soapstone frustration

14 years ago

After visiting the four main stoneyards in my area in upstate

NY, it seems there is little knowledge of soapstone! All the places carry it, and have installed it, but they tell me there

are only two varieties: green and gray and there are no real

differences in hardness. None of the slabs are named- all come from Brazil. "Soapstone is soapstone". A couple of the

places can get honed Virginia Mist (which we also love) so we may go that route.But if we do go with the soapstone, how would we know what we are getting?

Featured Answer

morgne

14 years ago

Sayde,

For what it's worth, M tex has usually beeen very responsive to the issues I've seen here. I really liked them when I was dealing with them (though I opted to buy my soapstone locally).

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Comments (12)

amberley
14 years ago
You really need to go to soapstone people. How far are you from NYC? M. Teixeira is in NJ just outside the city in Hackensack. I live in Baltimore and I traveled there to pick my stone. They installed it as well- they will travel pretty far. I was thrilled with my experience. There are MANY varieties of ss, and a range of hardness in the stones.

Here is a link that might be useful: M. Teix
gayleski
14 years ago
I don't know how far upstate you are, but there are a few soapstone fabricators in western VT.

We used RMG Stone in Castleton and are thrilled with the installation. They only have one kind of soapstone, Green Mountain Original, but I believe they own the quarry, so can give you details about it.

Another dealer in the same area is Vermont Marble, Granite, Slate & Soapstone Co, but I don't have any information about them.
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wa8b
14 years ago
Vermont Soapstone is one of the better known purveyors of soapstone in the Northeast. They're in Pekinsville, in eastern Vermont. Even if that's too far away from you, you should visit their website which contains a lot of useful information.

Here is a link that might be useful: Vermont Soapstone
darbuka
14 years ago
I agree, contact M. Teixeira. Their NJ location is just north of NYC, and yes,
they will travel far to do an installation.

If possible, plan a visit to their warehouse. Viewing their many soapstone
varieties with your own eyes, will be worth the trip. Plus, Leo will answer
any questions you may have.
sayde
14 years ago
I just got a quote from M Tex. They said they would not be able to do an installation in Rochester New York. They quoted me a price for shipping the fabricated slabs. I was a little disappointed -- not counting them out but am getting other quotes (Vermont, Maine and Bucks County). An acquaintance of mine got her slabs shipped to Rochester from MTex (about two years ago) and one of them was cracked. Sample of one, I know, but made me a little worried.
marthavila
14 years ago
A couple of years ago, there was an excellent thread which compiled soapstone suppliers/fabricators throughout the US. Several of those references were to highly experienced, knowledgeable and trustworthy dealers in the upstate New York/ New England area, including Vermont Soapstone, Green Mountain, Maine Soapstone and some others. Check it out and good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Soapstone Suppliers
darbuka
14 years ago
Doing a little search, I found that Dorado Soapstone has two locations
that service NY. One, Central New England Soapstone, is upstate in
Greenwich, NY. Though Greenwich is east of you (near Albany), perhaps
they'll travel the 3 hours to Rochester.

Up State New York:
Central New England Soapstone
259 Stevenson Rd
Greenwich NY 12834
Tel 888-742-4202
Fax 888742-4203

Here is a link that might be useful: Dorado Soapstone
suzluvsflowers
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks to all of you for your replies! I had contacted
M. Teix but the Finger Lakes region is too far away for them to install, although we could order from them. Ditto for Vermont Soapstone. I'll definitely contact Dorado and the others mentioned in link. Again, thanks so much...I'll keep you posted!
darbuka
14 years ago
Suz...here's another idea...given your location, perhaps Canadian Soapstone
makes sense. They're located in Woodlawn, Ontario. You'll see on the
website, they've shipped as far as Texas.

Hoping something'll work for you!

Here is a link that might be useful: Canadian Soapstone
portland_renovation
14 years ago
I ordered my soapstone from M Tex (all the way to Portland, OR) and had my carpenters do the installation, so that is an option if you are willing to have the installation done by someone else. I actually liked having my carpenters do the installation because they have already done other work around the kitchen, and I was really pleased with their work, so didn't have to get to know another sub.

You can use traditional wood-working tools on the soapstone, and my carpenters said it cuts like a dream -- very easy to work with.

I found M Tex very easy to work with, and the 4 slabs came undamaged, in great condition. They were actually the only part of my kitchen that showed up *early* -- everything else (predictably) was delayed. So the soapstone sat around in my garage for two weeks while everything else caught up!
PRO
Garden State Soapstone
14 years ago
Hi I am new to the forum. However, I am an expert soapstone fabricator located in NJ, Garden State Soapstone. We also represent all of Dorado's soapstone. We would have no problem traveling to any part of NY to fabricate and install your kitchen countertops. If you have a kitchen layout you can fax or e-mail your layout. Our information is located on our website, www.gardenstatesoasptone.com.
Jay

jay@gardenstatesoapstone.com
(Ph)732-828-7000
(Fax) 732-422-7411

soapstone frustration

morgne

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amberley

gayleski

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