Stone grades.

[DHTiling]

What would you expect to see/get when purchasing :

1 : commercial grade stone.

2 : premium grade stone.

There seems to be a lot of stone being sold as premium when it is far from it, so how would you distinguish a premium from a commercial grade..


Who actually knows what to look for.?

Just after a general feel for how many fixers actually know the difference between different grades..

 

[tileexperts]

well, i have not got a clue. but am all ears!

 

[Time's Ran Out]

DAVE - Whichever is purchased has to be an acceptable grade of stone to the customer. One sample tile will not be enough to inspire the vision of your client and the selling process cannot be delayed as the next batch cannot be the same. Decisions have to be made on the stock that is readily available.
If we are discussing Travertine and following your comment in JOTM no doubt tile suppliers will have their own grading system for this product.
IMO
Premium Grade - Uniform Quality -Square/Thichness/Weight/Colour/and No Faults.
Commercial Grade - Variation in qualities (as above) with extreme filling and in certain cases reinforcement.
There are of course grades in between with natural faults/voids and some limited filling.

The cost of the stone available to the mass market at present is such that most of it is of the lower grade classifications!
As most pallets contain approx 40sq mts of tiles you cannot be guaranteed that the stone is from the same pallet - let alone from the same part of the quarry - and so variation in the material is more than likely as the tile supplier sells any bit lying around that is not broken.
Your POLL asks How do you know!
Unless you are fortunate to pick you own, you are at the hands of the tile supplier.
So find a good supplier and stick with them.

Timeless John.

 

[dagger]

i personally am not familiar with the terms "premium" and "commercial".

however,

first quality stone is - flawless
second quality is - variations in shade
and third quality is - variations in shade, akimi filler, sizy, reinforced,
and any combination of the above!

so as a guess "premium" would be first and second quality (some people like variation)
and "commercial" would be third quality.

 

[hillhead]

There is thousands of marbles available alone,when you put the limestones,slate,granite etc in there it's a maze!I'v seen plenty of grade differences out there.As John says it the supplier who we have to trust unless we were above that(which i'm not) about the quality.I adore working with stone as its a timeless classic if done proper!! thats why i have a nice big sigma wet saw:smilewinkgrin:.
But i'm no expert at grades and types but i can fit em well and have left many's a customer delighted with their stones.

 

[chris.tiling]

Agree with Joe and John... Also stick 'em well, but don't know the background

 

[White Room]

Agree also with John and Joe.

 

[Matt]

I agree with Timeless John.

The customer has to be happy with what they are buying, but they can't pay commercial grade prices, for premium grade stone.

I have alot of customers that come into my store that want travertine. They want to pay £15 SQM for it. We can supply travertine at that price, but it will be commercial grade.

"Stone" covers a wide variety of natural products. But, I think Travertine is about the worst for grading. Some commercial grade travertine can be awful.

 

[DHTiling]

T/john....nothing to do with the jotm thread....it is whether a fixer knows the difference and not a customer..

A simple yes or no if a fixer can tell the difference and what qualities a premium grade stone should have and not just based on travertine....

Sizing/calibration also play a big part as well...

Look forward to more views on this...is the market flooded with cheap commercial stone.? and can a fixer tell the difference if a customer asks if they have good quality stone..?

 

[Matt]

T/john....nothing to do with the jotm thread....it is whether a fixer knows the difference and not a customer..

A simple yes or no if a fixer can tell the difference and what qualities a premium grade stone should have and not just based on travertine....

Sizing/calibration also play a big part as well...

Look forward to more views on this...is the market flooded with cheap commercial stone.? and can a fixer tell the difference if a customer asks if they have good quality stone..?

Sadly, I would say alot of it is. But I think that is due to the price people want to pay.

There are some fantastic premium grade stones out there, but unfortunately, the price reflects it