I bet you got lots of info about your granite. Good info for the alcohol and water cleaning mix. The first thing you want to do is test the porosity of the stone. Something I think the fabricator should have known more about. Its easy to test- puddle up some(2) palm sized puddles of water and let them sit on the top in various locations for 10 or 15 minutes. Then wipe away the water with a paper towel and see if it left a darker mark. If so your tops are porous-If not they have either been sealed or possibly resined at the point of processing or the stone quarry. This material comes from brazil fyi. If the slab has a mesh backing it could have been resined and you wont need to seal it. The sealer will not absorb into a non porous surface. Again something your installer should have explained to you. Being resined isnt a bad thing so dont worry. You can do some research about it online if you like. Anyway the important thing is that you know the character of your stone. so you can maintain it in the simplest matter and enjoy its beauty for years to come. Ammonia can and will breakdown sealers but many folks say it wont damage stone. Cant be sure it wont affect a resin however. I say why use it as there are so many other products to safely use. I like to tell folks to use a no rinse ph neutral cleaner for stone. Its pure logic when you think about it. If you use a product such as a soap that needs to be rinsed eventually after many months there will be buildup of the soaps which even when rinsed will leave a residue. I am in many homes where if I slide my finger across the stone it smears like grease. A dilution of alcohol will fix that right up most of the time. But why get to that point the soap residue atracts soils. I recommend for daily cleaning one of these types of cleaners with a ph range of 7-9 so that if you do have sealer properly applied(thats another story)it wont degrade it. That means you can get many more years out of the sealer. Yes the way to check is the water test. Every stone should be treated and tested individually. I would think the fabricator would attend to the sealing and educating the customer in regard to that and the ongoing maintenance of the stone. It isnt a cookie cutter product and that service should be included in the price of the stone. Stu Rosen www.mbstonecare.com www.stoneshine.com

"see examples of their work" Excellent point. There seems to be a lot of problems lately with people being disappointed in their granite fabrication. I have to really hold back in posting things like "did you see examples of their seams? did you discuss the edge? Did you see this or that? Did you pick out the slab, the layout? Did you bring samples home to test and to see how it looked in your house" etc. You should ask for references and actually go see installed granite in a home. I actually asked our salesperson (yard and fabricator, all in one shop) if we took the longest and was the most PITAs. She laughed and said No of course. I visited the shop 4 or 5 times. I had numerous samples I kept for months. I saw granite in their showroom on each visit. I saw granite installed in a home. It was actually a friend of mine who had used the place but if I had not seen hers I would have asked for a reference and asked to see the installed granite. I called repeatedly and asked lots of questions, even speaking to the owner. Reviewed the contract in detail. I spoke at length with the templater and then the installers. Watched every move. BTW I visited and got estimates from eight different shops before choosing the one we used. Maybe this was done before....but a thread on how to purchase granite might be in order. Starting at the beginning....how to find a fabricator, what to ask for, what to expect, etc. How we handled the granite decision is how we handle EVERY decision. I know most people (not all) that I know IRL say they just don't have the time or patience to spend the time we do on these things. But they are the ones who call us when they need advise.

The seam looks a little rough to me. Is it polished smooth to the touch? If it's not, I'd ask the fabricator to come back out and smooth it out. It also does not look bullnosed to me. If you specified that, I'd ask them what they can do to fix it. Uba tuba is pretty common, so even if they need to replace the counters, it shouldn't be hard to get a new slab. Or, if you decide you can live with the beveled edge, perhaps you can get a discount due to their mistake. (Any discount they give you would be far cheaper for them than having to buy new stone and remake the counters, so if you decide to live with it, I'd definitely ask for some compensation.) If you live with it as is, then I would use a Sharpie as Jodi above did to blend that seam in a bit, with just little stippled dots.

Folks- NEVER use Plumber's Putty on Natural Stone - it has oils that will stain the stone as sjetexas has found out... Here's a poultice recipe that has worked for me over the last 23 years: A. mix plaster of paris into some acetone in a plastic throw away cup B. mix to the consistancy of pancake batter C. apply to the spot and overlap 1 inch past where the spot ends (eg- of you have a 2inch diameter spot, the plaster/acetone needs to be 4 inches in diameter) D. cover the plaster/acetone with saran wrap E. tape down the edges of the saran wrap with 3M BLUE TAPE F. allow the poultice to set for 24 hours G. remove EVERYTHING (poultice tape & saran wrap) after 24 hours........ the spot will either be gone - or way lighter, in which case you may have to repeat this process for really deep set stains and stubborn spots - but it works hope that helps ya kevin