Counter top seam weak point??
Situation...new construction, counters about to be cut now by fabricators. Concerned about seams in wrong places and causing weak points. Material: quartz slab (called new carrara, fairly white with light veining -see below).
Our concern is that in our last house we had a seam in front of the cooktop (a cooktop is dropped in like some sinks). Anyway, there was about 2" of granite and after a while the granite heaved and seam became contaminated with liquids, oil, water and looked hideous. I know there will not be a seam in front of cooktop (we're using a range instead) but looks like plan only calls for 1.5 inches of quartz in narrowest point in front of sink. Will that spot be a "bad seam" and collect water, heave or change because it's in the middle of the sink & only 1.5
inches wide?
I've read other houzz posts and it seems like people are split (no pun intended) on where to put seam for counter tops; some say bisecting the sink is ok, others prefer to have seam away from sink, in the wider portion of counter. Have also been told that it's easier to create "less visible" seams with quartz compared with granite?
Below is plan from fabricator, and lengths, placement is visible. Their default cuts are in red, splitting sink and one other seam. After my wife talked to them they offered the alternative as shown in yellow.
Nearing the end of 1 year of construction and don't want to make mistakes in final stages!
Comments (9)
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Comments (36)Joseph Corlett, LLC: The seam in the front, center of my counter top is the main issue with this installation and there are other issues. What you may find interesting is how the seam was created. I observed the installation and noted that when the installer placed the 2 pieces on the counter top, the mating edges didn't match - the mating edges were cut at an angle (more open at the top) plus they were different thicknesses (1.169/1.193 hence the lippage). The pieces could never, physically match. If they were epoxied together with that angle, the seam would have been 1/8" or more. What the installer attempted to do was to "split the difference" (my words), using a clamping device, he kept increasing the tension until the seam was about 1/16" wide. The only way this could possibly, physically decrease the seam width was to actually lift the left side of the counter top (the lightest side) 3/16" into which he placed a shim. You can now place a golf ball on the left side of my counter top and it rolls gingerly into the sink. PS - I asked on a previous post about my .011" "lippage" as follows: ("You imply that .011" is an unreasonable expectation but how much would be too much? As long as a person accepts any arbitrary value as acceptable then an argument can be made that any value is "ok" - why not 1/16", or 1/8", or even 1/4")". I really would like your opinion - maybe I am being unreasonable. Also, I recognize the investment into equipment that a manufacturer or installer must make in order to be capable and competitive but isn't that all factored into the price of services? Thanks so much for you comments....See MoreOpinions on counter tops
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Steve Garrison
2 years agoSteve Garrison
2 years agoSteve Garrison
2 years agoThey created the seams today and these installers are highly skilled and have modern tools. Final seams are tiny, hardly a 16 of an inch. They used clamps to fix pieces at start (flush and in place), then and a pneumatic suction device to pull the two quartz pieces together more completely while epoxy set.
Epoxy was made off-site by counter company of the correct color. Epoxy was runny enough to penetrate downward into gap. Then they allowed the suction device to pull the pieces together. Right away they scraped off excess with razor blades and wiped with an alcohol compound and paper towel. This is the island quartz with seam bisecting prep sink.
TADA!
HALLETT & Co.