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The beauty of a neutral marble countertop and a neutral backsplash tile.

A few weeks ago I selected finishes for the guest bathroom of a friend of mine. I was given very little direction, just that the space should be “feminine, elegant, comfortable and versatile”.

I used an Ogee edge on honed Calacatta Gold Marble for the vanity top. And a standard eased edge, also on honed Calacatta Gold Marble, for the tub surround and the framing to the entrance of the shower room. The two different edge details brought variety and interest to the space while outlining a visual hierarchy, of sorts, for the two major elements within the space.

Glass Street LIVE 2012 – Stone Services was proud to be there!

Stone Services is proud to announce that it has chosen to support the efforts of a community revitalization cooperative here in Chattanooga: The Glass House Collective. GHC was born out of a desire to renew Glass Street – a long neglected, economically depressed, commercial corridor adjacent to Chamberlain Avenue.

Glass Street LIVE 2012 – a rockin’ neighborhood block party – was the first of many community events that GHC has planned for Glass Street and the surrounding area. With live music, great food, gardening classes, screen printing lessons and plenty of arts and crafts activities for the children, Glass Street LIVE was a huge success.

Many marble colors have a lookalike color - buyer beware!

Stone Services of Chattanooga recently had the opportunity to bid on a large residential project. The homeowner wanted to use Calacatta Gold Marble (a MUCH sought after marble color) throughout her kitchen. After submitting bid documents, we received a phone call: “Your proposal was $5,000 to high.”

“HMMMM… Something isn’t quite right!” we thought.

The estimating team reviewed the project specifications and our numbers. We checked and double checked. But, in the end, we decided that the numbers we originally provided were solid.

As you might imagine, we were baffled as to how one of our local competitors was able to procure Calacatta Gold Marble, manufacture the slabs and install that marble color for a whopping $5K less than we would have been able to!... Baffled, that is, until the homeowner called and asked us to come out to her house.

It seems that the marble color our competitor had installed in her home was, in fact, NOT Calacatta Gold Marble at all!! Our competitor reduced the project price by furnishing Statuary White Marble in lieu of Calacatta Gold Marble!

Calacatta Gold Marble

Statuary White Marble

Not only is this unethical, it is illegal. Fortunately for this particular homeowner, she was able to persuade our competitor to remove the Statuary White Marble and replace it with Calacatta Gold Marble – the marble color which was originally written in the contract – without involving the courts. However, not everyone is this fortunate.

Stone Services of Chattanooga has a decade long history of ethical business practices. We are Better Business Bureau complaint free and have maintained an A+ ranking on Angie’s List since we became a member company. We would NEVER compromise our integrity to secure a job.  

Stone Services celebrates Earth Day with a Quartz Countertop Sale!

In celebration of Earth Day 2012, Stone Services of Chattanooga has chosen to highlight the sustainable manufacturing techniques and the environmentally responsible business practices of three of its quartz countertop manufacturers: Caesarstone, Silestone and Compac Quartz. Through the production of GREENGUARD certified quartz slabs, these manufacturers are improving the indoor air quality of homes and offices around the world.

As a tribute to their efforts, Stone Services is giving away a free sink cut out and a free Lazy Susan with all Greenguard Certified quartz projects over 25 square feet! This offer runs through Saturday April 28 - the end of Earth Week 2012.

Call 423.624.2905 to schedule a time to come by Stone Services’ Chattanooga show room. Mack, Ryan or Scott will be happy to walk you through all of our Greenguard certified quartz options. Bring a printed copy of this blog post with you and they will make sure that a sink cut out and one of our signature Lazy Susans are credited to your project at no cost to you!

Customer Quote: I’ll never have quartz countertops in my kitchen. The colors are way too bright and they sparkle! Who wants a sparkle in the kitchen!?

Quartz Countertops have come SO far! First generation quartz was speckled, white, black, gray or red and had a signature sparkle. Today, quartz countertops come in hundreds of different colors. Customers can find them with or without that “sparkle”. Some quartz slabs are also produced with veining which mimics the organic movement found in natural stone countertops!

If you’re considering a kitchen or bathroom remodel, today’s quartz countertops deserve consideration. They are super durable; quartz resists heat, scratching and staining as well as granite and better than most marble. Yes, quartz countertops come in bold and exciting colors, but they also come in soft muted tones. As with granite and marble, many quartz countertops can be honed and textured. And, unlike many manufactured products, quartz countertops have proven to be SAFE! Consumers can rest assured that they are not bringing volatile compounds into their kitchens when they purchase a product with the GreenGuard Certification.

We've just uploaded a TON of great photography and concept boards to our Houzz profile.  Be sure to check it out.  We're sure you'll be inspired! 

If you take it a step further and write a recomendation for Stone Services, we will give you 10% off your next stone project of 40 square feet or more!  That's right!  All you have to do is take five minutes out of your day to write up a recomendation for our company and the work that we do and, in exchange, we'll give you 10% back.  That is an average savings of $250!  Just think of all the kitchen/bath accessories you could buy with your 10%! 

I recently had a client tell me that she'd never consider the use of quartz countertops because she found the colors and the "sparkles" garish.  She was shocked when I opened up my portfolio to show her some of the quartz countertop projects that I had worked on.  Many of them utilized soft color pallets and were completely sparkle free.

I'll be the first to admit, first generation quartz countertops all looked the same.  There were about 5 colors, the product was made of tiny particles of quartz and most of them had tell-tale sparkly flecks throughout.  Today, customers looking for quartz countertops have infinitely more options!

 To answer this question, let's start with the generic materials that make up the majority of quartz slabs: Quartz Slabs are (for the most part) made up of about 90% naturally occurring quartz particles and about 10% polymer based resins. The resins act as a binder for the fragmented pieces of quartz.

 "Ok," you say, "But what about Quartz countertops with recycled glass?" In this case, the glass in a nonstructural additive. It brings a third dimension to the material's aesthetic, but does not affect the integrity of the quartz slab.

At this year's Tri State Homeshow Stone Services of Chattanooga was repeatedly asked about Quartz countertops. 

What is a quartz countertop?  Is it like Corrian?

How is a quartz countertop made?  Is it green?

Should I choose a quartz countertop over granite?  Which is better?

Most quartz countertops are to modern looking.  Where do I find a natural looking quartz product?

In response, Stone Services has elected to devote the next several Blog entries to answering these commonly asked questions.  We hope you find the information useful!  If you have additional questions, feel free to call Mack, Ryan or Tony and they can further explain this "new fangled" quartz countertop stuff!   

What differentiates Chattanooga Countertop manufacturer, Stone Services, from the numerous Chattanooga based competing Granite and Marble fabrication facilities?