Made Blocks Stone at www.japanese-home-gardens.com

The core of the pyramid, erected in layers, is made blocks stone of blocks of stone quarried nearby, while the finer stone for casing the surface and the interior passages was brought across the Nile from the quarries at Moqattam and Tura (Tu-rah). The blocks used to line the sarcophagus chamber were quarried in the far south of Egypt near the First Cataract of the Nile, and were shipped down the river 700 miles.

Fragmentation is to be avoided in quarrying dimension stone, which is sold in blocks or slabs to specified shapes and sizes. These two distinct quarrying industries combined have a production valued at more than $1.2 billion annually, excluding abrasive stone, bituminous limestone and sandstone, and ground soapstone. The annual United States tonnage of stone produced or used in the mid-1960's was about 780 million. Of this tonnage, that of crushed stone (over 777 million tons) was nearly 400 times greater than that of dimension stone; but the total value of the former was only about 12 times as great. Dimension stone is expensive, whereas crushed stone brings only $1.50 a ton.

THE MATERIALS you choose should blend in with their context. There are many types of bricks, blocks, pavers, walling blocks, and paving blocks which are all suitable. You can use bricks and blocks both for the risers and for the treads; face textures may be smooth, pitted or, in the case of decorative cement blocks, resemble split stone. Blocks, although suitable only for the treads, may be smoothfaced, riven, or even geometrically patterned for an ornate appearance. SKETCH OUT the position and shape of the steps on squared paper to help you to determine how they will look and how they will fit in with the existing site plan erhaps the most important point is to draw side elevation of the steps, which will show ou just how steep they will need to be. bu will have to take into account certain ifety criteria with regard to the format. If le flight is too steep, it will be tiring to limb. Where it is too shallow there is a anger of tripping.