UK specification for imported limestone paving turns on three numbers. Wet pendulum value decides whether the surface passes an access audit. Flexural strength decides the panel size a cladding engineer will accept. Water absorption decides how the stone behaves through a freeze-thaw winter and whether a sealer is going to be argued about on site.
Across the four Shahabad beds those numbers sit in a narrow band. Compressive strength runs from 98 MPa on Cream to 118 MPa on Maroon. Flexural strength runs 13.9 to 17.1 MPa. Water absorption runs 0.31 to 0.61 per cent. For a fine-grained limestone that is a tight spread, and it is tight because all four beds come out of the same working face within a vertical range of a few metres.
The practical consequence is that a merchant can hold one technical position across the range rather than four. If Shahabad Grey has been accepted on a scheme, substituting Maroon in a threshold band does not require a fresh conversation with the engineer. Cream is the exception: at 0.61 per cent absorption and 34 PTV wet on a honed face, it belongs indoors.
Where the beds diverge is surface behaviour. Riven Grey lands around 46 PTV wet. The same stone honed lands at 42. Shot blasted comes back up to 48. That 6 PTV spread is entirely a finishing decision and it is worth taking before the order rather than after the audit.
Every figure quoted here comes from batch testing at Kalaburagi with annual verification on UK-landed samples. Test certificates are issued per shipment and reference the crate marks, so a value can be traced back to the bench the stone came off.