This happened to me also, and my GC almost fainted when he saw it. He couldn't believe I paid the installers. (However, he himself wasn't there at the time, and how was I supposed to know??) It will be covered up by your backsplash, but I think it's sloppy templating.

Unfortunately it's common. I almost had a heart attack when they did it with my install - my GC told me he sees it all the time, and we've seen it a lot here on the forum.

Yep, it is common. I have even watched it being done on a home improvement episode on HGTV. NancyLouise

Yes, it's common to damage the sheetrock a little. My GC warned me about it before the granite people showed up and told me he would fix any problems.

My templaters warned me when they were measuring that our drywall would be notched. It's a common method to deal with bowed walls.

I have the opposite problem. I have one piece installed, (the guys broke another piece, and had to take segment #3 to match it-oy vey!) and now I notice a gap between the drywall on the backsplash and the countertop that's installed. The gap runs several feet along the countertop-and I'm not planning on installing tile for a while-and I don't know if tile is big enough to cover it! I don't know if it's normal to template and cut along the crooked drywall line, or if they just make a straight cut and what fits fits.

Notching the drywall - especially when the walls are bowed
IS very common and accepted in our industry. This is mainly
due to the various methods that are used to both template
and cut the stone.

Shops that use analog templates (wood sticks, cardboard, paper
plastic sheet & coroplast) will try to scribe to the walls,
but many shops either can or won't follow the scribe even IF
the templater takes the time to do it.

Most shops use bridge saws to cut out their pieces,
and these saws cut razor straight, AND in most cases,
gaps between the counter and the back wall will be
covered by splash, so many guys figure "what's the point?"

By notching out the drywall and sliding the stone in under it,
you get a nice looking fit when the job is done with no
negatives..

Our shop uses a digital means of templating - Laser LT-55 - and we
have an Omax Water Jet,
so we CAN scribe to pretty much anything,
yet sometimes - we too have to notch out drywall...

go figure.......................

bottom line - cutting into the drywall is perfectly normal
in the installation process.

hope that helps

kevin

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

Thanks everybody for your input. I feel much better about this, I guess it was just traumatic to see the new wall get hacked into... But the granite (San Gabriel black) is *ALMOST* all in and it is looking beautiful. Now if I could just get my appliances hooked up and taps put in ;-)

Notching the drywall - especially when the walls are bowed
IS very common and accepted in our industry

I was just going to say, I get a kick out of the fact that the GC got UPSET about it, being that normally, when the granite guys cut into the sheetrock, it's to hide the GENERAL CONTRACTOR'S SCREWUP of not building a straight wall!! It avoids having a 1/2" joint or better at some place in back of the granite!