MIA CERTIFICATIONS
After Hurricane Katrina devistated New Orleans and the surrounding areas there was more granite countertop work going on in Louisiana than any other state in the country. Most of it being done by "fly by night" companies that had no idea how to properly fabricate and install stone countertops. It quickly became apparent by the vast amount of sub-standard work that was being performed that someone needed to make a "job standard" that would show the difference between a quality granite job and a sub-standard job to protect home owners and contractors from being taken advantage of. The Marble Institute of America decided to initiate a program by which fabricators could apply to become Certified and Accredited. This would allow customers, upon seeing the MIA logo, to know that they were dealing with a reputable company that knew what they were doing when it came to fabricating natural stone for countetops, tables, tubs, showers and any other areas in your home. Ricon Natural Stone was among the first 20 companies in the country to receive this qualification and since then has quickly become one of the top companies in Louisiana performing natural and man made stone fabrication and installation. The process in which a company becomes Certified and Accredited is a very rigorous and demanding process, unlike some programs in different industries where a company can send in a few hundred dollars and get a sticker saying that they are Certified by this or that no name organization. The process for a fabricator to become Certified and Accredited by the Marble Institute of America is, at its shortest a 3 year endeavor on the part of the fabricator. Also MIA requires many qualifications and job standards to be in place before you are even allowed to apply, such as, a company must perform at least 200 jobs per year, must have been in business at least 5 years, must be OSHA certified and have certain practices in place during their fabrication process that help to insure that you as a customer receive the highest quality job available in the industry. Also MIA sends out a representitive to interview several of your competitors to inquire about your business practices, visit several ongoing and previous jobs to inspect the quality of your work, and of course, reviews the fabrications practices that you have in place to insure that you are producing a top quality product for installation. Ricon is very proud that we have been displaying the MIA Certified logo for over 3 years now, and hope that in the near future it will become a strict requirement in Louisiana that any shop that is allowed to perform stone work in your new or existing home be Certified and Accredited by the Marble Institute of America.
Expertise
SUPPORT YOUR COMMUNITY
Locally owned and opperated by Richard Baca Sr., Ricon has been in buisiness here in Baton Rouge, LA for over 12yrs. We proudly do our business locally to support our community and firmly believe in the little man surviving out the large chain operations.
BOOKMATCHING THE STONE
First of all, What is it?? Well, it means that at Ricon we came up with the idea of trying to cut each piece of stone out of the slab for where it will eventually go. That means that for a bathroom vanity, if the vanity is cut from the bottom right of the slab, the back splash is cut from just above it and the side splashes from just to the left and right of it. This is so that if there are any veins or color variations in the stone, it all matches up. In a kitchen, if you have a large L-shaped countertop and the front section is cut with the veins and color movement going left to right, then the other part of the L-shape will need to be cut from that slab or the next slab going up and down so that when you seam the two pieces together all of the movement, or grain of the slab will flow in the same direction making the pieces look like they were meant to go together. Now, granted, this is not always possible, but even if it would require the purchase of an additional slab, we will at least always leave this option open and up to you. Look at the photos below for some examples of this.
Notice the veins running through the vanity & splashes? This is the proper way to cut granite, where everything looks like it belongs.
Here notice the variation in color that existed on the slab and how we lined it up in the vanity & splash.
Here are a few more photos showing Ricons Bookmatching technique. You judge for yourself. Ricon came up with this on our own because we believe that it is much better to waste a little material and have your job come out looking like these than it is to save an extra scrap or two and have the job look like the people doing did not have their eyes open.
Last but not least, a few other things that Ricon came up with that are standard on our countertops for the simple purpose of giving the customer a better product.
With all of the pieces that will have a cutout in them, such as a sink, or cooktop, Ricon came up with an idea that has since been adopted by the Marble Institute of America as "The proper way to do it". We flip the stone upside down, cut a small groove in front of and behind any cutout and embed a steel all-thread rod into the stone. Which makes that normally weak area up to 600% stronger. Ricon also cuts buiscuit joints in all of our seams so that down the road you dont have a problem with your seam coming loose. Ricon also polishes the underside of the stone down to where it is smooth to the touch for about 4-5" back from the edge. This prevents your clothes from snagging on it and just makes a much nicer feel when someone puts their hands on the countertop.
Here we also have a good example of the color in the slab and the veins traveling through the vanity and up into the splashes
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