Marble Glue

I have three marble slabs that came from China. The slabs had borders glued to the four sides but the glue has let go and the borders have fallen off. One longer piece of border broke. What can I use to put everything back together?

any counter top shop should be able to sell you some epoxy.

Hi Billy,

I seem to remember Gorilla glue being recommended as very good for this type of application.

Hey Rick, gorilla glue would probably work but might be messy with the foamy expansion as it dries (which could probably be scraped off easily enough, I suppose). A two part epoxy is what I would go for if I were you.

As mentioned Gorilla Glue expands. I would worry about it staining the marble. Maybe you can put some tape on the surface before you glue it up so the expansion winds up on the tape and not your marble. Gorilla Glue joints should be clamped tightly.

Frank

I too had a couple of casualties with my Chinese marble slabs. We'll not go down the road of blaming the husband who thought it would be a good idea to stack them up on their ends, as he did help to fix the damage done as they blew over!

He used a standard epoxy and as you can see from pic 1, it worked reasonably well. This was a small slab (24 x 8 inches) and the break was reasonably clean. The second slab is a big monster (36 x 16 inches) and was considerably more damaged. Again we've just used the standard epoxy.

Now that both have hardened sufficiently, I'm going to try to rebuild the chipped bits using some sort of car body stuff (technical term that) and we'll try to hide the "scar" using a marble-effect paint. Failing that, it'll need to be a strategically placed rock or plant!







The main thing is the epoxy seems to be working fine. Hope that helps.

Hi, I would go with the epoxy, I suggest you build a basic jig to hold eveything in place at the correct postion, use masking tape either side of the break, then spread the epoxy over the crack a few mil thick. Then use a heat gun over the epoxy you will see it liquify and run into the crack, let it harden then using a sharp blade to remove any left on the surface. I've also added colour to epoxy, at the mixing stage, to make the repair almost invisible. Good luck.
Dave

Jim Doiron wrote:Hey Rick, gorilla glue would probably work but might be messy with the foamy expansion as it dries (which could probably be scraped off easily enough, I suppose). A two part epoxy is what I would go for if I were you.

... I'm the one who recommended epoxy not Gorilla glue.

. I'm the one who recommended epoxy not Gorilla glue.

Sorry Rick, I should have scrolled just a little further to see who the original post was from, my mistake,

Now that both have hardened sufficiently, I'm going to try to rebuild the chipped bits using some sort of car body stuff (technical term that) and we'll try to hide the "scar" using a marble-effect paint. Failing that, it'll need to be a strategically placed rock or plant!

I think I have heard of people using epoxy mixed with marble dust to make these type of repairs also. I suppose the hard thing would be grinding up the chips you have but you might be able to get some marble dust from a counter top or tile company. You can buy marble dust at art supply stores but it is a true white so the former might give you a better final blend. I will ask a friend who's brother owns a marble company to see what they use to make chip/break repairs.

I have found companies willing to part with some generous pieces of marble for free, I'm sure you can get some free dust from there. There are a few adhesives you could use and any hardware store will have something. GL