I'm so sorry - that's incredibly annoying. I don't think it's normal to have chips in any granite, right? I have AB and it's totally smooth. Do you mean chips of quartz are inside the stone, but that it's smooth, or do you mean the equipment chipped your granite? Quartz pieces within the stone might be normal (we have teeny, evenly-sprinkled dark gray specks, but nothing big). Actual chips aren't okay.

Sweet313:

Here's the deal-eo on "chips" - CHIPS happen when stone
is cut with a diamond blade (ie - bridge or rail saw) and the
blade's imperfections cause small amounts of the stone to
chip off at the cut line.

Chips DO happen - in all fairness to your Fabricator, unless
they are cutting everything with a water jet - they are bound
to get some stones that "chip up" when they get cut.

Is this an excuse and suggestion to accept the work as is?
Absolutely NOT.

Most Fabricators know how to back grind chips "off" so you'have a nice "chip-less" seam or edge. If your Fabricator'syas they can't do this - well........(sigh)
it may be time to go legal - as, again - any Fabricator
(a REAL Fabricator) should know how to present you with
a finished product - sans chips....

Can you post some pics? it would help me and others who
check in here from time to time - in determining the extent
of your problem (or even if it is a problem at all)...

hope that helps - post some pics please

kevin

Kevin M. Padden
Fabricator, Trainer & Consultant to the Natural Stone Industry
www.azschoolofrock.com

Hi November and Kevin,
I think that the chips are caused by the machine, although the granite store is trying to say that these "chips" are inherent to the stone. When the "chips" were initially detected in the first stone, they said- No problem- we can get rid of those! Well, when they came out to fix the slab, and they made a divet in the slab that could be seen a mile away. They have not reinstalled the granite, so I'm going to look at it again tonight. I will try to post pictures later. I can't believe that they can't get rid of the chips either. I am really losing faith in this fabricator! Oh, but I DREAD starting the process to find another fabricator!

i hate to add to your grief, but I just had absolute black installed on my island, and its incredible how smooth and beautiful it is.
{{!gwi}}

Hi Teppy,
Oh, that stings! LOL! But your granite looks great!
My granite will never be that smooth, because I have a support beam in the middle of my island, and on the last install, there were two seams on the side of the support beam. I will try to post pictures tonight. I should've gone with the Leather finish granite, and I wouldn't have this problem! Will it ever end?

OK- Went back to look at the stone..guess they fixed the chips, but not the streak in the granite (See pic) It's not really a chip, it feels smooth, but some type of imperfection in the stone.
{{!gwi}}

The granite guy was saying that pure absolute black without imperfections is getting harder to come by. Is this true? The "smear" is about 2inches long, and it's not horrible, but it's in the middle of the slab. It's not really a great picture (using camera phone). I guess if you weren't looking for it, you wouldn't see it..I'm just tired...first the cabinet debacle, and now this!

Hard to say based on the picture quality....

This could be a scratch the had an attempt to repair it
by grinding down and re-polishing. If there is a change
or distortion in the image that is reflected, this will
be the tell.

Bottom line is - are YOU OK with this?

kevin

Hi Kevin,
Yes, the picture isn't that great- I'm just not sure if I'm OK with it. Of course I'd rather not have it there, but If I go ahead and let them install, is the streak going to follow me around the house? Maybe..If I don't get this slab, I'm pretty much done with this fabricator, and will have to start my search over again- Yuck! I'm taking DH back out there on Saturday, and we'll make the final decision. So the install that was supposed to happen tomorrow is on hold until next week, if at all.
Kevin, how difficult is it to install granite around a support beam? Overall, the initial install looked good when they finished, minus the chips in the stone. They basically made a cut in the granite the shape of the beam, to go around the sides and back, and then had a little piece that they slid in place for the front. That's why I had two seams on the side. Is this difficult for others to do?

Sweetd - I have AB honed granite and there are no chips. It's very smooth, seams and all which is what I love about it. I do have a very faint lightesh smudge/streak. Looks similar to what you have in your picture from what I can tell. Probably not totally obvious to anyone but me. Mine is also about 2 inches long I would say. Bothered me at first, but now I really don't mind it. I keep wondering if I were to re-seal and enhance the stone if it would go away?

Sweet313-
Installing stone around a stationary object (like a vertical support beam)
will generally leave you with few options if any - for no seams. It sounds
like your Fabrocator had no choice but to cut, and "piece in" a section after
the stone was set in place.

As far as your "smear" is concerned, this could be a natural quality in your slab -
I dunno, since the picture is hard to discern, and I am not there in person to
look at the surface of the stone to ascertain what the issue is exactly.

Here's what I'd be looking for:
1. Reflected image distortion - IF a reflected image appears to be distorted
when you look at the smear, the stone has been "worked" or ground down
to some degree, and re polished - if there is no distortion, the smear is
a naturally occurring quality of the stone. in either case, you need to decide
if you can live with this, since YOU will see it every day.

hope that helps

kevin

Thanks Kevin! I will be sure to check the image tomorrow when I go in. I'm hoping it won't bother me as much tomorrow, as I am SO ready to get this process over with!

pdxgal, that definitely sounds like the same type of "imperfection" that I have. I'm pretty sure I would be the only person to notice it. I may decide to put up with it to bypass the whole find another fabricator process.

I'll keep you guys posted!

Thanks!
D.

Hi guys,
Just wanted to pass along an update- I let them install the granite with the "imperfection". Now that it's installed, it's not even that noticeable. There is a different chip in the granite now, but I've decided to live with it. Plus, the granite company is pretty sick of me now (and I sick of them!), and they are saying that they can't do anything else to fix it (they already put epoxy on it, and it's still visible). So, I'm living with it, and have FINALLY FINALLY after three months put the granite thing to rest! : ) Now on to the floors, and the backsplash!
d.