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I just read Seth Godin’s blog, “Sold or Bought” and I asked myself that same question about our stone counters, are they bought from us or do we sell them.

A few customers come to see us because they want a certain type of stone counter in their home but most of our customers come to our showroom to see if they might want them. So do we sell them a product or do they buy it? I believe that our products are sold more than they are bought and I say that because I know that our sales staff spend time with their customers to both learn what would best suit their needs as well as educating the customer on the products that are available. 

Stone counter-tops are not a simple, homogeneous commodity. Unless you really know a lot about stone seek out a sales person that can help sell you a counter and don’t just buy one.

Good question. What is new in the world of ceramic and stone?

Well very large format porcelain sheets are new. These are 1 metre x 3 metre sheets of thin (3-4mm) porcelain that can be used for walls (both interior and exterior), floors (interior only) and counters. I think this is a new exciting development in the hard surface world. I went to a seminar on these types of products just a several of months ago and I was totally  impressed with how versatile this material was. At that time I was only aware of one supllier, now there are at least 3 suppliers of this material. Presently the colours are pretty simple but I’ll bet that in 2012 we will see an explosion in the variations that will be available in this format.

Another really interesting product line are engineered glass chip and resin slabs for counter-tops. This is a product that is similar to engineered quartz slabs but in this product coloured glass chips take the place of the quartz. The samples I have seen are extraordinary. The colours are vibrant and because glass is the primary material the slab are translucent. I think when the interior designers see this material their heads will spin with the different design possibilities. There will be a learning curve for the fabricators but I don’t believe that will be a problem for very long.

Finally I think the huge advancements in stone working equipment that we have seen so far will continue. This is huge. With better equipment that is easire to use, we as fabricators will be able to offer our customers more intricate designs and better workmanship without a large increase in cost. We will also be able to provide more product in a shorter timeline. Again this is a win win for us andour customers.

All in all, I am excited about this coming new year.

Happy New Year Everyone!

On Nov of 2009 I posted a blog called “To DYI or Not To DYI”. The discussion in the post was mainly around ceramic and stone tile installations for those that may have wanted to try stepping into the realm of “Do It Yourself”. I have always thought that attempting to install your own ceramic or stone tile was a good idea. Especially if you started small and then worked your way up to a larger project. I think the same should be said for stone or quartz counters. If you are a deeply entrenched DYier or if you want to try dipping your toes into the waters of the DYI ocean counters are not an unachievable option. I would start with the same premise of my blog on DYI ceramic and stone tile, start small, but I would also add that you need to a line yourself with a good fabricator that is is wiling to help you out with some information and tips.

Tip Number 1: Start small. A smaller bathroom vanity is a good place to start. Something in the 36″-42″ range with a single sink is easier to handle than a 72″ double bowl vanity.

Tip Number 2: Pick a stable stone or an engineered quartz product. This is important. You don’t want to make your first foray into hard-surface counters with a product like “Delicatus”. Yes, the name does imply a level of delicateness to the product and not just because of it’s colour.

Tip Number 3: Make a “hard” template of the vanity. In this way you can make sure your finished product will fit and you can “test” how you plan to put the real vanity in place.

Tip Number 4: Plan for a back-splash of some type, stone or ceramic. In this way you can allow for some leeway at the walls when you are measuring and installing the stone. A tight fit may look nice but for your first try take up the slack with a back-splash.

Tip Number 5: Before you start your project invest some time finding a right fabricator. One who will help you in the process and not just hand off a finished product with no back-up.

“Do It Yourself” counters are not a big deal. If you think you’d like to take a shot just do your homework first and have some fun with the whole process.

Ceramic and stone floor tiles are getting bigger. A lot bigger.

The move to larger and larger format floor tiles has been an ongoing pattern for years but now some manufacturers have brought this evolution to new dimensions, literally. This past week I was at a provincial meeting of hard surface flooring contractors and one of the points of discussion was concerning the inherent challenges involved with the installation of these extremely large format floor tiles. A few years ago 16″x16″ tile was considered large format, now we’re talking about tiles that are 24″x24″, 18″x36″ and 24″x 48″. These are big tiles that cover a lot of floor area in one shot.

The challenges are as follows:

1. You need an extremely flat floor surface. The old spec of plus or minus 1/4″ over 10 feet just does not work. Let’s face it, if the floor can vary up to a 1/4″ (6mm) per foot that would mean if you wanted to install a 24″x24″ tile the flooring contractor would be responsible to lay tiles on a floor that may have 1/2″ (12mm) of deflection over the span of the tile they were trying to install. Let’s also remember that the person installing the tile must supply a finished floor with less than a 1/16″ (1 mm) of lippage from tile to tile. The possible amount of deflection would double if the tile was 24″x48″.

2. The tiles themselves would have to be almost perfectly flat to achieve the same outcome. The problem is that ceramic or porcelain tiles always have some camber in the material itself so the tiles would have to be installed in a stack bond layout if you wanted to minimize lippage.

3. Finally the installers have to be trained in the proper installation techniques for these large format tiles as well as how to check and level the sub-floors.

