What can you accomplish in 320 hours? - Check this out.

Most people generally thing that time lapse videos are pretty cool.  But the builder inside all of us will appreciate this one.  15 days.  We all know China is growing at a fast rate, but I didn't realise it was quite this fast! 

Modular construction is still in its relative infancy in here in Oz - makes you wonder how long it will be until this type of activity takes place in our backyard.

Broad Group, a Chinese construction company previously famous for building a 15 storey building in a week have now upped their record - to a 30 storey building in just 15 days.

Natural Stone, Quartz or Concrete Counter-top? 

Here is some great, straight forward info on how to care for these products.

1. Make sure that your countertop has been sealed with a Dry-Treat world leading permanent impregnating sealer, for premium stain protection.
2. Click this link, and print the page that it takes you to.  Read it, understand it, and follow it.
3. Pour a glass of red wine for yourself, sit back and enjoy (if you spill some wine - you know you're safe...).

Thanks to the guys from Dry-Treat for this info.

Are you an industry professional?  Then let the boss know that you have somewhere to be on the afternoon of November 9th - or if you are the boss, just take it!

FREE EVENT - CLICK THE IMAGE TO REGISTER - LIMIT 100 GUESTS

This is shaping up to be a great event, the website is a buzz with people reserving their place.

REGISTRATION TAKES 20 seconds - MAKE SURE YOU REGISTER NOW!

TRADIE GOLF 2011!!!

Fun times were had on that Spring afternoon, Sept 23, as a select group of Geelongs tilers holstered their trowels for the afternoon and tried their golf swing to perhaps pick up a few prizes - but mainly a few laughs.  

CLOSEST TO THE NICK COMP

1st hole of the day, there he is, Nick - our Mapei mannequin - dead center of the fairway.  Nick escaped unharmed.

BANANAS ON FOUR WHEELS

Turns out Gebsy & Bilbo make quite good Photographers and Officiators (and push-er-over-er-of-golf-carts), zooming around all day on four wheels terrorising the wild-life & ensuring everybody was 'having fun'...

SPONSORS

Big ups to our main sponsor!  The boys from CMI (REDBACK LASERS) were generous enough to put up a Cross1 laser for Best Golfer Of the Day, and a couple of the lads headed down and joined us to hit a few balls around (and throw back a few beers...).  Big thanks!  Of course, the ever dependable Mapei provided 2nd and 3rd prizes, as well as decking us all out with caps & drink bottles (& other goodies) via the 'happy fun time' show-bag. 

INJURIES

A couple of scrapes but no golf balls to the head - quite surprising considering how many people think they actually are Happy Gilmore...

WINNERS....!

All attempts to keep score cards true & correct were made, checking and cross checking - but who really knows...  No, we all had a bit of fun and here are the days outcomes:

• Best of the Day - Gav
  
• Runner Up - Calvin
  
• 2nd Runner Up - Tim
  
• Closest to the Nick - Luke
  
• Closest to the Pin - Mick
  
• I Said I Couldn't Play - Adrian
  

FUN TIMES ALL AROUND

Thanks to Michael and the team at The Queens Park Golf Club for having us and for cooking up tasty post-golf snacks.  If the'll let us back and we didn't tear up the course too much perhaps we might think about getting another day in before Summers out.  And perhaps this time we'll actually start on time - turns out our tilers are a lot more prompt than we give them credit for!

Thanks to everybody there on the day!  Here is a smattering of pics to remind us of the adventures...

There he is - NICK!

What's wrong with this guy

Gebsy, Bilbo & Nick - Nick had to see the rest of the course too

hmmm... put down the phone Jez!

Busted!

There are people following me...

Easy does it....

"It's all in the hips..."

"You guys stay here, I'll go make sure the beer taps are working..."

Medic!!!!

Dude, put down that phone!

"I swear, I was just trying to find my golf ball..."

This is what you get for trying to mess with the Golf Buggy boys

Ok, here you go dude, get out of this one bunker boy...

Not Bad!!! But you're still going to lose your clubs...

Ah, the golf pro pose... 

Closest to the pin - yeah!

And later on back at the 19th hole...

Presentations - Tim gave an excellent speech....

Tasty snacks!

Seriously, there is something wrong with this guy...

