Granite Squad

[T_Dog]

We needed a counter top for our teak kitchen cabinets and Greenside recommended a place in Chiang Mai that he had good experience with. It took only 30 minutes for us to select a slab, decide on the finish, and schedule a day for installation. Here are some photos of the process. All the edges were hand ground and polished on site. When I saw one worker using the cutting tool with the water hose in the other hand, I was really glad I had RCBO breakers in the electrical panel. Total installation time was less than five hours and result is very nice.

[extexthai]

Wow, that is gorgeous, indeed. Nice work. I wish I would have known about that before we decided on those very large tiles. I especially like the reveal left on the edges. Ours got put in flush and I have to use the cutting board to catch the crumbs when we clean it off. ett

[T_Dog]

Wow, that is gorgeous, indeed. Nice work. I wish I would have known about that before we decided on those very large tiles. I especially like the reveal left on the edges. Ours got put in flush and I have to use the cutting board to catch the crumbs when we clean it off. ett

Thanks extexthai. There are several choices on how you can have the reveal done, and various thicknesses of the material as well. I never realized they did all that shaping on site with power tools and elbow grease. It was more expensive than tile but the whole cost for labor, delivery, and material was exactly 15,000 baht. We figure we will have it for a lot of years so sprung for the extra cost over tiles.

[sirineou]

Nice job,

I see why it did not take you long to choose the counter, very nice color .

I did not see any back splash, I guess you don't need them as you have finished cement walls,

It would be interesting too know the cost per Meter

[T_Dog]

Sirineou.... This granite was on the medium-high scale of cost as it is imported from Italy. (Only grey granite is quarried in Thailand.) Here's a sketch I gave them of our exact counter size that they added a bit of overhang to. It probably would have looked better with a centimeter more of overhang, but you can figure out the cost per running meter based on the cost in my earlier post.

We had seen some solid red colored granite we really liked when we went there. Turns out it was more expensive and it would have required a joint in the sink area. The lady at the place really knew her stuff and showed us some alternatives that did not require the seam. Quite a few choices and very competent staff.

Regarding the back splash, we haven't decided what to do there, but might put in a varnished piece of teak. Tile might look a bit harsh in the kitchen and any wood we put up really helps soften things up so might go that way. Right now it is "good to go", but wood might add a lot.

[canopy]

Granite in saraburi costs just a fraction of that price and I have seen that type there. Holes are 100 baht each, edging is free. 5 hours of install shouldn't add much. So I don't know why you would need to spend 15000 for that, but I guess the convenience has to be factored in. How is the seam between the two pieces? In many countries they've got it down to being just about invisible but I noticed in Thailand there always seems to be a glaring edge.

[T_Dog]

Granite in saraburi costs just a fraction of that price and I have seen that type there. Holes are 100 baht each, edging is free. 5 hours of install shouldn't add much. So I don't know why you would need to spend 15000 for that, but I guess the convenience has to be factored in. How is the seam between the two pieces? In many countries they've got it down to being just about invisible but I noticed in Thailand there always seems to be a glaring edge.

You are lucky indeed if that is true as the import cost for granite other than grey is what drives the price up. Show some photos of what you have put in. The seam was very well done and only the difference in grain pattern gives it away.

[rgs2001uk]

Granite in saraburi costs just a fraction of that price and I have seen that type there. Holes are 100 baht each, edging is free. 5 hours of install shouldn't add much. So I don't know why you would need to spend 15000 for that, but I guess the convenience has to be factored in. How is the seam between the two pieces? In many countries they've got it down to being just about invisible but I noticed in Thailand there always seems to be a glaring edge.

You are lucky indeed if that is true as the import cost for granite other than grey is what drives the price up. Show some photos of what you have put in. The seam was very well done and only the difference in grain pattern gives it away.

"the import cost for granite other than grey is what drives the price up"

Aint that the truth, and thats the reason you dont pay 600 baht psm, decent imported starts about 2,000 baht and can easily go to 4,000 psm.

Check out the cost of imported marble from Spain Italy or India for another comparision.

BTW, some of that granite from Saraburi can get expensive as well.

