stone contribute, in their own way, to the analysis of durability. The best durability test for a stone is proven use with time. In addition to examining buildings whose construction dates and sources of stone are known, the National Bureau of Standards test wall can be examined. This wall, with 2352 samples of stone, has had about 50 years of weathering in an urban environment.