What should you, as the consumer or specifier expect? Higher installation costs are a certainty and I don’t just mean the tile installer. If the sub-floor is concrete then the concrete finishing contractor will have to be more careful. If the sub-floors are wood we will need lower deflection rates and therefore more joists or more plywood. Both options mean higher costs. Also you, the end client will need to look even more closely at the competency of the flooring contractor that you are hiring to install your floor. Do they have the expertise to level your sub-floor should that need arise and can they install such large format tiles correctly?

Personally I love the look of large format tiles. I think they offer great advantages in terms of ease of maintenance and I think they make a great visual statement. However, I hope that the specifiers and the owners that are asking for these products realize what is required to install these tiles properly.

Whenever I think of ceramic tile, stone tile and plywood sub-floors I always remember that segment on “Sesame Street” where they sang “…one of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn’t belong…” and so on. It never fails to amaze me when I read about or get asked to comment on a hard surface flooring failure over plywood sub-floors. Remember the song “… one of these things is not like the others…” . Ceramic – Stone – Wood, hmmm, let’s think.

Why do some people continue to think you that can install ceramic or stone tile directly onto a wood floor or over a thin metal mesh and cement paste which has been nailed or stapled to the wood? We live in a construction culture surrounded with wood. We live next to or in some of the world’s greatest boreal forests. I would hope most of us realize that wood is not a hard flooring product. Wood expands and contracts. Wood floors flex. Ceramic and stone do not do those things. Ceramic and stone are great flooring products but they are not great at flexing, nor do they expand or contract in the same way wood does when exposed to wet or dry conditions.

If you are going to use ceramic tile or stone tile on your floors you will most likely be installing them over a wood sub-floor. Educate yourself on how to isolate your sub-floor’s natural tendency to flex, expand or contract from your ceramic or stone tile. Make sure your contractor (if you are using one) is going to use an installation system that will take these problems into account. Remember Sesame Street.

It been a while since I’ve posted but in my defence it has been a busy summer. We’ve been kept quite busy with both residential and commercial construction over the past few months. In fact this very morning my partner and I were discussing if the present volume of work would continue or if we will we start to feel a slow down due to the stalled US economy and the problems in the Euro-Zone. It is a good question and an important topic to consider. Personally I think that even if we do experience a slow down in the coming months it will be tempered because of the demand for high quality workmanship and solid value.

It is pretty typical that when markets tighten there is added pressure on the price of all commodities.  The increased competition for sales almost always drives prices down. In our industry this can be a good thing when all sectors of our supply chain look for savings and then pass them along. It can be a bad thing when the the increased pressure causes a decrease in the quality of products or services to try to reduce costs. There is no value in saving money for a product which is inferior. This is a difficult lesson to learn and one that I personally experienced back in the early 1990s.

Prices were dropping and in an attempt to save some money on tile for a project I ordered some material that had been heavily discounted by one of our largest suppliers. Big mistake. The product was not up to the standards that we required and the costs incurred to try to produce a quality floor with a less than adequate material quickly taught me that I didn’t not get the value I had expected. Value and not price should be the driver in all purchases. Compare all aspects of what you are getting when you are shopping for materials or contractors that will supply you with finishes that you expect to have or use for a long time.

This may seem like a no brainer but when you are thinking about what kind of grout to use for your next tile job what kind of grout are you going to use. Off the top you might assume that epoxy grout is your best option and most of the time you’d be correct. However, this is not always the case. There are a lot of good reasons why you could argue that epoxy grouts are number one. Epoxy grouts have higher compressive strength and they are more stain resistant than cement based grouts but to be honest I don’t believe they are stain free and you don’t always need the “strongest” grout for many applications.

I like epoxy grouts. Residentially, commercially or institutionally I believe they are the best grout to use on your floors if you are using a good glazed ceramic or high quality porcelain tile. I’m not a fan of epoxy grouts with natural stone tile or for most wall tile installations.

Stone tile have to be sealed no matter what so the stain thing doesn’t really apply and unless you are grouting polished granite tiles the possibility that your grout may stain your natural stone is too high to take the chance of using an epoxy grout. Finally the epoxy grout may be so much harder than your tile that your stone tile can suffer from cracking at the transition between the stone tile and the joint lines. With regard to epoxy grout and wall tiles, unless we are talkiing about a commercial kitchen or a surgical suite I would not grout in epoxy unless a skilled professional is doing the job. Epoxy grouts do not work well vertically and if you are a DIY person leave this one to the professionals.

The modern cement based grouts are good products that are relatively easy to use. If you want the extra protection that an epoxy grout can give you, hire a pro.

My last blog touched on leveraging our higher Canadian dollar to upgrade manufacturing equipment. Late last year we purchased a new high tech stone saw. This year we will be purchasing another CNC Stone Millling Table. This new piece of equipment, in conjunction with our newest saw should push our production capabilities up by a factor of 40%.

This is good news.

When the new milling table arrives we will be able to reduce our order turn-around time drastically and as I mentioned earlier increase production capacity. These are good things for both our customers and our company. The other plus in this purchase will be the fact that we will have to upgrade the training of our production staff. This will not only help improve product quality it will result in the opening up of another place on the floor for a new employee. When we expand we need more people and more people working helps us all.