Stone & marble installation.

Marble is not porcelain. It moves with humidity, stains under wine, etches under lemon, and reads different at every finish — honed, polished, leathered, flamed. The setting crew has to know the difference between a Statuario that needs a white-bodied thinset to stay color-true and a Pietra Grey that drinks any acidic water it touches before it is sealed.

We set natural stone and marble across floors, walls, wet areas, fireplace surrounds, and primary-suite vanity tops. Every spec — substrate, mortar, grout, sealer — is matched to the stone before it leaves the supplier crate.

How natural stone actually gets set

1 · Stone selection and slab inspection

We walk the slab yard with the homeowner or designer when the stone is selected — bookmatch direction, vein continuity, edge finish all decided against the actual slabs in inventory. Slabs are tagged, hold-shipped, and inspected on arrival in our shop for cracks, voids, and resin lines that did not show in the yard.

2 · Substrate prep

Floor: leveled to ± 1.5 mm over a 3 m straightedge (see floor leveling). Wall: framed plumb to ± 1/8”, cement board at 6” o.c. Wet area: full Schluter Kerdi membrane, flood-tested. Substrate signed off before stone arrives.

3 · Mortar matched to stone

White-bodied LATICRETE 254 Platinum on every white marble — Calacatta, Statuario, Carrara — to prevent gray-mortar bleed-through on translucent stones. Polymer-modified gray on dense dark stones (Pietra Grey, Nero Marquina). Honed and leathered finishes get the same mortar; flamed gets a higher-build comb to capture the surface profile.

4 · Set, level, joint

Vacuum-frame set on any slab over 1 m². RLS leveling clips at 18” o.c. on every perimeter. Joint width per design — 1.5 mm dry joint on slab work, 2 to 3 mm on cut-to-size pavers, 1/8” on mosaic. We rake the joint flush with the stone face, never proud, never sunken.

5 · Cure, grout, seal

48 h cure before grout. LATICRETE Permacolor Select on color-matched dry-joint stone; SpectraLOCK Pro Premium epoxy on wet-area stone. Sealed with MIRACLE 511 Impregnator (or matched product per stone type) — two coats, second coat after 24 h, before any traffic on the floor.

Partner systems we set every day

• Calacatta, Statuario, Carrara — Italian white marbles. Bookmatched, vein-continuity drafted, set on white-bodied mortar.
• Pietra Grey, Nero Marquina — dense dark marbles. Set on standard polymer-modified mortar, sealed before grout to prevent grout pickup.
• Travertine — vein-cut and cross-cut, honed or filled. Sealed with a penetrating impregnator before grout.
• Onyx & basalt — translucent and dense back-lit applications. Set on white-bodied mortar, joint widths reviewed against the lighting plan.
• MIRACLE 511 Impregnator — penetrating, no-film sealer. The product we apply on every honed and leathered marble we set.
• LATICRETE 254 Platinum & Permacolor Select — the mortar and grout we set every stone in.

Where this matters most

Brickell penthouses spec Calacatta floors across great rooms — bookmatched 1.2 m × 2.4 m slabs, polished, sealed twice before any furniture lands. Coral Gables historic homes land on travertine pool decks and entry foyers — vein-cut, honed, cross-laid for a quieter pattern. Key Biscayne waterfront primary baths use Statuario walls and a marble curb under a glass enclosure — sealed, joint-color matched, warranted against grout pickup. Pinecrest single-story remodels add a Pietra Grey kitchen island wrap — waterfall on three sides, vein continuous across the seam. Each stone is one conversation with the supplier, one mortar choice, one sealer.

What the spec sheet should say

If you are an architect or designer specifying our install, four lines are enough:

Stone: bookmatched layout drafted pre-fabrication; slabs hold-shipped and inspected on arrival. Substrate: leveled to ± 1.5 mm over a 3 m straightedge; framed plumb to ± 1/8” on vertical applications. Mortar: white-bodied LATICRETE 254 Platinum on white marble; polymer-modified on dense darks. Sealer: MIRACLE 511 Impregnator or matched product per stone, two coats, before traffic.

We will hit those four lines, we will document the layout and the sealer schedule, and we will sign off the floor with the homeowner before any rug or furniture lands.