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dcmarvel_gw

carrera marble - different grades?

dcmarvel
9 years ago

Hello carerra marble experts out there...

I just had my carerra marble counters installed 2 months ago and I am already seeing some weird things. I have lived with carerra marble in a previous house for 6 years, lived with the etching and staining and loved it. Decided to go with carerra marble again, different contractor, different stone guy.

its been 2 months and I am already seeing a few weird things:
- there are two chips on the edge already (did not have any in previous house)
- around the sink, some white lines have appeared in the marble - I will try to post photo but it keeps getting rejected;
- there are what looks and feels like divets in the marble; meaning the texture is not smooth in places, there are small holes - there are darker grey spots that are lower than the surrounding white marble (will try to send photo). These have been there since Day 1.

Can anyone tell me what this all means. Are there different grades of carrera marble - could it be that I have low grade marble, which nicks easier... white lines?

ughh... I don't know what I can do, if anything. My contractor is coming back on Friday to look at them... but I am afraid I am stuck with the marble and if it looks like this after only 2 months....

Thanks for any insight!
donna

Comments (3)

  • live_wire_oak
    9 years ago

    There are grades of desirability for marble that is based on veining and appearance. The showier stuff commands a much higher price. As there is no official registrar of stone names, you do sometimes get other white marbles other than from Carrerra Italy being sold as "Carrera". However, they differ mostly in whiteness and veining. Although marble will vary in hardness due to the area it is mined, marble is not going to differ significantly on the Mohs scale. It's all soft, and subject to impact stars and nicks.


  • ekscrunchy
    6 years ago

    I am shopping for bathroom surfaces and I came across a countertop in a (Waterworks) showroom made of Thassos marble. It was pure white and gorgeous, with none of the yellowish tints that I thought were past of any Thassos. The salesperson explained to me that this was Grade A Thassos, and she advised that I look only for this grade when shopping for slabs. (She knew I would prefer to buy near my condo in South Florida, where there are no Waterworks showrooms).


    My question is: Shopping for stone slabs requires a lot of driving around from my SouthEast Florida base. To avoid that, I'd like to phone stoneyards and ask if they carry Grade A Thassos. Is it usual for a stoneyard to divulge the grades that they sell? Or is this like other aspects of shopping for slabs--that there is a lot of stretching the truth and misinformation about the actual conposition and type of stone? Are the marbles actually marked by grade, and isi the grade found on the label?


    If I go myself to a stoneyard (and I will certainly see a slab in person before buying), how can I discern the grade of the marble? Just by eye? Or should I, again, expect the salesperson to give me that information correctly? For Thassos, there is a tremendous difference between the inferior grades and the Grade A. I imagine thisi might be true of all types of marble.

    I found this chart, which seems helpful:


    http://howtocleanmarble.org/marble-grade/



  • PRO
    thebuilderdepot
    5 years ago

    There are different grades of Carrara Bianco.

    90% of what is sold in the USA is the lowest grade. As the majority of consumers do not know the difference (and as long as you are not seeing the good stuff how can you tell the difference?)

    The industry has done a remarkable job in the USA keeping consumers in the dark and providing as little knowledge as possible, so they can charge the highest possible price, making a stone out to be complex helps that farce.

    The ridiculous supply chain of quarry to distributor to sub-distributor to retailer (who is spending a fortune to keep the store open with designers, architects, you will know these places when you go in them, they have sample boards everywhere and there are no prices on anything.... because if you have to ask........ not really good for saving money, but they appeal to certain clients that money is no object. They are happy to pay $60.00 a Square Foot for a product we sell for $11.75 a Square Foot, it is exactly the same product if they are selling the premium grade and it is from the same mountain in Carrara). It is rather like they would pay $15 for a gallon of gas. Same gas. Just a different natural resource. Why pay more?

    Then they have a sub-contractor price an installer price and so on and on. The pricing structure is so ridiculous. I left the industry over a decade ago (the corporate world with is massive inefficiencies) to create a business that was beneficial to the end user. To the person going through the aggravation of the renovation which is stressful enough!!

    To try and help them add value to their home from day one. Not go through a remodel and loose value.

    We simply took the very best grade of Bianco Carrara imported it in containers, which were purchased for cash (not terms to insure the best quality) and created the lowest possible price for everyone, irrespective of their position in the supply chain - no crazy pricing structure required. Just one price, online. The best price possible.

    $8.00 a Square Foot Bianco Carrara 6x12" 'C' Grade which is the best of the Bianco grade, with matching pencil trim and Herringbone which is $11.75 a Square Foot. All part of a collection of 60-70 matching mosaics and tiles.

    Another picture: Here is the lower grade Bianco Carrara the 'CD' Grade. This is what is sold by the "Big Boxes" because it is available in volume and again most consumers simply do not know the different. This is also sold through the elaborate distribution chain but this Bianco Carrara CD grade will be $20-$30 a Square Foot by the time everyone in the supply chain add their 100% mark-up.

    Perfect 'C' Grade Bianco Carrara 12x24" available in Honed and Polished coming down the production line to be sold on our website for $9.95 a Square Foot.

    Here is a really good picture of the difference, lower grade of the left, higher grade on the right. 'CD' Grade of the left, 'C' Grade of the right. For Italy the grading system for Bianco Carrara does not get higher than 'C' Grade.


    This is a bit late to the conversation but I hope it helps someone reading this.

    We have some great room scenes from customers on our blog here. Which shows more Bianco Carrara installed.

    These types of pictures are on our room scene blog: Love this 4x12" Bianco Carrara honed ($8.00 a Square Foot) installed in a Herringbone pattern with the brass finishes!!

    How can we sell for less, this video explains it better: Here.

    Are we good at what we do? You bet. The highest ranked Google Trusted Store in the United States 4.9 Stars out of 5 and over 1,000 reviews to back that up. Here. (along with a few other reviews).


    Fine Print: Prices subject to change but valid through 2018, could still be valid in 2020 but if this post is still up in 2030 things may have changed :)