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Monday, November 05, 2007

It Just Might Happen

I heard something from the marble people today. It was a little surprising given their behavior the last time I dealt with them. The last time I had to make repeated calls to get answers. The woman I gave the samples to last Wednesday called today to tell me that they only have “3CM” marble. She said that the sample I brought in was “2CM”.

She just used the industry jargon “2CM” and “3CM” as if I should instantly know what this means. She is not saying “2 centimeters” and “3 centimeters”, but rather “Two SEE EM” and “Three SEE EM”, and she says it so fast that it rolls off her tongue like it is one word.

I find this a little irritating and it is one of my pet peeves when someone uses acronyms and abbreviations that are used solely in their industry and they just assume that everyone knows exactly what they are talking about. Like the time the bank teller asked me I wanted to make the deposit to my “S-51 account”. What the hell does “S-51” mean to me. Well, it turns out my business checking is S-51 and my home equity account is an L-29, but how would I know that.

I got the message from the marble woman on my machine and with a little research I found that 2 centimeters and 3 centimeters are standard thicknesses for marble. One centimeter equals about 0.39 inches, so this makes sense. The marble I bought the last time was about ¾ of an inch, or twoseeem, which would equal 0.78 inches. So the threeseeem marble is 1.17 inches thick.

So my options are few. I don’t blame them for not wanting to go an by a whole slab of twoseeem marble, because I’m not willing to do that myself. I could start the whole process over and try and find someone with twoseeem marble, but I really don’t want to do that either. I’ve decided I’ll get the threeseeem and just make it work.

The cabinet tops have been trimmed out and the marble was supposed to sit down in to the edge trim so the trim and marble are flush with each other. With the threeseeem it will stick up 0.39 inches. There are two things I can do. One, I can remove the trim and remove the ¾ inch wooden support top and replace it with ¼ inch shims. It really doesn’t need the wood under the marble for support. The other option is to finish the outside edge with a round-over but and have the marble sit proud of the trim. I haven’t decided which way to go.

The woman asked me when I needed it and I told her next Tuesday. I added that, if they didn’t have time to make all of the cuts, they could just make one cut and give me a larger piece and I would finish all of the cuts myself. I’ve worked with marble enough now that I feel very confident in doing it. Hopefully I’ll hear from them tomorrow or Wednesday.

I did manage to get the window in the mudroom trimmed out. That is, after I straightened the window. roll eyes This one has a marble stool just like the one in the bathroom.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Greg, your house is so beautiful. Whenever I read your blog, I start thinking about more stuff I wanna do around my place :)

Anonymous said...

The window looks terrific. I'm glad you straightened it out. The crookedness would have bothered you forever.

Greg said...

Thanks guys.

I just heard from the marble people. Supposedly they are going to cut it on Saturday and I can pick it up Monday. That means, I should be able to get it installed by Wednesday.

Now if I can get the casing on Friday....

Katherine said...

Yes, but what are you going to cook?

Duane said...

Thats good news, and thanks for the bit about the standard sizes of marble. Its knowing lingo like that often makes a difference between you getting the "pro" vs the "uninformed homeowner" quality work.

slateberry said...

Ahh, more Petch House woodwork-induced hyperventilation. That window is perfection. Someday, some how, I'm gonna get the skills to make something at least half that pretty. Who knows, Mr. Petch--maybe I'll be sending you my blog url with a warning to have a paper sack handy before you peek!