Boy, we're making real progress now. Richerts Marble and Granite showed up on Thursday with our rock counter tops and laid them in about 6 hours. This includes the kitchen perimeter counter top, the island, the master bath counter, and four sinks. One van, three guys, and a lot of heavy rock. The island top, which came in first, weighs about 250 pounds, whereas the long run for the kitchen perimeter is about 400 pounds.As you recall from Day 279 (We own some Serpentinite), the kitchen counter tops are made from 2 slabs of Serpentinite, a high-grade metamorphic rock that looks like dark green marble but has no carbonate minerals to be etched by acids. Great choice: dense, hard and pretty with lots of veining. John Richert hadn't used this rock before and said it cut well, although the slabs were just barely large enough for the counter tops. At only 58"-60" wide, he had to cut two widths of 29" from one slab. No room for error, and in fact one of the pieces uses the factory edge along the wall (to be covered by a back splash).
T
he install went well, but they had to fiddle with the opening for the Wolf range top. The factory specified a 36" opening for the range top, which we allowed for but when they got ready to drop it in (before setting the stone), it was 1/16" oversize. Well, rock isn't flexible and both ends of the slab were pinned in (wall on one side, oven cabinet on the other). So they ground a bit of a wood filler piece down, and took some off the back (offending) edge of a trim piece on the Wolf and then it fit. Woosh.It was interesting to watch the process of gluing the two counter pieces together. The seam is in the corner of the L. They mixed up some black polyepoxy and slathered it along the to-be-joined edge. Then they attached two suction pads, one on either side of the seam. The pads are attached to each other by rods that draw the pads together. On came the vacuum pump, and the two slabs were drawn together while the glue set up. Two hours later, they pulled off the suction pads, scraped off the excess epoxy and polished up the finished counter. Beautiful job.
I asked why they predrilled the holes for the faucets from the bottomside, but not all the way through. John said that this way they can set the counters, then knock the hole out from the top. This prevents a breakout (mushrooming) on the bottom side and leaves a slightly smaller hole on the top.
The bathroom tops were pretty straight forward and smaller, so the install there was simple by comparison. These are made of travertine, a limestone material that it riddled with small holes that are filled in before the surface is polished up. The travertine is solidified spring deposits (calcium carbonate), and is classified as a type of limestone. The holes are the result of organic matter (plants, bugs, etc) that is trapped in the spring deposits, then decomposes leaving voids. Much like the gas bubbles in volcanic rocks. Travertine is easy to cut and was used extensively by ancient Romans for baths and floors. In modern times, travertine is cut with metal wire saws in 2 or 3 cm thick slabs, then polished with a grit made from quartz (hardness of 7). Since the travertince is so soft (hardness of 3) and susceptible to acids, its best for bathroom applications, not kitchens where acids abound (vinegar, wine, lemon, tomato, etc).
I was mostly a spectator during the counter top installation, but was anxious all day to see the end result. When it was all done and they'd gone back to Sequimville, it felt like a great burden was removed from our shoulders and the whole building process. The kitchen and bath appear largely done, except for placing the tile floor and installing the remaining appliances. As a result, we decided that the Serpentinite needed to be inaugurated. We invited some Kala Point friends (that have keenly watched our project) over for some wine and cheese, so the first party in our new kitchen is under our belts. Now its time to get onto the tiling project.
