Lifting Large Stone Pieces
To which I now reply, “Yes sir, it is. I’m fixing to move this piece in the house. But first, I’ll eat this delicious, deep-fried _________ (insert any food selection here) for strength.”
All kidding aside – granite is not getting any lighter. Over the years, I’ve dealt with that weight in almost every situation possible.
I’ve had pieces craned and SkyTracked into place. I’ve taken out ceiling panels in elevators and held up pieces at an agonizing angle above my head until we got to the right floor and out the door. I helped move a thousand-pound island into place with nine used-car salesmen on a -10°F Wisconsin winter morning. (We slid that one on cardboard once it was in the house, and listened to the mortar bed under the tile floor shatter with every push.)
I also helped move a couple of 100” 3cm pieces up the middle of a three-story spiral staircase – not something I’m going to recommend to anyone. The risk/ reward ratio on that one was skewed pretty heavily against us.
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Some natural- and engineered-stone companies have been trying to move the industry toward 2cm and even 1cm with a backing material to eliminate many weight problems. Some markets are responding; but, in many places, 3cm is still the only acceptable offering. The overwhelming attitude is that handling the weight is easier than playing with the glue.
Having come from a 3cm background into a 2cm shop, I can see the logic on both sides. The 2cm is lighter and less expensive, but there is time, money and risk involved with the lamination process. And, although the lamination itself is nearly invisible in many cases, our good customer Ms. Jones is likely to reject the top if she can see the lamination line too prominently.
Meanwhile, 3cm cuts and machines quickly, but the slabs are more-expensive and the material is heavy. Also, 3cm splash can look cumbersome, potentially adding the rip-down step to your production process.
The reality is that we will probably always have a mix of 2cm and 3cm jobs. Which means that heavy lifting is here to stay.
The two ways of dealing with it are pretty cut-and-dried. You either plan ahead and use your small staff and equipment to its optimal performance, or bring along a bunch of hired hands and wrestle big pieces into place.
I’m not particularly fond of being responsible for a bunch of people on a jobsite because they are, well, people. If you’re an independent template/ installer (as more of you probably will be in the future) gathering a group of guys together who don’t have anything else to do can be troublesome.
If you manage to find some guys, getting them to show up on time, sober and at the right location can be a challenge. In addition, every person you bring out to the jobsite becomes a business liability for you. If one of them gets hurt moving a heavy piece, you shoulder the medical burden.
Also (and no offense) it’s not like you’re gathering a group of Einsteins to move a piece of stone. I’ve had people say dumb things on a jobsite and offend both Ms. Jones and the on-site contractor; if you get enough construction guys together, it’s bound to happen.
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Finally, unless you’ve bid the additional labor into the job, you could be cutting into your profit margin by bringing along extra manpower.
In my opinion, the best thing you can do for heavy lifting is to design each step of the countertop process with the goal of making pieces manageable enough for your normal crew. This begins with the bidding process; your estimators should have comfort-level guidelines for what your shop considers to be a reasonably sized piece.
The homeowners and contractors need to understand that just because a piece will technically “fit” their slab, that doesn’t mean it’s going to show up without a seam. On an 8’ 3cm countertop depth run, a 36” return on one end is usually not a problem. Is a 48” or 60” return possible? Sure. Do I want to install it with two guys? Personally, no.
The price for a seamless vs. seamed piece should be different as well. If you base square-foot pricing on the largest outside dimensions of each piece, as some shops do, you can usually avoid that large seamless L piece.
The conundrum for Ms. Jones is that she doesn’t want to pay for waste created by a seamless piece, but the granite countertop in her neighbor’s kitchen has the worst seam, and she’ll have none of that in her home, thank you. The easiest solution for this is to train your installers to do good seams, and have seam examples for Ms. Jones to look at to set her mind at ease. If you can show her a seam that’s flush and barely noticeable, her reluctance will probably vanish.
The next part of the process is the templater’s responsibility, with enough installation experience to know the limitations of installers and their methods. Keeping these things in mind should lead to working out the best path for the pieces to travel, and presenting this to the installers ahead of time. This way, they don’t have to spend any time planning on-site, thus speeding up the install.
