" This is one of the many countertops that are going into this fine home. What kind of granite is this fellow?"

" This is Baltic brown."

" Baltic brown. And it looks to be pretty heavy and pretty thick."

" Yeah, it weighs around 250 to 300 pounds."

" Oh. What's the thickness of it?"

" It's an inch and a quarter."

" Yeah, so why have you brought it to the site this way? I've noticed you've got holes. This were 2 lavatories are being placed, right?"

" Right. The bars are support bar. This keeps it stabilized for lateral support."

" Uh huh."

" And keeps it from flexing, whenever I carry it to the end to lay it down the top, it keeps it from flexing."

" Well, the main thing is transporting it into truck over a bumpy road, you could break this expensive piece of stone very easily, so by cutting the 4 corners with a drill and then just scoring and making the initial cut, you've still left the piece more or less intact, so that it has got some integrity, that's pretty thin on each end, isn't it?"

" Right, sure it is."

" Okay. Now, the suction cups in the bar just add rigidity to the whole thing."

" Correct."

" Okay. What's its worth?"

" This would run about $500 to $600."

" $500 or $600. Yeah. Okay, can I give you a hand in bringing it into the bathroom?"

" No, we'll take care of it."

" Okay. Now, the interesting thing about Starr Monument is the original company, who's in the tombstone business, right?"

" That's right."

" You got it flipped around?"

" Yeah."

" Okay. Now, we're looking at the underside of it, which is the unpolished side and that really gives you an idea of what it looks like when it comes out of the quarry."

" Slightly movable."

" Now, this is just dry fitting it, right?"

" That's right. When you actually lay it down, will you put any kind of material between the granite and the wood top of the cabinet?"

" After we get it in place, now, we've got to set it right, we'll lift it up and put a base of silicone up on the bottom for cushion."

" Okay. What do you think?"

" Looks pretty good."

" We're gonna tie off from an end to that end."

" Alright, we'll get the silicone there. And silicone is the best product to use, I understand, because it's gonna maintain its elasticity for a long, long time."

" That's right, silicone is a good cushion. And silicone bonds is a lot better that you would think it would. You can't get this back up as with silicone bond without a lot of hard work."

" Yeah."

" Push back first and then lay it down. That bullnose edge is really beautiful. Now, the hard part, right? Because once you've taken the reinforcing off, you're gonna start grinding and cutting?"

" That's right, we're gonna cut this thing and hold it down."

" Alright, let's watch."

" Okay."

" Now, what kind of tools and what kind of blade are we talking about here?"

" We got a diamond-tipped saw blade. The diamond cut this and it's very beautiful."

" Okay. We're using a vacuum cleaner next to the saw blade to keep dust down and the surface clear, so that technician can see what he's doing. We use the suction handle to lift out the piece we've cut for the first lavatory. Now, we'll get started right away on the space for the second lavatory. Let's let these guys fly with that saw. Okay, the suction cup makes it easier to pick up that section that has been cut out. It probably weighs 40 pounds. It would make a nice little tabletop. I'm always wondering, you know, there's so much waste involved in this, why wouldn't an architect just specify that you put a long strip with a bullnose on the front, strips on the side, a solid piece on the middle, you know? People don't like the seams and it would less expensive and easier on us."

" It would be."

" It would be but seeing the stapled seam not to like that."

" Okay. Well, its beautiful. Let's see what our lavatory will look like in here. This is a new design Memoirs that Kohler has brought out and it's in a color that they called sandbar. Let's take a look at how it fits in. Obviously the plumber would have to come and do this properly from down below. and that's nice. A very nice color contrast between the sandbar and the granite. "