Granite Or Slate

ron schenker

A customer of mine would like to tear out his cracked marble floor in the foyer and replace it with either granite or slate. If given the choice, I would prefer granite. I've done lots of ceramic and a few marble jobs, but never slate or granite. I'm pretty sure I have the skills and knowledge to do either one, but would like to know your opinions. The area is around 300 sq.ft. basic cuts, door jambs, and thresholds. I have a wet tile saw with a brand new diamond blade. The marble is on 1/2" concrete board with wire mesh. House subfloor is 3/4" ply and wood Ibeam joists. I'll probably have to tear it all out down to the ply and start over with new substrate. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Teetorbilt

I prefer slate for flooring but that's just me. Water is always an issue here and marble is 'slippery when wet".

__________________
You can't solve you're problems with the same level of thinking that created the problems.

Albert Einstein

Mike Finley

What specifically do you need to know Ron? Off the bat I would caution you on slate and make sure you control what slate is going to be used. I insist on Petra Slate because it is totally consistent in thickness and length and width. Somebody choosing slate can really turn your job into a nightmare if you end up with that crap that is totally inconsistent and flaking off everywhere. So make sure you control the slate selection and insist on expensive and high quality consistent slate!

If it's going to be granite, just make sure you spend extra time getting a perfectly flat surface to apply it to, the lippage issues are compounded with a non beveled product, so you need a really perfectly flat surface.

Rich Turley

First thing you need to determine is what caused the damage. Deflection for stone is twice the reguirement of ceramic tile.

Mike hit the installation idiosynrocies of each pretty well. If it is your first time installing each, then estimate how long it will take, then double your estimate. As you move up in clientel and pricier products the expectations of the work will be raised.

Rich

(Not saying your work is subpar. I'm just trying to speak from experience as I have made a concerted effort to move up in clientel the expectations are very different from a $3k bathroom and a $20k. Also they tend to want references to check out. On the flip side they will refer you more business by far than that $3k remodel.)

R&D Tile

What Rich said, bet that floor doesn't meet specs for stone, the marble cracked due to this, it wasn't installed correctly even IF the joists are strong enough, you need 2 layers of plywood before using a membrane or CBU.

ron schenker

R&D...The H.O. won't go for 2 layers of ply, he doesn't want the floor higher than it is now. The granite will butt up to the circular staircase hardwood and it must be at the same height. After the tearout, I will install 1/2" concrete board on top of the 3/4' ply subfloor. Three tiles were cracked in a small area in front of the kitchen entrance and the grout was falling out. I'll throw in some extra screws in the one bad area. I told the H.O. that there's no guaranty that the granite won't crack in the same place as the marble. He said.." No problem, granite is way stronger than marble". I'd better get that in writing before I start the job!

R&D Tile

I would walk away, saying granite is stronger and won't crack is nonsense, the first thing I would do is see if the joist system will support a stone floor, then if it does, i would insist on 2 layers of subflooring before a CBU or membrane, if they say no, then I would insist on adding joists between the ones there now to get the spacing to 8", if they still say no, then I would say to have a nice day and go onto the next job.