Is this an acceptable granite installation?
I am looking for advice regarding the granite installation pictured below. Is this acceptable work?
The piece of granite originally planned for the sink section (left side of the seam) broke when the sink cut-out was being made onsite. The piece to the right was already installed. I insisted on an unbroken piece at the sink, so the installers returned the next day with another piece from the same slab. They installed it but left without allowing me, their key contact, to inspect the job, despite the fact that I was in the home and available. After they left, we discovered a break near the corner of the sink (photo below). This was not a crack, but a full break that would move if lightly pressed.
As I was researching what to do, I became concerned about other parts of the job, including the seam over the dishwasher that is unsupported except for one board along the wall. That's 19" of unsupported granite to the right of the seam. I also discovered that the Sienna Cream granite, a softer stone as acknowledged by the fabricator, should likely have been reinforced at the sinks (2) and cooktop with stainless steel or fiberglass rods, and this was not done.
I decided to let the fabricator repair the break and here's what it looks like now:
While they were onsite for the repair, we asked about improving the roughness of the seams. They rubbed them with a towel and some solution but said they thought it looked fine ("I'd have it in my house."). I couldn't tell that they had made any difference. A close up of one of the problem spots is below (not sure if that's a scratch or a crack that they have filled).
The fabricator has offered a written warranty for the lifetime of the countertops to cover the repair at the sink and for any problems that may arise with the unsupported section over the dishwasher.
I would greatly appreciate your guidance on three questions:
1. Is the match of the granite in the first picture acceptable?
2. Is the repaired break at the sink acceptable and durable?
3. We have paid them 50% down on a joint countertop and flooring job. Countertops went in first, and we put a hold on the floor when we ran into these problems. If this isn't acceptable work, what would you do?
Thank you for taking the time to reply, and if you happen to be a professional in this industry, would you please indicate that as well?
Comments (21)
Jancy
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoRelated Discussions
not too happy with grantie installation
Comments (17)thank you for all your comments. thank you raehelen for the link to the SA, i didnt know about it and i will post there also. an installer came today, and said "this happens alot, we'll just caulk it. There needs to be some play in the counters". i cant believe they commonly cut countertops to extend over door frames. I told them to put the caulk away, because it's not an acceptable solution. What if i need to replace the door frame? I dont want a hunk of caulk at the end of an otherwise flush countertop. He went outside, was on the phone for a long time, and then the fabricator calls. Same thing, he was insistent we are too picky. His solution is to come to the house and cut the side of the countertop off and redo the edge. As i see it, this would mean the front corner would have a different radius, the new edge would still stop short of the wall due to the molding, still leaving an unfinished edge, and granite dust would be everywhere! We got nowhere on the phone, he said he was coming over to see it, but never showed up. On top of that, his language was vulgar. He has not admitted this was a mistake, in fact insisting the countertops have to cut longer for "play". If they cut it like that on purpose, why didn't they take it outside and make it shorter and redo the edge before they installed it? What was the purpose of the detailed template? (he didnt answer my question). oh, now this has gotten to be overly long. i needed to vent. i tried my best to be matter-of-fact and not emotional. I really just want it done right, but the guy was angry, defensive and vulgar. I'm calling the place in the morning to see if i can get a manager over here. These 2 guys are trying to cover their butts cuz they screwed up, i think. thanks again for your support. They did say they'll replace the shelf, but they are really giving us a hard time about the notch, and we havent even gotten to the seam. I guess b/cus there isnt an acceptable fix, other than replacing all of it. :( we had to make final payment to the installers UPON ARRIVAL in cash. Lesson learned. We shouldve ran away. They are a large company, been in business a long time and have 2 beautiful showrooms. I dont get it....See MoreIs this granite seam acceptable?
Comments (30)THANK YOU to everyone who helped me learn from this experience! There is so much knowledge (and willingness to spend time on graphics!) on this board! I'm very grateful. I didn't know what I didn't know...but I sure do now! I did not even know what "templating" really meant before. Lesson learned! My contractor has gotten involved and the manager of the granite fabricator has apologized and offered to make things right. They have one slab left from this lot. I'm going tomorrow to see if any part of it might provide a better match for the larger, L-shaped piece in question. Thanks to all of you I understand that it will not be a perfect match...but I'm grateful for the opportunity to see if there is the possibility of a better color blend. I'm so glad to have an idea of what my expectations should be. The smaller piece that is poorly color-matched was installed with the wrong ends touching. They're going to attempt to pull it out, turn it around, and re-install. That would have been avoided if they'd involved me in any part of the planning as they said they would! I was told that the small piece might break in their attempt to remove it, and the large remaining slab in this lot was rejected already by the fabricator as a poor match...but this is step one in their attempt to fix. I'm hopeful and going in with a positive attitude. It's only a countertop, right? That's what I keep telling myself... I've moved on to dealing with the backsplash tile that I selected to match my initial granite sample (which wound up not being the slabs they gave me...it was creamier/browner) that doesn't work with these countertops. Thank goodness they hadn't started to install the tile yet! I'm hoping my contractor will help absorb the restock fee for that tile (25%..is that normal?) since it's not like I just randomly changed my mind. These counters definitely don't look as good with my floors as the original slabs I selected. I'm just trying to keep things in perspective....and hope that maybe someday we can put in hardwood floors so the (old) floor tile that doesn't match isn't one more thing for me to kick myself about. This process can definitely be discouraging....See MoreGranite install, is this acceptable?
Comments (12)We are planning on repainting the whole bathroom but I wanted to get this fixed first. My husband suggested asking them to remove just the piece of backsplash so that we can fix the drywall ourselves. It's hard to tell from the picture but portions of the holes are above it just covered by caulk. I know some people cut into the drywall to get a tighter fit but then it looks clean. If you touch the wall it sinks in. After what you said I'm guessing we'd be better off removing it ourselves? Thank you for your feedback....See MoreAcceptable granite installation?
Comments (35)Just sent them the same pictures as shared here originally and asked for it to be fixed by someone else with a better handle of the job. I did not want compensation... wanted just a fix on these slabs as it took me forever to find them. They were recommended by my cabinet company. They did NOT acknowledge / apologize. They simply stated they will try to fix it. In hindsight may be they sent undertrained crew and when I put my foot down, they sent their best guys out. Who knows? They did request me not to share this information with the cabinet company. I would have eventually if they didn’t fix my countertops. Everyone deserves a chance. Hopefully they don’t mess with more customers. They appeared to know what they were doing. I was very happy with the expertise of the crew that came in today....See More
a1shellyj
8 years agoJancy
8 years agolast modified: 8 years ago
Russ Barnard
8 years agoa1shellyj
8 years ago
PROJoseph Corlett, LLC
8 years agoa1shellyj
8 years agoa1shellyj
8 years ago
Joseph Corlett, LLC