[T_Dog]

Granite in saraburi costs just a fraction of that price and I have seen that type there. Holes are 100 baht each, edging is free. 5 hours of install shouldn't add much. So I don't know why you would need to spend 15000 for that, but I guess the convenience has to be factored in. How is the seam between the two pieces? In many countries they've got it down to being just about invisible but I noticed in Thailand there always seems to be a glaring edge.

You are lucky indeed if that is true as the import cost for granite other than grey is what drives the price up. Show some photos of what you have put in. The seam was very well done and only the difference in grain pattern gives it away.

"the import cost for granite other than grey is what drives the price up"

Aint that the truth, and thats the reason you dont pay 600 baht psm, decent imported starts about 2,000 baht and can easily go to 4,000 psm.

Check out the cost of imported marble from Spain Italy or India for another comparision.

BTW, some of that granite from Saraburi can get expensive as well.

RGS.... What colors does Saraburi mine? Trying to verify what the company told me that only grey comes from Thailand......

[canopy]

That sounds right that only the grey is from Thailand, but their site saraburigranite.net shows they offer types imported from all over the world. Some are quite reasonable, some very high. Glad to hear there are folks out there who can do a good job with the seams. I may need to look up such a crew in the future. I love granite and hope to see how your back splash comes out.

[sezze]

Thailand has several colors of granite . Most are grey but ranging from almost white till very dark , in different shapes and forms of dots/lines .

Other colors include white and the rather expensive Thai Black . Other colors are the orange brown Orange Nongbua and brownish grey.

Saraburi might only be the grey variaties , but Thailand does have more then these ones . They are also not all the time the cheapest since it is depending on the colors ( international market value ) .

[rgs2001uk]

RGS.... What colors does Saraburi mine? Trying to verify what the company told me that only grey comes from Thailand......

Sezze has beat me to replying to your question.

However here are a couple of pics ,

The above is called, see chompuu jeen in Thai, or Chinese Pink in English.

The following is Thai Black.

[NBD]

Wow, that is gorgeous, indeed. Nice work. I wish I would have known about that before we decided on those very large tiles. I especially like the reveal left on the edges. Ours got put in flush and I have to use the cutting board to catch the crumbs when we clean it off. ett

I just got a big slab of granite put over the tiles in my place. Got it cut exactly to size (forgot to drill a hole though, see my other thread!) and just laid it over the top of the old tiles, glued on with cement glue and it's great. Not as nicely done as T-Dogs, but it cost in total about 3,500 Baht, plus 4 Leos and a burger for the use of a friend's pick up truck.

From Thai Watsadu in Bangkok.

[T_Dog]

Wow, that is gorgeous, indeed. Nice work. I wish I would have known about that before we decided on those very large tiles. I especially like the reveal left on the edges. Ours got put in flush and I have to use the cutting board to catch the crumbs when we clean it off. ett

I just got a big slab of granite put over the tiles in my place. Got it cut exactly to size (forgot to drill a hole though, see my other thread!) and just laid it over the top of the old tiles, glued on with cement glue and it's great. Not as nicely done as T-Dogs, but it cost in total about 3,500 Baht, plus 4 Leos and a burger for the use of a friend's pick up truck.

From Thai Watsadu in Bangkok.

Sounds good! I had an extra cost as well in a bottle of Hong Thong as the crew finished off the sink cut out so we can use it as a table.

[NBD]

Do you have one very long piece as well? With the sink in it?

I had two shorter pieces of 1.5M each.

[T_Dog]

Do you have one very long piece as well? With the sink in it?

I had two shorter pieces of 1.5M each.

Just saw this post so apologies for the delay. Yes, the sink is in a long slab so that we don't have any seams until you get to the section on the left wall.

Finally drew up a plan for the carpenter and had him build up a Teak cabinet for the sink cut out piece. We put it on rollers so it can be up against the wall or moved to the center of the kitchen as a small island. He charged us 4000 baht which I thought was reasonable for the quality of joinery this guy does.

[Khun Jean]

Now that is a nice piece of work.

I also like the walls. What did you do to get that?

[T_Dog]

Now that is a nice piece of work.

I also like the walls. What did you do to get that?

Normal render that is pressure steel troweled several times to bring up the fine solids. A lot of work over about six hours. After it cures it is sealed with A100 acrylic sealer. There was a thread on this just a few weeks ago here on ThaiVisa. Tough part is finding a crew capable and willing to do it.