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Granite Does Not Match At Seam

10 years ago

Hello,
I am writing on behalf of my brother and sister-in-law. They have been saving for a long time to have their kitchen remodeled and just had the granite installed on Friday. I unfortunately don't have a picture, but the problem is the seam between the stove and the sink (right in the middle of the counter) sticks out like a sore thumb. It's the first thing you notice when you walk in the kitchen. The granite does not match on each side of the seam. On one side there is a large half of a swirl pattern, but not on the other! I don't know why they didn't put the seam at the sink where it would have been less noticeable. I'm not sure what they can do at this point and if they should consider this acceptable and part of having a natural product, or if they tell the granite company that it is unacceptable and demand it be fixed. Any advice would be appreciated. When my sister-in-law tried to ask the installers about it on Friday, they were out the door in a flash, like they knew something was wrong. Thanks!

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Comments (3)

andreak100
10 years ago
It's always such a disappointment when things don't go exactly as planned. I hope that your brother and SIL are able to get things resolved to their satisfaction.

It's hard to say without pictures, not knowing what the layout of the kitchen is, what granite is being used, etc. A reputable fabricator will generally try to do their best with seams...they generally don't like them any more than we do.

As for location of the seam - most of the time, reputable fabricators will do the best they can to put it in an area that won't be highly visible. But, sometimes due to moving the stone and the weaknesses in the slab where cutouts are placed, they will put a seam in a place that *we* wouldn't. We discussed seams with our fabricator before selecting our fabricator and she warned us that we might wind up with a seam in a place were we would rather not.

Sometimes the nature of the movement of the slab means that swirls can't be matched up very well. Again, without pictures, it's really hard for us to speculate...and even with pictures, it's still sometimes difficult.
Vertise
10 years ago
They should have templated and shown the result and issues beforehand so you could choose another stone if you were not happy with it.

It does not sound acceptable to me. Hold final payment. How to resolve is another issue since it's already been cut.
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forboystoo, you are so right. It takes a toll on me to stand my ground, but it would have been a bigger toll, and a daily one, to look at the crummy seam they originally did. Obviously, they are capable of doing a much better seam than they originally did. Do they have so little pride in their work that they were willing to let it go? Do they not have some level of ethics that says someone who has paid for a product deserves to get the best product they can deliver? Climbing down off my soap box before I start talking about the moral decay of granite fabricators...
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Thanks all, very very helpful info. Boxerpups, special thanks for these great photos, would never guess where the seams are in your counters. If things would work out so well for us, I would prefer they use caution with my handpicked slab and add a seam. You make a very good point about my confidence in the fabricator also. I think that must be the true source of my uneasiness. I do feel they are competent because they give all the right answers to questions (that I learned to ask from this forum), and they are well established in this area, but I just didn't click with the salesman and I only overlooked that because our contractor, who is wonderful, overall likes them. The owner also is great. So every time the salesman tells me something, I don't trust him. So I think what I will do is ask about their ability to hide seams and show them your photos if you don't mind--to give them an idea what our expectations are. Then I can put this to rest and move on. Thanks so much again everyone! And please stay tuned for backsplash questions, that is the next step!!
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Our fab. cut our L shap out that fit on one slab, then cut the seam from that and they also fit the 3 inch backsplash on there prior to cutting from what they said so everything blends nicely for the one side of our kitchen. There was no way to lift the granite (in less they had tons of people and even then moving it around our tiny kitchen was very difficult as it was) without the seam. Ours put a lot of thought into it, which was nice and we didn't have to micromanage, which was even better. They had to use two slabs, but the other slab was used on the other side, so it was a non-issue of it matching up perfectly.
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Either my pictures aren't very good or the wisdom of the crowd isn't what I thought. The company agreed with me they are cutting a slab for the back wall that will run vertically like the other two slabs and placing it over the slab already installed on the wall. They are then cutting a one inch strip of marble and finishing it to cover the seam. They were very gracious and admitted the back wall was a mistake on their part.
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debrak_2008
10 years ago
Stop payment if already made. Agree that the seam should have been determined before install.

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