Many thanks to Nick, for without whom the afternoon would have been just another round of golf...

Mapei – ULTRACOLOR PLUS

"Fast setting and drying grout for 2 to 20 mm joints, available in 26 colours; does not produce efflorescence" -data sheet

Ok, so Mapei's Ultracolor has been around for a while now, but amazingly only a small percentage of tilers are using it, and barely any people building/renovating even know it exists.  Thought I'd share some basics with you.

MOST PEOPLE DON'T HAVE PERSONAL HOUSE CLEANING MAIDS

Interestingly, once we explain the product to customers when they are looking for tiles for their home, knowing that this product exists often influences their tile choice (they get pick the ones they really wanted) - why?  Simple - people hate cleaning, and grout means more cleaning yeah?  Well... maybe not any more.  

AESTHETICALLY, GROUT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE WEAKEST LINK

Technology advances are serving us well.  Those not familiar with this product owe it to themselves (& to their clients) to check this out for a simple little example of Ultracolour in action.  

Don't forget your black gloves

Without repeating the info on the Data Sheet HERE (Tilers check it out, some of the stats will surprise you), this stuff is like a 'Super Grout', and we're confident that once you use it, you'll want all your customers to request it.  

COVERAGE

Of course, coverage is dependant on the size of the joint, however most tilers are "...surprised just how far it goes..."  Considering the specs say useful for grout joints '2 to 20mm' this truly is a one size fits all product.  For coverage guide see the data sheet below.

... and don't forget your yellow gloves

OK - SO WHAT ABOUT EPOXY?

Epoxy still reigns from above in the kingdom of premium grouting products (except when you want white... it seems no manufacturer has been able to figure out how to make a truly white epoxy yet).  However, costs (and the skill of the tiler) still make most epoxy grout solutions prohibitively expensive.  The Ultracolor Plus product provides a fantastic result, and at a fraction of the cost of buying and installing an epoxy grout product.  For more info ask at the Trade Counter in-store.

MAPEI - COMPLETE SYSTEMS

If you're not familiar with the Mapei range of products, check them out HERE.  We think the products are world class.

You know what, bring your blue gloves too, just to be safe.  You never know...

PACKAGING

5 kg bags - We have most colours in stock at all times - call ahead to confirm.

Data Sheet Here <<<<

MSDS Here <<<<

Oh, and before anyone asks - no, you don't need to wear gloves anymore than you would when using regular grout.  I just thought the pictures were cool.

'Mass Sandstone' & 'Mocha Sandstone' Range holding area for blocks with the quarry in the back ground.

• ATTENTION - To all those Tilers out there who are just longing to work with new & exciting products...
• ATTENTION - To all those Builders out there who are challenged finding the best products for their clients...
• ATTENTION - To all those Home Builders out there who have seen it all, and want something special...

Our dedicated Natural Stone Showroom is now an "armed and fully operational battle station" - without the battle station bit - but we are only just realising ourselves that what we thought was close to finished, could very well still be at just the beginning.  

NOT FINISHED YET

Our friends at SAI www.saisandstone.com.au are getting excited about what's happening here in little ol' G-Town, and after viewing our showroom improvements have decided to shared with us about what they are doing - and what they have planned.  Of course, we can't say much - neither could they - but ultimately this means only good things for the people of Geelong - well those who are interested in natural stone anyway.  All I can say at this stage is that Cayla is going to have to start getting busy thinking up a lot more product codes...

COASTAL PROJECTS GAINING GROUND

There are some truly beautiful homes in development throughout Geelong and it's various coastal regions, and it is great to be a part of this, to contribute to good projects, to help good people find what they want.  

I'll leave you with a couple of pics Cameron has sent me of their operations.  I still find it interesting checking out pics of the manufacturing processes of natural stone - crazy sized machines, angry machines... 

This is our new cutting saw which has 10 diamond blades to cut the stone at the thickness required.

Mocha Range slab before processing

2 pcs Mocha range blocks

Oh, and here's a bonus piece of blue-stone that has been buzzed through the machine and sliced up like some kind of Boston Bun type snack for the the Rock-Biter from The Never Ending Story...  No I don't know, I think Cameron said this one was about to be processed.

Over the coming months we will be looking into some new weird and wonderful products, from all of our suppliers - stay tuned. 

