could anyone help me with how to go about putting a stone veneer on a
center island in kitchen? the stone is a rust colored slate type and
about 1.5" thick. thanks in advance.
ross

The people on the newsgroup are not real. You need real people because
that piece of stone is heavy. You need real strong people. Maybe a
chalking gun and some construction adhesive to go with the strong
people.

On Wed, 7 Mar 2007 02:56:45 -0600, (Ross
Hebeisen) wrote:

could anyone help me with how to go about putting a stone veneer on a
center island in kitchen? the stone is a rust colored slate type and
about 1.5" thick. thanks in advance.
ross

"Ross Hebeisen" wrote in message
...
could anyone help me with how to go about putting a stone veneer on a
center island in kitchen? the stone is a rust colored slate type and
about 1.5" thick. thanks in advance.


An inch and a half thick is more of a slab than a veneer. You just put it
on. You can put a couple of blobs of adhesive or sealant underneath if you
are worried about it moving. Was that the question?

Tim w

"Ross Hebeisen" wrote in message
...
could anyone help me with how to go about putting a stone veneer on a
center island in kitchen? the stone is a rust colored slate type and
about 1.5" thick. thanks in advance.
ross

Is this veneer going on the sides of the island (vertically)? If so, is the
slate random shapes or squares/rectangles? Assuming random shapes, you'll
be doing a lot of trimming with a brick hammer to get the pieces to fit with
uniform 1/2 to 3/4 inch joints. It's messy, and you need eye protection.
Slate tends to split into layers when you trim it, and to produce jagged
edges.
Use a construction adhesive and small finishing nails to hold each piece in
place until the glue sets. Later remove all the nails with pliers.
You can use a grouting bag (similar to what they use to decorate cakes, but
more heavy duty) to fill in the joints with mortar. Then, after the mortar
has set up slightly (it won't take long if the wood backing is absorbing the
water out of the mix) compress and smooth the mortar in the joints with a
joint slicker (Google that), and use a medium soft brush to do the final
smoothing. Take care to avoid excess mortar on the face of the stone - it's
not like grouting ceramic tile. Best to avoid having to use any cleaning
solution.
HTH

Thanks for that info JB
yes going up 3 sides with random sizes. planned to lay on the floor
first to get the fit and then move to place. your info was what i kinda
assumed but needed a vote of confidense although using the nails to hold
in place was an added idea.
ross
www.highisandexport.com
this group has sure gone down hill with OT
bickering

Ross Hebeisen wrote:
could anyone help me with how to go about putting a stone veneer on a
center island in kitchen? the stone is a rust colored slate type and
about 1.5" thick. thanks in advance.

You didn't say what your floor construction is, but you will be adding
a lot of weight to that island. With cabinet and contents, stone,
people gathered around the island, the load could easily be a couple
of tons. Island's are usually near the middle of the room. Adding a
lot of weight to the middle of a floor joist is the worst place to put
it. You could _easily_ exceed the design strength of the floor/
joists. It's extremely unlikely that the floor would break, but you
might get excessive deflection and increased bouncing of the floor.
These are bad things. If you're on a slab don't worry about it.

Frequently a stone countertop is made from 3/4" stone with epoxy-
bonded stone added to the underside of the nose so that it looks like
a thicker top without the added weight and expense. Most stone can be
simply siliconed to the countertop plywood substrate. If you were
thinking of going with the heavier stone so you can have a larger
overhang - something that you could pull stools up to to eat - don't.
The stone does not have that kind of strength. You would need
additional support, preferably steel or knee brackets, to keep the
stone from cracking.

From your later post it seems you want to run the stone up the sides
of the island. Again, serious weight. It's rarely a good idea to
attach stone or tile to wood. I'm not sure how your island is
constructed (store-bought or are you making it?), but using something
like 1/4" Hardibacker board attached to the cabinet sides with thinset
would provide the best substrate for thinsetting the stone to the
side.

R

the island was built by a custom shop. island is over a lower bearing
wall o weight should not be a problem. i did custom log spindles, rails,
newel posts etc for these folks and they asked about doing the stone
work for them but they have now found someone with experiance, which is
good cause i'm getting a little to old to be crawling around on my
knee's and my back is shot from 37 years of cutting timber. i just like
to putz around with wood projects so i can get my sawdust fix.
ross
wood junky