Hello All,
I’ve been given an early 1900’s pine framed single drawer table with a light grey slab of marble on top. As much as I love it, I’m concerned that I’m not going to be able to do exactly what I want with it.
It took 7 of us to move the top, I weigh 205, bench press 315 and I was the little guy.
I’d love to put it in a mountain house as a prep island. It has so much history. The slab is 49″ x 61″ x 3″. I do not see a practical way to get it in place due to logistics.
So…… 1. I sell the whole thing….any idea how much it’s worth?
2. I sell the slab…again how much is it worth?…..then I move the base frame to the mountains, where I can carry it by myself, and then build a new counter top base and inlay ceramic tile.
Feedback?
Thanks,
Pedro’s still mule headed
Replies
Option #3
Invent the wheel so you can handle it.
My fighting weight is about 155#. given enough time, heaad scrtching, and basic machines like wedges, levers, inclines, and wheels, I have never run into anything I can't move.
So think like an Egyptian and yopu can keep your marble
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It only weighs 500 - to 600 pounds if a cubic foot weighs 120 lbs.
An easy job for a granite countertop company to move for you
Concerning weight.....This is a high density marble coming in at 169.35 lb/cu.ft.
The top is 49"x61"x3".....so that's about 879 lbs
I guess I could consider building a pneumatic tired crate, crank it onto the trailer with a winch, then use an engine hoist to lift it into place......
Add to it about 120 lbs. of the framework it rests upon and that weight will rest on 4 true 4x4's.
So 1000 lbs. on 64 sq. in.
What kind of floor joist setup will it take to carry that 14'
Anybody care to engineer that one?
Any other ideas?
Thanks,
Pedro the swaybacked mule
I've got a 1000 lb piano on 4 little casters, total surface contact with the 3/4" Hickory floor, on roughsawn 2x8 joists spanning 8'of, about ,1 sq in a pc. I can roll it around single handedly.
Think on that.
"I'd love to put it in a mountain house as a prep island. It has so much history. "
sounds like you are going to regret it if you don't find a way to make it happen...
c'mon now, you can figure this out, I'm sure of it!
Only dead fish swim with the stream.
Author Unknown
I assume from your post that there's no way to get a motorized vehicle up to this "mountain house"? If that's the case, can you get a donkey or pony cart up there?
Assuming you can, try to find someone who will rent you a cart and animal (mule, horse, donkey). Build a rack that will hold the marble at an angle such that it is no wider than the cart.
If the path is wooded, you could probably even do without the animal and use a couple of winches.
If this is crazy, ignore me, but could you get the top to a stone fabricator and have it resawn into two or three slabs? Use the existing top on your table and use the other piece(s) somewhere else.
Or, cut it in half and move it, then seam it back together.
There is a special punishment in the hereafter for individuals who mess up or separate a beautiful piece of furniture because it was "too difficult" to deal with. If the piece is truely an antique, how did the original craftsman handle it? We are all mearly the current caretakers of some of these pieces and it is should be a crime to separate a piece from it's intended top, just because you can't figure out how to move it. Those who came before you seem to have done it just fine, figure it out or give the piece to someone who can truely appreciate what the artist intended whne it was made. There is a way, find it!
I agree that I am the privileged current caretaker. This came from one of those corporate buyout deals that the money guys could care less. They wanted to put carpet down and it had to be "disposed of" immediately.
I had to grab and run with it to save it and at the moment don't even have a proper way of storing it. I certainly know I have a responsibility to do my best to look after it and pass along it's story and history. That's one reason I've even started contacting antique dealers to see if someone would be a better caretaker than myself.
So far no one has expressed interest in this unique piece of history, although everyone that has seen it is envious until they chicken out at the shear weight of it.
Concerning usage in our planned mountain home, the property is currently accessible by way of 4x4 during decent weather. We plan to improve upon that prior to construction.
My biggest hesitation at the moment is that I expect to perform "all" of the work on my on just as I did the home I'm currently living in. I've learned how to pulley LVL's into place and such but so far this slab has me quite puzzled. If I continue with the dolly/crate I have it in at this time, I have to deal with it tipping....a deathly object if it gets off balance. It's so wide it won't go through a doorway lying flat.
From a caretaker point of view, how dastardly would it be to follow one suggestion posted here, have it sliced to three 1" pieces. This would provide the same "look" to the original piece and make it more manageable, then the remaining two slices could be cut lengthwise and produce 20 linear feet of countertop for the kitchen?
Pedro in need of another mule
You haven't started construction yet?Encase the whole thing in a stout crate built to be picked up with slings or forks, and make a deal with your lumber yard to deliver it.Put casters on the crate so you can move it around the new place easier.Geez, it's only 1000#. I could load, deliver, and unload that by myself in my Toyota.SamT
Edited 7/31/2007 12:09 pm by SamT
Thanks Sam, that's the kind of encouragement I need....a can do attitude no matter how flattened I might be......yeah I don't mind risking a 30 ft. fall without a safety harness.....break a neck and die quickly.....but having a 1000 lb. slab fall on me and slowly suffocate me is not very pleasing to think about.
I do like your idea about the local lumber yard. Where I live now I can get assistance to load it on my trailer, then pull it to the location six hours away and have a lumber loader lift and place it when they make the delivery after the floor is framed and sheathed.