LOCAL COMPANIES HELPING OUT WHERE IT COUNTS

It has been in the local newspapers a bunch over the past few weeks – if you don’t know anything about the project, probably easiest to check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S28RegvbqvM

Every now and then events occur in life that seem to sneak up on us, and hit us – not where it hurts – but in that area that we like to pretend we aren’t all that venerable.  Sure, there were plenty of tears of joy and thankfulness from the receivers of this gift…  But also, almost unexpectedly, there were also quite a few ‘non-dry-eyes’ from the volunteers and suppliers & tradies.

It’s not every day that you get the opportunity to be apart of real, genuine, positive change in other peoples life.

Awesome work Tim & Chrissy, well done – here is a list of some of the local hero’s (who, like us, probably feel like they received so, so much more than what they gave…)

• Rob Lochrie
• Graphic Plans
• Marshall Pine Products
• Panozzo Builders
• Brett Deboer Carpentry
• Diamond Windows
• Barwon Timber
• Westcoast Floors
• Middleton’s Geelong
• CSR Gyprock
• JMH Plasta
• Dulux Trade Centre
• Shane Gillam Painter
• Grovedale Cabinets
• Newgrove Benchtops
• Blanco
• Elsworthys Retravison
• Rod Reid Plumbing
• Reece
• Tile By Design
• Suregrip Ceramics
• Alan Popping Electrical
• Haymans Electrical
• Thriftway Furniture
• Lincraft
• Fletchers Carpets
• Choice
• Target
• TVD Group (the guys behind the whole thing...)

GET IT DONE!

Cutting, coding, painting, labelling, laminating, spreadsheets, samples...  A customer comes in, and enquires about a product on our half-finished display wall, and of course, the new label has the wrong price listed - wow - what a trial run!!  So, we double check, and then we triple check, and finally, we proudly announce that the new Stone Showroom at Suregrip Ceramics is up and running!  

This is a great collection of some of the products that are available, from a selection of some of our top suppliers.  A very easy to use tool when selecting, and viewing options. 

Products on display include multiple variations and multiple finishes of:

• Blue Stone
• Sandstone
• Marble
• Travertine
• Granite
• Slate
• Stackstone
• Large format display pieces
• Take home samples of everything on display!

WORDS FROM BILL

I thought i'd get a few words from my Dad to mark the occasion, he really pushed this one over the line:

My passion for Natural Stone goes back a long way.  When I first got involved in this industry back in the eighties, stone and slate were very commonly used, and the look and feel of the different material really got into my blood.   I just fell in love with the great diversity and colour that just comes out of the ground (or the sea…).   Amazing - with just a little bit of cleaning and polishing straight out of the ground it can create an atmosphere in the room that is impossible to duplicate with a man made material, with its un-repetitive look, style, & character.

But not just that, its ability to breathe and be cool in the summer and warm in the winter as it is a great conductor of heat, and warms up easily in the room just with the heater going. It can be a great energy saver, not that that was a big attraction to me then, but how things have changed now.

Yes, you can say I am hooked on stone, but I can’t help it, as being involved in the retail industry and having to help people who are trying to mix and match colours all the time it becomes a breeze when we walk into the stone showroom. We get to select from incredible variety available at such amazing prices that were just so far out of reach for most people in those early days.

The fact that this material is a lifetime investment to your home makes it the most inexpensive floor covering on the planet. Used throughout Europe, Asia, and the ancient world since the beginning of time its timeless qualities are not to be ignored by anyone looking for style & longevity.

You, as I have, will also fall in love with this incredible product as you make your house a home. Remember a man & woman’s house is his & her castle.

Bill Sgro, Director.

NATURAL STONE IS FOR LIFE

I remember when we were growing up, that house had slate throughought, I think from memory it was 'Indian Multicolour' or something like that...  Dad did all the tiling, it would have been one of his first big tiling jobs.  It's funny, last week we were celebrating Father's Day, and I looked down, and there is a similar slate on the floor of this home too - I think Dad layed this floor last year - as of now it is actually his last big tiling job...

Here are a couple of quick snaps of the new space:

Come visit, have a coffee and browse the new showroom - see if any of these beautiful products will spark an interest with your clients (or you...).