Marble Suppliers

[Greg Sloan]

Hello everyone,

Looking for marble tile suppliers?


Thanks,

Greg

[Dave Jones]

laserbits.com has some black marble tiles.

[Greg Sloan]

Dave,

Thanks, I know about them. I was trying to find a different supplier.

Greg

[Joe Pelonio]

Both Lowe's and H Depot either have them at times or can order them, $10 for 12x12. Also available off the shelf at the tile stores, with names like "Tile Town", "Tiles for Less" etc. pretty much still 12x12 only.

[Dave Strickler]

Lasersketch specializes in laserable marble and other items as well. I have found that their regular black marble engraves gray and doesn't show the whites very well, but their Hard marble works quite well.
http://www.lasersketch.com/

Last year I ordered a skid of 12x12 black marble tiles from Color Stone International. Their tiles do not have polished edges, but they do engrave quite well. Some folks here at The Creek have had probems with receiving damaged tiles from Color Stone, but the skid I ordered from them last year was fine. They do have a minimum order amount at Color Stone.
http://www.color-stone.com/

I have also talked to a Rep. from Stone Locator. They sell pure black marble tiles, but I haven't tried any of their marble yet. If anyone else has tried their marble, please let us know how it worked.
http://www.stonelocator.com/

[Jackie Outten]

Just thought I would throw in my two cents worth on Color Stone and Stone Locator.

Keith and I ordered marble tiles from Color Stone. We had decided to sell marble tiles cut to order to laser engravers. The first batch we received was pretty nice. We were getting lots of requests for tiles and things were going well. The next batch we received, only half of that shipment was what we considered usable. A lot of the corners were chipped and some of the surfaces of the marble had pits in them. I called and talked to them and they were willing to take the tiles back but I had to ship them at my expense. Unfortunately, I was not willing to shell out any more money to ship the tiles back since I had paid for 100 sq. feet to begin with. I told them we would no longer be doing business with them and I really don't think they cared.

I then ordered 100 sq feet of marble tiles from Stone locators. I talked at length to one of the sales people who assured me that I would get excellent quality tiles from them and if I wasn't happy with the quality that I could send them back at their expense. Needless to say, we were less than thrilled with our order. The tiles were chipped, scratched and some had veining in them. These were supposed to be pure black marble tiles. Out of the 100 sq. feet we came up with 10 usable 12 x 12 tiles. I called them and told them about our problem and they had me ship them some samples of what we had received via Fed Ex. They paid for the shipping and I waited to hear from them. After a few weeks of not hearing anything I tried calling and emailing the sales rep and was finally able to get a response from him. He told me his boss said the tiles were acceptable and that if we were not happy with them we could return them at our expense plus a restocking fee. Needless to say we are now out of the marble tile business as we could not provide our laser engravers with a quality product.

You would think that when you spend a large amount of money on a product a company would try to make sure you are satisfied with their products. My experience with both of these companies has been less than satisfactory. All I can say is "buyer beware".

Jackie

[Greg Sloan]

Hi Jackie,

Thank you very much for your very informative reply to my question. I guess unless I can get lucky and find quality stuff at Home Depot or Lowes or pay more from someone else, then maybe marble portraits, aren't the way to go.

I do like how Laser Tile engraves photo's though, but I'm not real happy with them either. My first shipment had some chipped tile. We called them and e-mail them and have yet to get replacements from them either. What happened to Customer Service?


Thanks again,

Greg Sloan

[Aaron Koehl]

It's just a sad, sad state of affairs. Especially since we had such a great process for shaping, cutting, and production, with a particular attention to edge quality, coating (for bright white prints), and usability "out of the package".

[Joe Pelonio]

Unless they are on the shelf at HD or Lowes you could have the same issues that Jackie faced. When they special order you have to take a chance on what you'll get. Last batch I got was $10 each for 12x12 (but at least I don't have to pay tax with my resale #) from a commercial tile store that has open boxes to pick and choose from, both marble and granite. I spoke to a stone working place in our complex that does kitchen counters and the like about scraps, but they only use 3/4" or thicker and rarely handle solid black. Apparently not that popular except for lasering.

[Lee DeRaud]

It's just a sad, sad state of affairs. Especially since we had such a great process for shaping, cutting, and production, with a particular attention to edge quality, coating (for bright white prints), and usability "out of the package".Is that coating a trade secret or something "DIY" that you could share with the rest of us?

[Jackie Outten]

Lee,

I believe Keith will be making an annoucement on the secret coating later today.

Jackie