The choices for a countertop are almost endless these days – you can go with natural stones, cultured stones, or tile. There’s the standard manmade materials like Formica (the low end) or Corian (the high end). There’s concrete and wood. With the wood, you can buy epoxy finishes from places like Stonecoatcounters that you just pour over the top of the counter, creating a hard clear finish.
We started out wanting concrete counters or something we could DIY, but the more we looked into concrete – with the requirement to continually seal it – the more we felt like that wasn’t what we wanted. In a previous home, we did Corian counters, but we found it can stain if you don’t clean up spills right away, and it isn’t heatproof. We went on vacation and the place we stayed had quartz – and every time we put a glass bowl down on the counter, we thought something was going to break – it is extremely hard. Most of the natural materials require annual treatments to keep them sealed.
We went with Soapstone
Then my wife found soapstone – a somewhat soft, natural volcanic stone that is antibacterial, heatproof, doesn’t require sealing, and gets more beautiful with age. Did I mention “doesn’t require sealing”? It is also DIY friendly: no special tools required for cutting beyond diamond blades. The seams can be “glued” with a special epoxy for an almost seamless look. It seemed like the best solution for a log home – or any home if you want natural stone. If you had a Chemistry lab class in high school, you might have had soapstone on the lab tables – it is chemically and heat resistant. Or if you weld – your marking “chalk” is made from soapstone.
We started researching where to get it – and found it’s actually only quarried in a few locations. We called a few places that advertised that they had it (I’m talking about you, DalTile) – and found they will not sell to DIY folks – they want you to have “a professional” come measure and install it. I thought about telling her I was a professional, but realized they want a contractor license, etc. I wasn’t sure why professional was needed for a stone you can cut with a Skilsaw, so I asked why, and the lady said, “because it’s very heavy”. While the lady was droning on about all the “can’ts”, my eyes glazed over and I started thinking about the 6,000 lb logs I lifted to build my house with using ropes and pulleys….
Then we found Soapstones.com in New Jersey – they sell to the public; they will cut it for you, and ship it insured direct to your site. You have to have help to unload and install it, but you can do everything else yourself. Soapstone weighs up to 21 lbs per square foot, so that should give you an idea what to expect.
The color of soapstone is determined by the talc content of the stone – lighter colors have more talc, darker colors have less. The normal slab is 3 cm thick (sorry, LHN, I don’t know what that is in American…1.5″?)
Let’s pick out a piece
Perusing through their slabs, I found a few we liked. We measured our counter space, then I made a spreadsheet with the dimensions of our counters, and overlaid the image on top of images of the slabs on soapstones.com so we could see how everything would line up. This is where the process got hard – we kept finding slabs that we liked, and that seemed like they would fit our pieces. Then the lady would email me back, saying the slab wouldn’t really fit the pieces the way I had them laid out. Or there was a defect in the slab where I wanted a piece laid out. So I would try a different slab. I emailed 4 or 5 different slabs back and forth. Finally, she found a piece that she thought might work. We looked it over, and decided to try it. But yet again, the dimensions we laid out wouldn’t fit for some reason.
We finally figured out that the blade they use is two feet in diameter, so when it reaches the end of a cut, the top of the cut is actually longer than the bottom of the cut, so they needed an extra two inches of space at the end of each cut. We tried again, but the dimensions listed for the piece ended up being wrong.
I finally found a piece listed under their remnants section that was named “Julia”. Julie loved it, but again, it ended up not being big enough. In fact, they were out of pieces big enough to get a sink, two stove pieces, and an island piece all cut out of the same slab.
We considered using two different slabs to get the look we wanted – but the price (we were pushing $5,000 at this point), and the fact that no two pieces are alike made us finally stop and re-prioritize. What did we really want, what could we really afford, and what were we willing to give up? We felt like we had saved a lot of money cutting our own trees and milling our own lumber, so countertops were something we wanted to spend a little extra to get something really nice.
We decided that we really wanted an island piece. And I stumbled onto a blog where a lady made a counter top out of a few 2×6’s – yes, pine lumber – and then stained and sealed it. It looked really good. I showed Julie, and she loved the idea – as long as we could waterproof it. That took care of the sink and stove. Now we just needed the right piece for the island.
I’m pretty sure we measured the island a dozen times – the exact dimensions, the dimension with the perfect amount of overhang, and the dimensions we felt like we could live with. We gave the dimensions to the seller, gritted our teeth, and bought the Julia slab – but just for the island dimensions.
