Problem granite removed

14 years ago

In my previous post (see link below), I summarized the problems we had with our granite installation. Today, the fixes began.

Here's our nearly finished kitchen. It's been like this for a couple of weeks (this might have happened sooner, but we were away on vacation).

From Kitchen Remodel

As I described before, the problem was that instead of seaming the granite at the sink as we requested, they seamed over the dishwasher, and in the corner - and not all that well. The fabricator agreed to replace it, and we were able to get the next slab in the bundle.

They weren't very happy about it - the owner of the fabrication shop came to supervise - but today they took out the bad counters. Here's a picture of them sawing through the seam over the dishwasher.

From Kitchen Remodel

With a little difficulty, they got the countertop removed in about an hour. I had removed all of the drawers and door fronts before they got there.

From Kitchen Remodel

An additional problem that became apparent when the granite was installed was that the cabinets weren't all level. We were reusing our existing cabinets, but some did get moved, and I would have though that the GC would have checked this. Once the granite was gone, the GC started working on leveling the counters.

The main problem they ran into was that when our cabinet maker (we did have a few new cabinets built to match) installed the oven cabinet he secured it very well to the drawer base at the end of the counter - with screws in the oven compartment! With some grunting and groaning, and breaking of screws, but no visible evidence, they were able to get the cabinets leveled, and ready for the new counters.

The new countertop is scheduled to go in tomorrow - I'll post progress (multiple fingers crossed!).

Here is a link that might be useful: Previous granite post

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Comments (4)

desertsteph
14 years ago
hoping all goes well...

sure sounds like a few people fell down on the job.
jsweenc
14 years ago
I know how much the fabricators hate having to redo a job. We just finalized our decision today after several weeks of trying to figure it out. The rep with the fabricator has been patient and good to work with, but all along the way, any time I have had a $ question, he's kept words and phrases at the front to let me know that his first obligation is to make $ for the company... got to "keep profitability in mind", "pay the light bills", etc. I'm OK with that; they have to decide whether they are willing to take on a particular stone's liability.

From all that he has said to me, I am so surprised to hear about the carelessness of some of the fabricators out there about making sure they listen to the homeowner and measure and cut and seam with more trepidation. I don't paint them all with the same brush (Kevin) but I will be nervous until ours goes in and I see that it is done correctly. I hope my fabricator was right when he told me we would be very very happy that we chose them. I hope you will be able to say the same thing when it's all over, hgluckman... or at least that you are very very happy with the end result.
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hgluckman
Original Author
14 years ago
Well, they came and replaced the three piece countertop with the two-piece seamed at the sink that we originally requested. They even got the sink reveal right this time!

Here's the replaced countertop
From Kitchen Remodel

The entire remodel and some more detailed pics from the replacement can be seen on my Picassa page (link below the picture).

There is an issue that we're going to have to deal with when the backsplash goes in next week - the countertop, while now tight-fitting to the cabinets is not completely parallel with the upper cabinets. This is going to cause tiling issues. We'll see how that goes.

Today, our filtered/chilled/insta-hot water system is being installed. Hopefully, next week I'll be able to post 99% finished kitchen pictures. The only thing that should be remaining after next week is the floor refinishing. We're going to take a breather (literally and figuratively) before we do that
beekeeperswife
14 years ago
I'm glad that this was resolved for you. I find it surprising that the granite guys templated the counter with the cabinets not being level. When ours were done, it was clearly stated that they wouldn't template if they weren't level. And believe me, they checked when they got there. We reused cabinets too, and also moved some. It wasn't easy getting them level, but we did it.

Your granite looks really nice. Always good to see a happy ending.

Problem granite removed

Comments (4)

desertsteph

jsweenc

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Problem granite removed

Comments (4)

desertsteph

jsweenc

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hgluckmanOriginal Author

beekeeperswife

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hgluckman
Original Author