I could have them set it flat on a 36" high dolly. Wheel it in and around construction, then when all is finished, roll it up next to the real 1900's frame and use thin dowels to slide it into place.
So far I like this idea.......keep 'em coming......we're thinkin' now,
Pedro - sipping a little Jamaican Blue Mountain Gold
IMO, you need to pack it/crate it securely vertically with triangular bracing. Marble at three inches is quite strong, but marble always has the tendency to crack along vein lines when subject to shear stress, so keep it vertical.
In the museum where I worked we'd crate items/objects like this as described, using ethofoam (or similar) and wooden bracing. And no piffin screws, use sheet metal screws.
Like Sphere, I moved an upright piano solo, 800+ lbs using leverage, jacks, dollys, and whatever else I could get my hands on. But, I did it.Expert since 10 am.
We have a baby grand piano that I was shown how to move. Basically you need to get something under it and move it on it's side so it fits through doors.
You never pick up the whole piano. You take off a leg and put that corner down. Take off another leg and set that corner down. At this point you have the long straight side of the piano on the ground. This long straight side you put on a carpeted board and you tilt up the piano on it. You strap the piano onto the board.
So now you have a piano on it's side strapped to board. Then you pick up one side and put a 4 wheel floor dolly under it in the middle of the board. To this point you never picked up the whole piano. Just half.
You get the idea. Another good reason to have it on it's side is it would have much less of a chance cracking on it's side. On a carpeted board, on it's side, the trip in a truck should be fine.
Thanks for the input, probably the biggest important difference in this slab and a piano...the piano on its side has a wider footprint....maybe 15" or so......this slab only has 3" making it rather tipsy.
The crate I built around it does stabilize it some and the base is 32" wide but it's still oddly top heavy. I bolted the casters to the bottom of the crate so wheels are built in but I can't see wheeling it across a construction site and I can't see waiting until the house is finished and rolling it across newly finished wood floors.
Still thinking and looking for ideas..........
I could build a pneumatic tired dolly and use my old mower to pull it up a construction ramp and across the raw floor framing prior to framing the walls and build the house up around it, shifting the piece as construction progresses.
Another option, wait 90 days or so for the fresh poly (when the time comes) to harden, then lay down carpet and slide it on those disk type furniture movers. I would still need multiple assistants for this idea. I've got great friends but the property is six hours away making it difficult to coordinate everyones time schedules.
Please keep the ideas coming....you've got this stubborn ol' mule thinkin'
Pedro
Either you need to type faster, or I need to read slower. LOLAnyway. As soon as you decide you can do this, ideas will start to flow outa yer own hed, and you won't need us.SamT
I didn't know you had worked out some of this already. The crate with wheels is the way to go.
You do need help even when you have all the details worked out. I had help from church on both sides of our move.
You could plan some event at your house to get men over there. Football? Hunting? Party? Getting people to get in line and working together is probably the biggest challenge of any endeavor.
Glad to see you're thinking more positive now. I saw major regret looming if you didn't make the effort. Money's only money. Unlikely you'll have another opportunity similar to that table.
I certainly wouldn't cut it. As Sam notes, it's really not that heavy, for leveraged pulling. Building the place around it seems appropriate to me. Gonna be a showpiece anyhow, now you've got a shrine. LOL And a great story.
If you have problems with your driveway and a truck, look around for someone with an ex-military truck. They'd enjoy showing off. Piece easily fits in the back and they go where you point them. Top heavy just means strapping it down securely.
I recently moved a large metal lathe that was extremely top heavy, and probably twice your table. I used tractor hydraulics, loading and unloading, 'cause I had it availbable but an improvised gantry crane between a couple of trees works fine.
I generally work solo. It's slower, you improvise. And learn as you go. Next time you'll be ready. PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
I have a dolly that I built to move concrete countertops and slabs of stone.
The slabs are transported on edge, the tires pneumatic, I can move about 600# from the truck to a kitchen by myself. Above that I get a helper.
I wheel the dolly up against the countertop, tilt the slab against the cabinets, and tilt and slide the top into place.
Did a 2-1/2" thick 3' by 8' long slab of bluestone a couple of weeks ago.
You can do it. Or you'll be sorry you didn't. And when you're done, think of the stories you can tell.
Mongo
"You can do it. Or you'll be sorry you didn't. And when you're done, think of the stories you can tell"
Yeah like " don't step on them pink marshmallows right there...(pointing down at the floor) Thems my testicles"
Is that one of my discs and a couple of my vertebrae that just popped out of my back and went flying across the room?A few more of these jobs and I'll only be 5'4".
Reminds me of one evening taking out my trash to the road. Wife ( now the ex) says " while yer at it, take that metal can out in the front yard". About a 35 gallon galvanized trash can with the lid on.
I went zipping out at a pretty good pace, it was raining and early fall, getting dark. I grabbed a handle as went by, and WHAMMM. Landed flat on my back, with a trash can handle in my hand..snapped it clean off.
WTF? I got up, took off the lid and looked inside...she had FILLED the damm thing with acorns she raked up outta the yard, musta weighed 300 lbs. LOL
Needless to say, it didn't get out to the road that night.