The shortest path is normally the best one, but not always. If a longer route will allow the installers to use a drywall cart or dolly for a longer period, it may be less work for them. A steep front staircase may also prevent use of the front entryway. The templater also needs to look at the width of the path the piece will travel. Lifting a heavy piece is tough, but discovering halfway there that it’s not going to fit around a corner is disheartening.
With many houses, the kitchen is in the back; if it’s possible to drive your installation vehicle to the back door to unload, do it. Just get permission first, and always make sure the vehicle and the path are suitable. I had an install crew get the truck stuck in the mud as they pulled next to a house. And, much to the dismay of the builder and my boss at the time, the guys proceeded to track mud all over the house and leave a bunch of mud on the street.
I also had an island tip over and crack as the truck was being backed up close to the house to unload. Muddy ruts caused the island to rock back and forth and fall over. Naturally, I had to steal a slab I’d designated for another job to replace it, creating a whole new set of problems.
For heavy pieces, the right installation vehicle is important. A box truck with a ramp is my ideal. A low trailer also works well, as does a van with side-mounted racks. (I’ve liked the ones from F. Barkow.).
Anyone trying to hump heavy pieces out of the back of a pickup truck or down the back of a box truck with no ramp is asking for trouble. It’s dangerous and has lots of potential snags involved for chipping or cracking the edge of a piece of granite.
There are four great products for moving around heavy pieces that I highly recommend. First, lifting handles; just as most of us can’t imagine installing without seam setters, I wouldn’t dream of trying to install without a set of lifting handles. I’ve personally installed a 600-lbs piece with just two guys, and I’ve watched two guys install a 700-lbs piece. (That was a little out there for me.)
All the stone tool suppliers carry lifting handles at a reasonable cost. The newest generation of lifting handles from Omni Cubed (the Mega Jaw Carry Clamps) are super-lightweight and feature a rubber tube on the business part of the handle. Not only do they not slip as easily as traditional lifting handles, they don’t slide off if you let them go. You don’t have to worry as much about Ms. Jones’s floor getting dinged from a dropped handle.
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Second, a great drywall-type cart. Mine has been “scientifically” carpet- and duct-tape-modified to cushion the ride and avoid scratching polished pieces slid onto the bottom of the cart. Remember to always be careful where you’re using a cart, as they can and will tip over if used incorrectly.
Also remember that the angle at the bottom of your ramp is vitally important when carting a piece down from the truck. I’ve seen the bottom corners blown off an island by a crew that didn’t take the geometry of a ramp descent into account.
Keep in mind that the wheels on these things need to be carefully inspected if you are going to roll a cart through a house with wood or natural-stone floors. It’s well worth your time to lay down plywood on the path of your cart, especially if the appliances aren’t in place. When the refrigerator guys roll in an 800-lbs Sub-Zero on a dolly and groove the floor, at least they can’t try to blame you.
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Third, the Pro-Dolly from Omni Cubed (and I’m not paid at all for mentioning this – I just like the product). A pair of these clamped to the bottom of an island saves a ton of effort. Take care to always position the countertop piece so that the spinning clamp hits on the back, avoiding any possibility of scratching the front.
Last but not least are Rock Blocks. We use them with great success as we “stage” a piece in order to move it step-by-step. This is especially true on surfaces where you can’t use the Pro-Dolly, such as the the back side of a house that’s on a hill. A pair of Rock Blocks sure beats staging sets of 2 X 4s at set distances along your path.
Struggling to make it to your next resting point is just asking for trouble. With the Rock Blocks attached, you and your lifting partner can rest when needed with no risk to the stone.
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Using these four tools, along with logical piece layout, opportunistic truck parking, and a well-planned lifting path, can really help make heavy lifting with a small crew go smoothly.
Jason Nottestad, a 15-year veteran of the stone industry, is National Customer Service Manager for VT Stone Surfaces; he’s now on his third year of “The Installer” columns for Stone Business. He can be reached at JNottestad@vtindustries.com.
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