So this story needs some background. About a year ago I decided to the replace the floor in my kitchen, and being a DIY kinda guy, I thought I could lay my first marble tile floor ever...at my own house.....I was wrong, I should have practiced on a friend's floor.
I did manage to get all the tile attached to the foundation, and they looked good, but I didn't know what the hell I was doing and the tiles were as uneven as the Appalachian trail. I credit this to the sheer weight of marble tiles, my inexperience, and I was sorta rushing through the job. Anyways, after 12 months of tripping over uneven tiles I started to research how to fix it, and I figured you could grind it or something. BTW I learned that my problem is called "Lippage", which is awesome.
I came on yelp, found a few companies I thought would do it and started yelp messaging. 4 companies responded, two messaged me back and asked for contact info, but never followed up after I gave it to them. One gave me a ridiculous price, but didn't seem very interested in earning that money, but David, the owner of set in stone, messaged me back, with his cell number and then after calling him, came and met me at my house two days later. I think a Saturday morning (he was available the next day, I was not).
David came by on time and looked at the problem, gave me a fair estimate, and a work time estimate for the job....that's a lie, he gave me a great price, and I felt it was so good, I counter bid him $75 over his asking. We scheduled a date, but we had some mutual scheduling issues, and we ended up pushing back a few weeks.
When Byron from set in stone arrived, it became obvious that the project was gonna take longer than previously expected. Byron explained to me that my floor was in fact granite and would take longer to grind than marble, he also made sure my expectations were realistic, couldn't make it perfectly flat, because the lippage (he he lippage) was so bad he would grind through the tile. Now I am not sure he is right, my receipt says marble on it, but then again I'm not a stone guy, and maybe the retailer was pulling a fast one on me. But per Byron, granite is more expensive and a better surface in the long run. Anyways I am little worried now I will have to pay more money, but no, Set in Stone stuck to their original price, and Byron worked all day on Friday, and a half day on Saturday to get the job done.
And what a job, now my "lippage" (I love that word), was pretty serious and I am not sure I have pictures that will show had bad it is, but when my toe caught it, it was like stubbing your toe on the coffee table at 3am just after finishing your "I had to too much to drink burrito, from your favorite burrito place, because you know they are opened 24 hrs" kinda pain.
Well when they were done, it was like my lippage had gotten a Brazilian wax, up close it wasn't perfectly flat it was about 98% though, and I definitely wouldn't trip on it, I would more likely slip on it. The high buff polish was amazing and I could almost seem my reflection in it, and the sealing job was way better than I had done myself a year ago. It was everything I wanted, expected, and more, like Myspace.com before facebook showed up.
Overall, I hope I never have to use them again because I am an idiot, but If I need any stone work, its going to these guys.
Thanks Set it Stone read more