Many San Mateo County remodelers want unique and dramatic stone that will take their home or office project to the next level, whether they live in San Bruno, Daly City, Colma, South San Francisco, Redwood City, Montara, San Mateo, Pacifica, Sharp Park, or Burlingame.
But where do you find such stone? And how do you get it into your home? Marble and granite suppliers, as you might guess, are your sources for finding beautiful stone to place in your projects. Marble and granite suppliers sell stones from around the world, including the US, Italy, China, Brazil, and more. You can work with your marble and granite supplier to get the unique look you want in your home or office.
What Will You See at a San Mateo County Marble and Granite Supplier?
Whether you live in San Bruno, Daly City, San Mateo, South San Francisco, Redwood City, or Pacifica, you need to find out what services your marble and granite supplier in San Mateo County offers. Some marble and granite suppliers just have stone slabs and will sell them to you or your designer. Other marble and stone suppliers perform some fabrication themselves. Fabrication means cutting the stone and putting it into your home or office. Still other stone suppliers both supply stone and fabricate themselves - cutting the stone and installing it in your house.
You definitely need people who will supply stone and people who will install it, and that may mean one firm or more than one. Perhaps you are looking for a stone and know it when you see it. From there, you decide who will fabricate the stone. Or maybe you have a designer who will take you around and show you stones and help you choose a fabricator. Or perhaps you know of an excellent fabricator with a stone inventory and plan to choose from their supply.
Sometimes fabricators have deals with suppliers. In these cases, the fabricator will help you get the stone from the supplier at a trade price. In other cases, suppliers who do not install can recommend a fabricator for you. As you shop around, you should get a reasonable idea of what makes a fair price. Knowing the prices should help you get a sense of whether such relationships benefit you or not.
To Find the Stone you Want at Your San Mateo County Marble and Granite Supplier
You find the best stone by seeing as many slabs as you can. Visit marble and granite yards all over San Mateo County, including any you can find in San Bruno, Daly City, South San Francisco, San Mateo, Redwood City, Pacifica, Burlingame, or East Palo Alto. It may take some time, but actually visiting the marble and granite supplier and looking at stone will help you determine what stones you like, what colors appeal to you, and, ultimately, help you be certain that you've made the right decision.
Once you've found the slab you like, look for defects. Defects might include cracks, which are manmade and created when the stone is handled and transported. Naturally occurring cracks, also called fissures, might appear in the stone. Some people like these fissures and like to show them off. Others do not like way the fissures look or need material that has more structural integrity. Much will depend on your personal taste and how the stone will be used. Pits occur naturally in stones like marbles, and the pits are not considered a defect. They are a natural aspect of the stone and don't affect durability.
When you do find a slab you like, ask your marble and stone supplier to hold it for you. The hold will allow you to contact your designer or fabricator and discuss the stone slab with them. Be sure you get a hold slip from your marble and granite supplier, since you will need it as proof of which stone is being held for you.
Sometimes your project won't require a complete slab. Some need only a small piece of stone. Marble and granite suppliers often sell only by the slab, but you may be able to find a suppler with a "bone yard." The bone yard contains off-cuts or smaller pieces of stone that you can choose instead of the entire slab.
What You Will See at Your San Mateo County Marble and Granite Supplier
All San Mateo County marble and granite suppliers have stone cut into slabs and with finished surfaces. Beyond that, what you'll find varies based on the marble and granite supplier. Slabs come with a surface finish. Probably the most typical surface finishes are polished, which makes the stone surface smooth and shiny, and honed, which makes the surface smooth but matte, instead of shiny. Other surface treatments are available for different stones. Some examples of smooth surfaces include flamed or circular- sanded, while textured finishes include shot-sawn, water-blasted, sandblasted, bush-hammered, or machine tooled.
Some marble and granite suppliers will perform a limited amount of fabrication on the stone. Some might cut a countertop to size. In other cases, the marble and granite supplier will put the edges on these countertops. You'll find many edge treatments available for your stone. The cutting of edges can considerably affect the price you pay for your stone. Also, remember that thinner edges are vulnerable to chipping especially when the stone is fragile. If your marble and granite supplier is just supplying a slab of stone, then you'll be discussing edge treatments with your fabricator.
You should check with your marble and granite supplier to see if resin has been injected into the stone. Some marble and granite suppliers use a technique called resin impregnation, which imbues the stone with resin. The process is designed to make the stone more uniform by filling up pits, fissures, and other anomalies with resin.
