Integra Adhesives is launching a unique online color match guide for natural stone. The new Web page, at www.integra-adhesives.com/stonecollection/, allows fabricators to visually see more than 180 samples of natural stone, matched with one of the 15 Natural Stone adhesive colors that are part of Integra Optics collection. The colors are … Read more
The National Center for Sustainability Standards (NCSS), a part of NSF International (formerly the National Sanitation Foundation) is beginning development of a Product Category Rule (PCR) for residential countertops in accordance with ISO 14025. The rule will cover natural stone, solid surface, engineered stone, high pressure laminate and recycled materials. … Read more
Stone Forensics will be conducting a Stone Inspector training program in January, 2013, during Stone Expo in Las Vegas. The program is designed to teach the basics of inspecting stone and ceramic tile installations. According to Fred Hueston, who will be conducting the training, “The amount of failures, poor installations … Read more
The Marble Institute of America (MIA) has announced plans to broaden their outreach in Canada with a comprehensive Canadian-centric safety program. The program looks to leverage the success of the MIA’s safety program in the United States and will include a partnership with Safe at Work Ontario. Safe at Work … Read more
This video shows how one company, Rembrandt Countertops, repairs a granite slab. It actually looks like they are joining two pieces of similar granite, but they call it a repair, so it is probably safe to assume this is their repair technique. One thing of note is that this is a black … Read more
Natural Stonage, a publication based in India, is organizing a “World Stone Congress” in New Delhi, India, on Jan. 29 and 30. The agenda for the event includes discussions on sustainable trends in the natural stone industry; standardization of quality in quarrying and processing; technologies for improving production and efficiency; facilitating … Read more
Many countertop owners are surprised to learn that damage to granite, quartz and solid surface countertops can be repaired, often without having to remove and reinstall them. While fabricators are aware that these repairs are possible, the work may require some of their best employees, and it detracts from the … Read more
Here is an instructional video put out by Salvo Corp., a South African material distributor of Samsung Radianz quartz surfacing (in and of itself quite interesting). This 8-1/2 minute video covers quite a few topics, including material handling and storage, sawing, seaming, edge lamination, polishing, CNC sink cut-outs, radius requirements, … Read more
If you work in the commercial arena – whether fabricator or specifier – there is a great article I ran across that you should check out. It’s entitled “Good Specs Mean Good Tile and Stone Installations” and can be found here. The article ran in the December issue of the … Read more
In the not-too-distant past, I heard a presenter question whether it is really accurate to use the term “natural stone” anymore. He pointed out that a huge number of stone slabs coming into the United States are altered in one way or another – via resination or by the use … Read more