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marchell_gw

Problems with granit.

17 years ago

I desperly need pictures of your granit countertop. I am needing to see where they join your wall and how much silicone was used. We just had ours done and they are a nightmare. I mean a nightmare. The contractor was terrible. He cut the wholes to big for the outlets and faucets and says he can cover it with silicone. he also cut our sheetrock to make the counters fit on the wall but they are at least a 1/2 inch away from the wall. he told me I would have to tile the back splash. I have never seen such poor work We made him leave and we still owe him for 1/2 the job but it looks like we will have to start over on our countertops. The MB vanity is cracked in 2 places and the top corner has a huge chip out of it. We even had to call the law today to have him escorted off our property. He has threatened to vandalise our house. he is a nut case. I will post pictures tomorrow of his work. he said they all have to cut the wall out. I would love to see yours so I will have an idea on how wide the silicone is on the back. Also I have huge huge seams where it meets. Can you see you seams.

Comments (14)

  • 17 years ago

    Was a template made before they cut the slab? Even at that when a counter top is installed without a backsplash, it is scribed to the wall leaving a miniscule gap to silicone or caulk. That way the counter conforms to the wall. Cutting into the sheetrock would not have been necessary if they would have templated your project. Hopefully someone has pics of a correct install for you.

  • 17 years ago

    Yikes...this is a scary story. It definitely sounds like they did not template before they cut the slab. And yes, the gap should be miniscule to none if they have done it correctly. Our granite installer was a bit off on one side of our cabinet and left a tiny gap. He offered to replace the entire top or at least refit it and see if that would make the gap smaller. I opted for the last option and it turned out fine. The point is, it was my choice and they were embarrassed that it even happened. I think you were wise to not allow this person to do any further damage...

  • 17 years ago

    What a nightmare! I hope you're able to recover the partial payment you made.

    You can find lots of photos posted on the kitchen forum.

    Good luck in resolving this.

  • 17 years ago

    Send it back. I had them cut my undermount sink twice. The guys putting the slab in kind of acted stupid: You mean there's not supposed to be a half inch reveal? The supervisor relented they pulled it and redid it.

  • 17 years ago

    Can you post pictures? Yes, granite has visible seams but they should be about 1/8" thick. As for the drywall, if you live in an old house and your walls aren't straight, then they either have to cut into the drywall or have a gap, or even both, depending upon the wall. If a wall is too crooked, it may even need to be rebuilt to straighten it out before granite is installed. But if you post pictures it will help everyone understand what you are talking about.

  • 17 years ago

    Carolyn, when they template off of your project, no matter how far out the walls are, the counters are cut to the template for a decent fit although sometimes scribing is needed to conform to in and out bowed walls.

  • 17 years ago

    sierraeast, I didn't know they could scribe granite. I was just repeating things I have read on the kitchen forum about crooked walls because I know people over there have had the experience of either cutting into drywall or a gap when the walls were crooked that was expected to be covered by the backsplash, bu I don't know how wide of a gap it within industry standards. How do they fit it when they scribe it? I assume they need to do that on site, is that correct? It seems like the fitting required for a bowed wall would be hard to do with a saw, but I really don't know. If someone is not expecting seams to be visible, I think the seams can seem really noticeable and big when you first see them even if they are within industry standards. However, you don't notice them later on.

  • 17 years ago

    Hi Carolyn, The scribing is typically done onsite and with granite is done with a diamond honing bit and blade. Out here they come in and template the cabinet tops where the install will go and take the template back to the shop and cut the granite to the template. Templates cant always be used in cases where there will be a miter at the corners of "l" shaped or "u" shaped cabinets. That's where they typically do the method you mentioned of cutting into the rock or scribing, or both depending on how severe the wall is out or in, but out here when the granite is to be one continual,solid peice, they template and scribe. Granite and marble are two of the hardest and time consuming scribes, it takes patience and you have to be careful not to chip out the material.

  • 17 years ago

    No clips for the sink. I guess this is the rednck way. The vanity in the bathroom is cracked in 3 places at the faucet. They just polished over them. Also you can not rub you hand across this granit with out it scratching you. Some of the unpolished parts are as big as quarters.

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  • 17 years ago

    Wow! I'm certainly not an expert, but that is definitely not a professionally done job and you should not be responsible for payment on that. Hopefully someone else here can offer some help on what you should do from here to try to fix his errors. How does that man sleep at night?

  • 17 years ago

    With the pictures it's certainly more than a non template issue. You have different thicknesses off the slab and the granite was installed directly on the cabinetry. You'll never get "seamless" seams that way. Imo, your only recourse is to have someone reputable with installs come over and advise you on where to go from here. In my mind they will need to be pulled up and a decent leveling of a substrate installed to place the granite over. The difference in thickness will still be an issue unless they can custom level the substrate to the sections that are different in thickness. As far as the electrical and plumbing cut outs, maybe oversized receptacle plates will cover and i believe for the faucet, they might be able to match up your faucet with inserts that match the finish of the faucet. Best of luck and hope it works out. Outside of completely replacing your counters, i have no advise really other than what is stated. Maybe someone else can advise on what action to take or a better solution.

  • 17 years ago

    What a disaster....I am so sorry you have had to undergo this experience. I don't know what you could do to fix the many problems you have with your granite install. It is just not acceptable. I would start again. I wish there was some way you could get your money back. If a storefront business was involved in this I would not hesitate to insist that they refund you your money.The different heights of the granite are baffling, and I wonder how the installer could possibly think that was acceptable. Nevermind the cracks and the crazy electrical outlet cutout. I wouldn't waste my time trying to straighten this out. You are right to think that this is a big problem, and the contractor is a nightmare!

  • 17 years ago

    Well we have had to hire a lawyer and we will have to go to court to get the lein off of the house. The sad thing is we were going to close the 2nd week of Jan. but it looks like it is going to be awhile. This just goes to show you that some people will do anything for a dollar. he also makes cabinets. I am glad I did not use him for that. We are going to take them completly up and start over. We may be able to salvage the bar but thats about it, maybe the sinks to.

  • 17 years ago

    worst mess i have ever seen.