When a Miami homeowner decided to replace a standard dining table with an 18-foot live edge dining table, the project came with a problem nobody talks about in the showroom: the building had one elevator, and it was too small to carry an 18-foot anything. That constraint defined every decision that followed — how the table was engineered, how it was transported, and how a four person crew got it from the lobby to the dining room. This is what a 9-month custom table project looks like from slab selection to final install.

Final table placed in the condo — full length visible with live edge and dark epoxy fills.

The client was a homeowner in a Miami high-rise with a large open-plan dining area that an existing standard table no longer filled. The replacement needed to seat the full length of the room — 18 feet — and carry enough visual weight to match the scale of the space. The building's elevator set the hard constraint: maximum vertical clearance allowed pieces no longer than 9 feet. Any table over that length had to arrive in sections. The table also needed functional details built in: electrical sockets cut directly into the top surface and a plexiglass support system integrated into the base. 

Raw hardwood live edge slab  for 18-foot custom dining table build.

A live edge table is a solid wood slab where one or both edges follow the natural outer boundary of the tree, including its curves, voids, and surface irregularities. The slabs used in this build were solid hardwood, 2.3 inches thick, with natural crack networks and voids running through the grain. Those openings are not defects — they are filled with epoxy to stabilize the wood and become part of the finished surface. Hardwood at this thickness and scale is heavy: two 9-foot slabs at full width require multiple people to move safely at every stage of production and install.

Slab on workshop bench showing live edge profile and epoxy fill areas before finishing.

The finished table is 18 feet long by 42 inches wide, built from two solid hardwood live edge slabs — each 9 feet — joined along a precision-cut centerline. Slab thickness is 2.3 inches. The natural cracks and voids were filled with dark epoxy in multiple pours, each pour requiring a full cure cycle before the next layer was applied. Sockets were routed directly into the top surface. The base is solid wood, dark stained, with a rectangular open-frame leg structure and an integrated plexiglass support system running beneath the top. The entire project ran 9 months from commission in July 2025 to installation in April 2026 — driven by the complexity of the two-slab engineering and the logistics of the delivery sequence.

The natural cracks and voids were filled with dark epoxy, the base is solid wood, dark stained and an integrated plexiglass support system running beneath the top.

The 18-foot table now anchors the full length of the dining space. Each slab half arrived in the elevator standing vertically. A four-person crew carried the assembled top into position — the weight of 2.3-inch solid hardwood at 18 feet requires it. The join between the two slabs is invisible in the finished surface. The built-in sockets sit flush with the top. The dark epoxy fills that stabilized the natural voids in the raw slab are now part of the surface pattern that runs the full length of the table. For a client who waited 9 months from the first conversation to delivery day, the table was in place within a single afternoon.

Four-person crew carrying and positioning the assembled table into the condo.

A table over 12 feet almost always requires a two-piece build when it's going into a condo or high-rise — not because of production limits, but because of elevator clearance. For a house with a standard entry and wide doorways, an 18-foot table can often be delivered as a single piece. Either way, the access conversation needs to happen before production starts, not on delivery day. Holzsch has built and delivered over 1,500 large tables across 25 years — including projects where logistics were the harder problem to solve than the build itself. If you're considering a table for a space with access constraints, browse our custom dining tables collection and start with the delivery conversation first.

Installer attaching base legs to table top during on-site assembly.

If you're planning a large table for a space with access constraints — or simply need a table that fills the room — we'd like to hear about the project. Visit us at DCOTA, 1855 Griffin Rd Suite C272, Dania Beach FL, call (786) 440-0475, or start your inquiry here.

Finished 18-foot live edge table fully installed.