Marble grooving or cutting a dado or rabbit

[jsherw]

I am seeking a marble fabricator capable of creating a tub apron with inset panels. Hopefully one of three panels could be removable for plumbing access. At least one fabricator told me they were not set up to do this. I live in San Francisco bay area. My interest is 1-1/4" marble bianco carrara. Any suggestions would be helpful. Or could I do this with a wet saw and diamond router bit. Thank you. Jim

[tims]

Hi , Jim 
 I'm a fabricator not in your area but what you want to do would be very expensive
I know sometimes money is not an issue but you can accomplish the same look and put
some gas money in your pocket, have a fabricator make the apron to your specs , the
panels need to fit in the cut outs and the panels can be flush or recessed to get the
look you want by putting lumber in the opening to support the panels the panels can
be glued in or use heavy magnets to make them removable they actually make magnets
and plates for this purpose. Mark might be able to help with those
Tim

[Mark D.]

We don't carry magnets, but thanks for the thought Tim.
Just make sure your LICENSED fabrication contractor has done these before. They should have a portfolio.

Glad to be of service,
Mark

[jsherw]

Thanks Tim and Mark.
So you mean that the panneled apron is built up of two long horizontal rails, 4 vertical ladder rails connecting them, panels between the rails spaced away from the front by wooden spacers; then everything is glued together - probably with rodding in place to hold. This is without any rabbeting or dado cutting. I am guessing that fiting peices together with rabbets or dados at the edges is not practical in marble. That is, no rectangular ledges cut along the edges of a plate or rail to locate it in place for glueing - is this true?
Thanks again for the enlightenment.
Jim
 

[tims]

Hi Jim ,
yes , that's it ! It will look great !
In my opinion carrara is a strong marble and easy to work with, depending on
the size of the apron and panels (and your fabricators skill) the apron can be
one piece of stone with cutouts in it , I don't like to see all those seams .
Of coarse this will add to the fabrication cost but the install will be much
easier and the final result will look much cleaner
hope that helps
Tim

[jsherw]

Thanks Tim, I do appreciate your help.
Jim

[tims]

Glad to help, good luck !