Some of you guys have seen my recent posts about upgrading my home, well today I found on craigslist FREE marble slabs, all of them about a little over 3' long and 2' wide and 2 pieces 2' wide and 1.5 feet long. they need some refinishing but I cleaned them up nice, there are 5 slabs of the 3x2 and the 2 pieces of the 1.5x2

Small Piece


Larger Piece(not all of them look like this, most are pretty good)



My question is, how much would it cost me to refinish them to new condition? can I do it myself? any ideas? BTW the stains on the piease is form old wood that was used to seperate the pieces.

Thanks

Joe

 

:ibmthomeandgarden:

 

You are better off buying cut pieces for around 6.99 per square foot. I am in the middle of putting hardwood and redoing my entry with porcelain tiles...

The area which im using tiles is quite small ( my front door entryway ) so the materials are quite cheap, THE LABOR is what hurts. Labor is going to cost me more than the materials. I think you should pay a professional to do it right.

 

Like Edroe said, you're better off buying new pieces... they're pretty cheap new.

 

6.99 a sq/ft for Marble? i highly doubt it

 

12x12 Marble Tile $5.98...
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...996&lpage=none

And that's from Lowes.

Marble tile is less than $2/sq ft from my local stone supply.

 

Folks tend to forget that stone is not solid, but porous. From the pics, it appears that at least some of the discoloration comes from stains of longstanding; it appears to me that the milder stains may be from silts and oils held in place next to the marble by standing water. By now, the stain has seeped well into the pores of the stone, and may be virtually impossible to clean. It would not be easy to tell without actually working with the marble itself. The one rather bold stain may be a surface mar. There are ways of mitigating stains, and of restoring marble, none simple and none without some effort. Light staining can be removed with a light wash of miuriatic acid, but deep staining, for the most part, has to be lived with.

And, from the photos, it appears that the marble has a polished finish. Looks great, but be prepared for it to be hell in rainy weather. As an architect, I tend to avoid marble for flooring, preferring to stick with either granite or slate and those only with a matte or honed finish that provides some traction underfoot. Polished stone directly at the entry to your home is an invitation for some guest to slip into oblivion, and if you mitigate that with a floormat - then why bother with the marble at all?

Marble is best when polished or matte finished, which makes it challenging to use on floors, in my opinion. It was common in a former era, before litigation attorneys started to slice up the architectural and building professions..................... Granite and slate both have a bolder "grain", meaning that the structure of the stone allows for a rougher finish, and thus a slip-resistant surface.

 

When you do lay your stone floor, make sure the substrate is dead flat and dead flush, no cracks, no ripples or heaves. Thinset stone will crack, sooner rather than later, unless the substrate is absolutely even. I've rejected substrates in institutional settings simply because they were rippled; contractors swore at me, but I prefer that over having the owner swear at me when the installed floor takes on a "random" pattern of cracks.

 

what about use it for a counter top? I think I have enough to do my counters

any thing that I can use to help clean the stains? wet sanding? 2000 grit? acids?

I would like to use it if at all possible

 

Is is true that marble isn't really meant for high traffic areas such as walkways just because its more fragile and requires more maintenance?

 

my dad has marble floors throughout the house, and they are quite high maintenance. they looked great at the beginning, but the high traffic areas dulled quick. we had them polished after about 10 yrs and it helped, but it's not cheap to do, and needs to be done regularly. not to mention spilling things can cause permanent stains. i have ceramic tiles in my condo, and they look great even dirty.

 

Let me know if you guys need marble or granite, but it has to be in bulk in order to make it worth the shipping cost or pickup if your close to ny or nj.

I can get it for like $2-6 a sf. depending on which ones.