I am in the process to hire a flooring company to install a 24x24 polished stone on a construction site for $6.00/sf ,considering a professional company called EXPO DESIGN CENTER IN DAVIE ,FL.The $6.00/sf incl. mudsetting,labor and grout. The vendor recommended to pay an add. $1.00/sf after all tradesmen are out of the new home and before furniture are moved into the house -since stone may be worn & torn (scratched)during construction and factory polish may need to be restored. Should this crystalizing/buffing labor not been incl. in the $6.00/sf -correct? Thank you for your asistance. Kindly,Jeanette Caldwell

 

Dear Jeanette:

 

“ Should this crystalizing/buffing labor not been incl. in the $6.00/sf -correct? ”

 

Not only should that “crystallizing” thing included in the price of the installation from an ethical point of view, but it should not be included. Actually, not even mentioned, period! (I must tell you though that $6.00/sf is suspiciously low for polished marble installation. If I had to install a marble floor in my own home, if a guy would bid $6/sf I would kick him out of my house faster that he could ask “what happened”. What can I tell you: I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was 6…)

IMO “crystallization” it is the worst thing that one could do to a marble floor and, alas, it is very popular in Southern Florida, where a whole army of “stone restoration contractors” (quacks, that is), most of which can't even speak English, are going around “polishing” marble floors for food money, but without having a clue of the damage that they could do.

So tell your vendor to recommend such wondrous process to his sister or any other relatives he's got a beef with.

You? Thanks but no thanks!

And once the floor is installed properly (hopefully. I really don't trust a vendor at $6.00/ft and that recommends any such thing) you will make sure that it's protected by at least a couple of layers of construction paper until all other tradesmen are out of the house. Actually, the installation of the marble floor, should be the last thing do be done before moving in.

 

Now remember, it's never too early to think about the proper maintenance of your stone. The issue of what you'll be doing day in and day out to your stone is – as it should be intuitive – vastly more important than its sealing (if and when possible and/or advisable) and it's all too often neglected. As you can tell by reading many of this site's postings, you're not likely to get good information about routine care from your dealer or installer. (You've actually already gotten terrible advice from your dealer!) Don't become another statistic! By logging into the Helpful Hints section of our website at:   http://www.mbstone.com/HH_promo/helpful_hints.htm , you will be able to get the short version of our maintenance guidelines at no charge. The full version of it – a 7-page document considered by many as an industry benchmark – is available in pay-per-download format in our Educational Literature section at:   http://www.mbstone.com/literature/literature.htm .  

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Ciao and good luck,

Mauri zio Bertoli

 

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