You should be very cautious about choosing resin-impregnated stone. When exposed to ultraviolet light, the resin may change color, making it impossible to use the stone for exterior use. The resins usually darken the entire stone surface. Some find this darkening a problem because once the stone is cut, into a countertop, for example, the edges will never match the surface. Some sell edge-darkening products, but they are yet to be really effective. In addition, resin sometimes reacts with sealants creating blotches or cloudy surfaces. You can ask your marble and granite supplier if the stone has been impregnated with resin. You can also look at the edges of the slab for excess resin.
Uncovering the Right Stone at Your San Mateo County Marble and Granite Supplier
Your San Mateo County marble and granite supplier's yard will give you a lot of dimension stone, whether marble, granite, limestone, sandstone, or more esoteric types of stone, to look at. The specific kind of stone you are searching for in San Mateo County, whether in San Bruno, Daly City, South San Francisco, Redwood City, San Mateo, Montara, Foster City, or Menlo Park, will depend in part on your aesthetics and in part on the projected use. Granite is the most popular stone for kitchen countertops at the moment. Marble, limestone, and sandstone are other popular materials used both for the interior and exterior of the home, for applications like cladding, floors, countertops, walkways, landscaping, and retaining walls. In the United States, ASTM sets the most commonly available standards for evaluating stone. The typical properties measured are density, absorption, compressive weight, modulus of rupture, abrasion resistance, and flexural strength.
Granite is popular in the kitchen because it is a dense stone. The density allows the granite to resist acids from cleaners and cooking ingredients like lemons and tomatoes. Granite also resists scratches, from knives or from household abrasives. However, no stone will be completely impervious to attacks on it, and granite is often sealed, like other stones. ASTM standards require that granites have a density of 160 lb/ft, for example, for use in construction. Granite should last for a lifetime when used for countertops and for exterior applications. It should last as flooring for 100 years with proper maintenance. Granites sold for use in the home are sometimes not what geologists would officially classify as granite - the granites may actually be gabbro, diabase, gnesiss, and basalt, among others. Granite is quarried across the US, with most quarries in the upper Midwest and the Eastern United States. The largest amounts of granite are imported from Brazil, China, India, Italy, and Norway. The US exports granite to Canada, China, and Italy.
Marble, even though it stains more easily than granite, is a popular material, even in the kitchen. Marble also scratches more easily. Marble is a calcium-based stone, which is what makes it slightly more vulnerable than granite in the kitchen. Still, marble is successfully used in kitchens, bathrooms, for floors, moulding and cladding, and for landscaping and statuary as well. Marble countertops and marble used on the exterior should last for a lifetime. Marble flooring should last 100 years with maintenance. There are a few marble quarries in the United States, most of which have been in business for almost three-quarters of a century. The US exports marble through Canada. The US imports marble from Canada, Chine, France, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Mexico, Spain, and Turkey, among others.
Travertine and limestone are also calcium-based stones. Limestone is often formed from the shells or skeletons of marine life. When formed on land, limestone is called travertine. Limestone lasts a lifetime when used for the interior or exterior. As a calcium-based stone, it shares the same vulnerabilities as marble, so sealants are often applied with limestone. ASTM defines three different types of limestone. The lowest density is Type I, followed by medium density Type II , and high density Type III is. You may need to know the density of the limestone, depending on how you plan to use it. In the United States and North America, limestone is often quarried, with the Midwest providing many of those quarries. The US primarily exports and imports limestone from Canada.
Sediment and minerals combine to make sandstone. Sandstone often includes grains of quartz bound with silica, iron oxide, or calcium carbonate. Sandstone should last a lifetime for both interior and exterior use, but it can be damaged by acidic cleaners, water absorption, or abrasive contact. ASTM defines three categories of sandstone. In order of increasing density and strength, they are sandstone, quartzitic sandstone, and quartzite. Sandstone is often used for paving, flagging, cladding, and landscaping. There are sandstone quarries across North America, with concentrations in the Midwest, Northeast, and Western United States. The US exports sandstone to Canada and Mexico and imports a little from Canada, India, and Mexico.
In the US, some quarries mine stone, then ship it abroad to be cut into slabs and surface-treated. The practice occurs because the cost of handling the stone in a low-wage country is less than the cost of handling it in the US, even with the transportation costs included. If it's important to you, you might want to double-check where a specific piece of stone was quarried.
