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Tumbled Marble Pavers
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Posted by skp1020 (My Page) on Sat, Jul 14, 07 at 11:39
| We are putting a gold/beige tumbled marble paver around our pool for our decking. It will be laid in 4 different sizes as my pattern. I have had several pallets of materal brought to my home and found that about 50% had major flaws. My eye tells me that if the piece has holes that are larger than a dime, then that is not acceptable. I am concerned about the look and also cutting someones toe. In additon if I see a surface scape that has a powdery substance, I think that this is not good tile and should be discarded. I know that tumbled marble is a natural stone, but I have noticed so many flaws, that I contacted my pb and they are aware and say that they will fix it and pull any tiles once installed. Well, they installed about 1/3 of my 2000 sq ft and I have a problem with about 20-25% of what was laid. the supervisor of the job (he wasn't there while the sub crew laid tile yesterday) came to meet me this morning and saw it and agreed. I am paying a premium to have my pb do the decking as I wanted one person to accept responcibilty for the entire project. I think that I should be getting premium tumbled marble...agree? I think that marble may come in different grades?? Anyone with any experience, please give me your opinion please. I am a very fair person and have high expectations as my project is a lot of money. Also I feel that there should be someone smart enough to understand what is good and what is bad, without me being the "supervisor" on the job. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Tumbled Marble Pavers
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| Are you sure it's marble and not travertine? Travertine can have a lot of voids, but I haven't really seen large voids in marble. Your best bet would be to talk to the tile installers and tell them to put aside any tiles with large voids. Have them pile them all up, then your PB can work with their supplier to exchange them. But if it's travertine, personally I'd consider the voids to be normal - they're typically filled with grout at installation. BTW, marble and travertine are very soft, so they will scratch easily. I wouldn't consider scratches on pavers that will be laid outside to be a defect. Also, some grit or powder on the surface is perfectly normal. |
RE: Tumbled Marble Pavers
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| I think that you are correct and that it is traverine, however no mention was made about filling the larger holes. They plan to only mortar the edges and all else will be sand in between the very small joints. My PB will replace all tiles that I am not happy with and return the bad ones to his supplier. It's just a little frustrating that they are going through so many and they still are laying bad ones. It will all work out because my PB is a first class operation...but nothing goes smoothly...lol Thanks |
RE: Tumbled Marble Pavers
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| A friend of mine rejected the whole lot of travertine pavers because the side profile was layered and looked flaky so I was concerned when I had mine installed a month later than his. My travertine pavers were very solid looking, some did have voids and holes like you’re describing. The installer told me once the sand fills in the voids should have no problems. I had 1400sqft installed and in 4 months maybe two cracked due to those voids. I would only be concerned with the tiles that had large voids on the top. I used a lot of pavers that had small natural crack lines and never had an issue with any cutting themselves on them; in fact the ones with imperfections look nicer. Just make sure you keep extra tiles. |
RE: Tumbled Marble Pavers
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| Travertine is 1000's of years in the making, the voids are perfectly natural and normal. Here's ours. I would guess 20% had some type of "void" in them, no problems so far. 
