Stone Countertops And Mesh Backing…
Today more than ever, when selecting slabs for your stone countertops, you will notice that some slabs contain a mesh backing. That’s because over the years, the quarrying process has improved allowing for some stones that were never able to be removed from the earth in block format, to be cut, polished, and shipped to suppliers and fabricators. With better technology and equipment, quarriers have been able to remove more fragile stones from the earth, that may not have been able to be removed previously that way without them breaking, or crumbling. In the past, many of these stones were only used for tiles or building cladding. The mesh backing is added by the block/slab fabricator (the one who cuts the blocks into slabs) for added support, or re-enforcement for the shipping and handling process.
At PGC, when we receive slabs in from a supplier that contain a mesh backing, we inspect them and look for veins, or fill areas where they may be more fragile. We also typically “rod” mesh-backed stones in areas where there are sinks, or cook-top cut outs, meaning we add a steel rod for re-enforcement under the stone to avoid breakage during shipping and the installation process.
Depending on what we find during the stone inspection process, we may notify the customer that they have selected a fragile stone. We will also send a Fragile Stone Notification Form that lets the customer know that the material they selected may have geological flaws such as veins, voids, and fissures/cracks, which may make the stone susceptible to breaking and more difficult to fabricate. We also let them know that it is a common and acceptable practice to repair the stone, and that the repair may be noticeable.
If you have any questions about fragile stones, please give us a call. We are happy to answer your questions.
Thanks for reading!
Barb
Posted in Granite, Industry News on January 19th, 2010 by Barb | | 0 Comments