What About Using a Marble and Granite Supplier From the Internet?
You need to be wary if you are dealing with marble and granite suppliers that only have an online presence. First, many of them are wholesalers. This means that they are mostly interested in shipping twenty-foot containers full of stone. Obviously, that's far too much for most home or office projects in San Mateo County, whether in San Bruno, Daly City, Foster City, San Mateo, Redwood City, Montara, or South San Francisco.
Some marble and granite suppliers will ship less than a container load (LCL). However, shipping smaller amounts can actually cost more than shipping larger amounts, in many cases. Not to mention that shipping smaller amounts is less environmentally friendly. You might be able to find a few sites that will ship slabs.
In any case, when you are buying online, you need to remember that browsers - no matter how good technology has become - may not accurately reflect the color of the stone. Since color is an important consideration for most, you may not want to buy stone that you cannot see in person.
You may not be in a position to really check up on the company - especially if it is overseas. If you do decide to work with an Internet marble and granite supplier, ask about the firm's bank - it should be a reputable national bank of the home country. Also look for licenses or other indications that firms are monitored by some sort of official trading body or by a government body.
Look for the firm's fax and telephone numbers, and be careful if the numbers are the same. Similarly, if there is only a mobile phone as a contact, be very, very careful - this means you have only a single method for getting in touch with the firm.
You'll need to be sure that you know where the marble and granite supplier will ship the stone, and how it will be handled once it reaches the US. Finally, be very careful about terms of payment. If the majority of the price is demanded upfront as a deposit, you may be dealing with a less than credible firm.
Does my San Mateo County Marble and Granite Supplier Offer Reclaimed Stone?
Those interested in using reclaimed stone may have to search for it a bit. Typically, houses are mechanically demolished. In such cases, most of the stone is destroyed and cannot be claimed for re-use for countertops and other household applications.
Instead of mechanical demolishment, construction firms must deconstruct a house to extract re-usable materials. Because deconstruction is not yet the norm, stone is not always saved. On the positive side, as more and more laws go into effect requiring re-use of materials from houses or buildings that are torn down, contractors have an incentive because deconstruction leaves them with less landfill to account for and with profits from re-selling salvaged materials. California is one of the states with landfill-reducing laws that require a certain amount of materials from a demolition to be kept out of landfill.
You will typically encounter no problems, but you do want to make sure that reclaimed stone is still strong enough for its new purpose. If the stone was heavily used, for example, walked on for decades, you want to know that it will be strong enough for its new use. Testing for the ASTM standards can help you determine that the stone retains the density and strength needed for re-use in your home or office. Because it is not yet standard practice to reclaim stone when buildings are torn down, reclaimed stone may or may not be less expensive than new stone.
Environmental Concerns and Your San Mateo County Marble and Stone Supplier
Natural stone is often selected because it has a lesser impact on the environment than other materials. That can be especially true when the stone is local stone that doesn't have to travel far to get to the construction site. Studies show that natural stone will last about 200 years, compared to about 50 for concrete. Stones used in construction also produce less waste and require less energy than concrete.
While quarrying has significant impact, there are some recommendations for reducing that impact. Mining and finishing stone takes a great deal of water. The best run quarries will have settlement pools and other water recycling measures in place. The settlement pool allows sediment to sink to the bottom, clearing the water.
In addition, a good quarry may take measures like planting around the edges of the quarry and paving or otherwise covering roads to reduce dust. Good quarry management calls for paying attention to proper maintenance of vehicles and equipment to keep them in efficient running order and unlikely to drip oil.
Transportation is a big consideration for stone. In North American, most stone is shipped by truck, with all the impacts that come from using trucks - emissions, road surfaces, etc. Rail is one of the most efficient transportation methods, and sometimes stone is shipped by rail. With the weight of stone, air travel is pretty much ruled out. Packing materials are a consideration, as well. Cutting down on the amount of plastic packing materials will reduce the consumption of a non-renewable resource - the petroleum from which the plastic is made.
Consumers don't dictate how quarries are run. But if possible, especially if you are using local stone, you might consider looking into the quarry's land and water management practices. When it comes to working with your marble and granite supplier in San Mateo County, whether in San Bruno, Daly City, San Mateo, Sharp Park, South San Francisco, or Redwood City, you may want to do what you can to minimize the transportation required for your stone.
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