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RE: Tumbled Marble Pavers
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| here's a picture of a tile that was already laid. I probably have 20 just like this and my job is 30% complete. I think that the quality is at the lower end of what Tumbled Marble can be. I think that we got a bad batch and that the PB will need to go through it several times. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Tumbled marble reject
RE: Tumbled Marble Pavers
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| Looks pretty normal to me, for an outdoor product. Those voids would be too large for an indoor application, but they look just fine to me for a tumbled outdoor paver. Many of my pavers look even rougher than that. Still, you're fortunate that your builder and his supplier are willing to replace. The finished product will look great, I'm sure. |
RE: Tumbled Marble Pavers
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| Looks OK to me. It's what outdoor travertine pavers look like. |
RE: Tumbled Marble Pavers
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| Hopefully the slide show will play and I have 5 pictures of poor quality tumbled marble. Some of the holes are larger that a dime and have sharp edges, some look like the top is peeling off and are very gritty. Over 1/2 of my batch is beautiful, smooth with some holes and nice colors. I believe that if you saw it laid, you would have a problem...especially if you were paying a premium price. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Poor Quality Tumbled Marble
RE: Tumbled Marble Pavers
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| I have a few that look like #1 or #3, very few. I am on "vacation" or I would post some more of my picture....do a search and you will see some of our pavers...I posted some pics in a message with the title "pool almost finished in NJ". My travertine or tumbled marble is not quite as bad as yours. I am not sure what the "proper" name for our stone is. The bill said the coping was travertine and the decking material was "tumbled marble/travertine". We did have a few pieces my installer didnt like but we returned them with the extra that we overordered. The holes I think are too big, will be filled with a comperable colored grout....already filled a few but sand was still in some so I am waiting for a few good rain storms and then will mix up more grout and fill a couple more. The coping was grouted and all the holes were filled when they grouted the seams. Are you sure you have the good side up, there is a side that has the saw cuts and I found most of my pits were on the side you dont use. We love the look, its not perfect but its not suppose to be. Our last pallet was the best pallet...too bad. The stone is naturally chalky. We sealed ours with Stone(something) Enhancer Pro...I am not home to check the product name...again, the name is in that NJ post. It reduced the chalkiness (if that is a word). It was very expensive but brought out all the beautiful colors in the stone. (It did not make it slippery either) It was expensive, $200 a gallon. We used over a gallon on our deck which I think is around 1300 sq feet. We plan on sealing it again in the fall. It has to be 100% dry which is hard to achieve in Fl during the summer. It takes a few days for the stone to completely dry out. Our color is the noche or walnut. I will post picks when we return. |
RE: Tumbled Marble Pavers
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| My Pool Builder is first class...he sent a crew to my home today and removed all the pavers that they put down on Friday and is taking back all the pallets and switching the material for a new batch. I am hopeful that the quality of this new batch is better and on with the project. |
RE: Tumbled Marble Pavers
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| Its all in your personal taste, I like them but you do have some with bigger voids. If the installer is willing to replace them, its just a time factor involved to get a job acceptable to you. I hate to suggest you birddog the installers, but if you are there to reject them as they are installed, it may speed up the process. The dust you see is probably from cutting the stone, it will wash away. Scrapes are from handling and stacking, no big deal. I would reject any that are "slicing" off in sheets, I forget the technical name. You don't usually see that in travertine, more seen in slate and sandstone. I love stone with a sealer on it, it can enhance the color depending on what sealer you use. I look forward to your completed pictures. I would love to use stone and DH is in the business, but the cost is prohibitive in this house right now. We are slowly redoing a 15 year old pool in Vegas and I have been heat testing lots of options for the desert. Hope this helps, Barb |
RE: Tumbled Marble Pavers
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I forgot I could access my photobucket account. Here are a few pics of our stone.
 
Hope these help, like i said, we have holes, its part of the stone, but we only had a few divits that I needed or still need to fill with grout. All are smaller than a quarter. I want to fill one because I am afraid of little toes getting stuck in it the others I want to fill just to keep anything from growing in them. The rest of my little holes will be left alone, its what gives it character. |
RE: Tumbled Marble Pavers
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| gk - thanks for the pictures, your pavers look very nice and consistant. I am also interested in knowing what finish you used for your pool. Is it Midnight Blue Pebbletec, as it has that deep blue color? I am getting my new shipment of pavers today and I am told that they will be much better than the first lot. Once they are put down tomorrow or Thursday, I will post pictures. Thanks for your comments |
RE: Tumbled Marble Pavers
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| Our pool is Tahoe blue pt. These pics I posted are early on, the water looks a little green because it wasnt completely balanced. Its a very pretty blue...I'll post more next week when our outdoor kitchen is complete. Cant wait to see the pics of your decking. I loved the gold color, it just didnt match well with our yellow house. |
RE: Tumbled Marble Pavers
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| These are such nice pictures. For anyone who is considering installing tumbled marble pavers I suggest checking the Travertine Mart website. We have had the great fortune to work with them and we are amazed with the results. The quality of the pavers are incredible and also they had the best pricing on the market. I will list their website addrerss below. I hope some of you can take advantage of their offerings. All the best. Eva |
Here is a link that might be useful: Travertine Mart
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