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Tuesday, June 27, 2006

The Benefits of Marble Dust

You wouldn’t think covering everything in your kitchen with fine coating of marble dust would have any benefits, but it does. With the marble dust covering everything I could easily see and dispose of every cob web in the kitchen. Of course, there were only three, so that might not make up for all the work it is taking to get rid of the dust. With that in mind, I’m going to recommend that you not run a router on marble in your house with out a vacuum attachment. That’s a NO on the recommendation. A big fat Negatory.

Getting it off counters and walls was not too hard but the floor is another story. That is where the bulk of it ended up and sweeping it is impossible. It is just too fine. You can get a lot of it up with a broom but it is still pretty thick down there. I’m afraid if I mop I will end up with white paste on the floor. I’ve called around to 3 or 4 friends to borrow a shop vac and they all either don’t own one or are not home. In other words, they’ re all useless to me at this point.

I had a change of luck today. I was able to install the sink and faucet with almost no difficulty. I didn’t think that would be possible based on how things went over the weekend. I slid the marble back about 2-feet and supported it with a board underneath. I then dropped in the sink in – plop! After a few minutes of playing around with shims I slid the marble back in to place. Not too difficult.

I then cut the hole in the marble for the faucet. I laid my trusty template back in to position and marked the spot of the hole. I used a carbide grit hole cutter and it went pretty fast. In fact, it went a lot faster than cutting the 5/8th inch starter hole I drilled for the router. That thing took about 10 minutes to cut with a masonry bit. The carbide grit hole cutter went through the marble and the wood underneath in just 2 or 3 minutes.

After that it was just a matter of mounting the faucet and attaching the supply lines. It was a little awkward working in the cabinet after the sink was in place, but everything went smooth. No leaks. Tomorrow I’ll attach the garbage disposal and drain. Fingers crossed.

12 comments:

JAXTER said...

Looks tremendous!

amanda said...

It looks beautiful. You've made such progress in the kitchen!

Kim @ Twice Remembered said...

Great job, Greg! Well worth the effort and aggravation!

John said...

Beautiful work.

I'd recommend tack-cloths for the dust. I'd would probably take more than a few to do it, but they should work. When we're doing clean up after sanding the floors, we strech tack-cloths over a swifter mop and mop it up.

Anonymous said...

Hey Greg,
One thing i really like in this picture is the way the island and the main kitchen sink and counter are mirrors of each other in color. The island is white counter with the copper sink and the counter are redwood with a white sink. had you noticed that?

Anonymous said...

What? You don't own a shop vac? You build cabinets from reclaimed wood, tear down additions from the inside, put a router edge on anything and everything that has a corner, and you don't own a shop vac?

merideth said...

seriously. you dont have a day job do you? all taht talk about "going to work" is just some elaborate lie. i dont know where you find the time and energy for all this beautiful work if you have a day job.

Jocelyn said...

I am in awe- totally beautiful. Along the way- I missed the copper sink-really nice.

Anonymous said...

GORGEOUS!! That piece of marble is just...stunning.
I can't imagine us trying that without shattering the entire thing. :p

BTW, a shop vac only costs like eighty bucks and I swear to you I use mine every day even if it's just for dog hair. Just a thought. Tack cloths are also a very good idea, as has been mentioned.

Greg said...

Just to be clear, up until 2 days ago I did own a shop vac. It died when I went to do the last few feet of marble. This is the same shop vac that had black smoke pouring out of it last year when I was sanding the counter top for the Frankenstein Hutch. I think this time it may be done-for for good….sniff…sniff.

Last night I swept the floor with a 4 inch paint brush. I’m not kidding. That’s how fine this dust is. I got a lot up but there is still a thin coating. I went through a whole box of swiffers and that didn’t get it all. I’m going to stop at SW and get some tack cloth today.

Annie,

Uh, yea, I planned that way, or if anybody asks from now on, that's what I'll tell them :-)

Anonymous said...

i havethe same problem with drywall dust...it currently covers every surface in my house

Anonymous said...

i'm singing, loudly, Thus Spake Zarathustra. oh man. you deserve this! it's beautiful.