A few days later, I got an email saying that the guy screwed up our order and cut the side dimension 1/2″ too short – it was already our minimum dimension. We were livid at this point – after being told no on a half dozen pieces, giving up on all soapstone counters and settling for just the island piece. And now they got the dimensions wrong to top it off. We measured again and decided that it might still work, but didn’t want to tell the seller until we got the piece in person and measured it ourselves.
Prepping the cabinets
I checked and rechecked the cabinets – they ALL must be perfectly level, and every point on the top of the cabinets must be EXACTLY level with any point on any other cabinet – corners, sides, middle, etc. Deformities in the subfloor have to be compensated for, as well as deformities in the cabinets. Side note: I thought the cabinets we bought were made by a machine in a factory, but through measuring, some of them are out of square by 3/8″, which was a big surprise to me. Our island is fronted by a brick hearth as well – the soapstone will hang over the bricks by just a bit. All of this has to be considered before laying down the counters.
Shipping the stone
We started the process in July, and it took until November to finally settle on a piece. They cut it and shipped it a few days before Thanksgiving.
One of the drawbacks of a DIY stone counter is you need some way to get it in the house. Soapstones.com said they could get it as close as the door, but it would be up to me to have help unloading it. Our piece weighed 640 lbs. And I don’t have finished stairs into the cabin. But I couldn’t ask for help until I had the tracking number.
On the contract from soapstones.com, it says that when the stone arrives, you must inspect it before unloading it. If there is any damage, the insurance will take care of it, and the shipper takes the stone back to soapstones.com in New Jersey. But on the shipper’s website, my heart sank when I read: “good news! a signature is not required! We can unload your package and leave it at the door. ” I sent my boss a message begging for the whole day off. I wanted to see the stone before it got unloaded. Also, the shipper wouldn’t give me a time for the delivery – just “by end of day (5:00 PM)”. How was I going to line up any help? Was I just supposed to call a bunch of guys and have them hang out at the cabin all day waiting for a truck?
Saturday night, our neighbor, Joy came over to see how things were going. We told her about the counter top and our predicament – and she said, “No problem – I’ll get my husband and my daughters’ husbands to come help out.” There was also a guy from church who really wanted to see the cabin – says he wants to do something like that someday.
I spent the morning nervously sanding balcony railing, watching the shipper website as it counted down: “there are 4 stops before your stop…” and “there are 3 stops before your stop…”
I got a call from the driver finally around 1 PM, telling me he would be there in an hour. I called Joy right away, and the guy from church, and folks started showing up 30 minutes later. Joy even brought sandwiches for everyone! I really like my neighbors…. 🙂
Unloading and installing the stone
Still on the truck and crated. I measured it while it was here, but that was all I could do – trucker said regulations prevented me from unpacking it on the truck. 
Unloading from Shane’s truck. 
Carry it sideways as much as you can. 600+ lbs. 
We took a little breather to decide how to tilt it up. 
Tilt it up and slide it into place 
Now we can really take a break! The little oil spot was from someone sweating. We’ll put some mineral oil or wax on the whole thing, and it will end up close to that color. 
Installed! Doesn’t it look nice? The little hooks are for our three “most used” cast iron cookware.
The guy rolled up in a real 18 wheeler. A 53′ truck. The shipping container I had delivered was only 40′. There was no way this guy could back that thing down my driveway. I couldn’t see the 5 of us carrying 640 lbs of stone down the 200′ driveway and then up into the house. It is much heavier than it looks.
One of the guys had a truck (a Ford diesel – is there any other kind?), so we backed it up to the 18 wheeler and using the pallet jack, we got it into his truck using the lift gate. Then he backed it down the driveway right up to the kitchen door. I removed the temporary stairs so he could edge right up close.
The crate for the stone was made out of 2×4’s and plywood – it was extremely hefty. The soapstone was encased in styrofoam, so I got my drill and took out a bunch of the screws, but left most of the 2×4’s intact. I figured (correctly) we could just slide the stone out from the middle of the crate and lift it into the house.
Once inside the house, we carried it gently over to the island, then set it so it was leaning just a bit up against the cabinets. We took a breather, then I suggested we tilt the stone up onto the cabinets and slide it into place. No fingers or toes were harmed in the process. I don’t even think I’m going to glue it down. If I change my mind, they said they would come back. For now, it is “installed”.
And it is gorgeous!
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