Shropshire_Lad Posted January 9, 2016 Report Share Posted January 9, 2016 One for the Kitchen fitters/joiners on here. Last week I and a colleague were asked to fit a kitchen with these work tops. One a long length , 3m with a cut out for a 1m inset sink. The other two 625 wide by 2.5m long, back to back to form an island unit with a 800 hob over a draw unit. From the start we stated we thought it too weak, not fit for purpose. We proceeded to fit them as asked as the customer assured us they would be ok. We made a support bench out of 4x2 PAR 3m long by 600 on a totally flat surface to do all the machining. All went well, all corners had a radius machined on them and the long joint on the island resin glued together. While going through the sanding/polishing process the island top cracked on the corner of the hob cut out, gutted:-( Any one else had bad experiences of this type of product ? atvb Paul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris1961 Posted January 9, 2016 Report Share Posted January 9, 2016 Do you mean corian work top Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
team tractor Posted January 9, 2016 Report Share Posted January 9, 2016 I guess you mean Quartz /solid /encore surface. It's something you should always carry upright but if machining I know that's impossible . You can repair it surely? That's the joys of the stuff with the resin glue then sand it down Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shropshire_Lad Posted January 10, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2016 It is one of the Quartz type tops, not sure which brand as the customer supplied it all. We have repaired it but whats to stop it going again ? . 800 mm is a long piece unsupported over a draw unit don't you think ? as it's only 60 mm wide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted January 10, 2016 Report Share Posted January 10, 2016 My feeling is its too thin for the span Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
team tractor Posted January 10, 2016 Report Share Posted January 10, 2016 We sell them and it's getting common place now.granites no different at 20mm. When it's all done and siliconed to the cabinets like a gasket it'll be fine. We fitted this before Xmas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shropshire_Lad Posted January 10, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2016 My feeling is its too thin for the span That's what we thought too, it wont take much of a knock in the future for it to go again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
team tractor Posted January 10, 2016 Report Share Posted January 10, 2016 Personally I've got 40mm tops as it looks better and appliances fit easier like hobs at 40-60mm thick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sitsinhedges Posted January 10, 2016 Report Share Posted January 10, 2016 Howdens have started doing a DIY granite top that is 20mm thick. I'm going to be one of the lucky ones who gets to test it out They are even throwing in a free track saw with diamond blade to cut it but it seems like a palaver and I'd prefer a specialist firm do it to be honest. It can't span more than 400mm unsupported and Howdens supply support brackets for this but as they are not adjustable for length they are effectively useless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shropshire_Lad Posted January 10, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2016 Thank's guy's for your feedback. Sitsinhedges, We treated these 20 mm tops as if they were royalty , at no time worked on unsupported and always carried by two of us edge on, I don't see how we could do it different next time to be honest. Interesting about no more than 400mm of span too, looks like 800mm is stretching it a bit too far !! To be honest the customer has been fantastic and has been with us all the while and was there when it went ping while polishing. The Rep is out this week to take a look at their wonderful tops and design layout. team tractor, do your tops stain easily ? we got there this morning and these white tops were already staining from spilled Tea . It polished out ok but there is no way you would want that hassle all the time. atvb Paul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
team tractor Posted January 10, 2016 Report Share Posted January 10, 2016 I don't know on staining but most tops like granite do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winnie&bezza Posted January 10, 2016 Report Share Posted January 10, 2016 Nice kitchen TT, did you make any of it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil123 Posted January 10, 2016 Report Share Posted January 10, 2016 Howdens have started doing a DIY granite top that is 20mm thick. I'm going to be one of the lucky ones who gets to test it out They are even throwing in a free track saw with diamond blade to cut it but it seems like a palaver and I'd prefer a specialist firm do it to be honest. It can't span more than 400mm unsupported and Howdens supply support brackets for this but as they are not adjustable for length they are effectively useless. My depot have been selling the granite for around 6 months now with no problems, they really are as easy as fitting solid wood work tops. Don't be afraid to try them if there are any breakages the depot will swap you for a new piece no hassle. The support brackets come in various lengths so you shouldn't need anything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sitsinhedges Posted January 10, 2016 Report Share Posted January 10, 2016 My depot have been selling the granite for around 6 months now with no problems, they really are as easy as fitting solid wood work tops. Don't be afraid to try them if there are any breakages the depot will swap you for a new piece no hassle. The support brackets come in various lengths so you shouldn't need anything else. We needed support bracket @ 605 and 645mm. Our only option was to make them ourselves. We thought the ones they sent were going to be adjustable but they're not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shropshire_Lad Posted January 10, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2016 Look on the bright side, you can spend a day fitting the replacement tops for free !! whoopee ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
team tractor Posted January 10, 2016 Report Share Posted January 10, 2016 Nice kitchen TT, did you make any of it? Supplied it through our kitchen company and fitted but not made Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kent Posted January 11, 2016 Report Share Posted January 11, 2016 It is one of the Quartz type tops, not sure which brand as the customer supplied it all. We have repaired it but whats to stop it going again ? . 800 mm is a long piece unsupported over a draw unit don't you think ? as it's only 60 mm wide. People get hurt moving this sort of thing when it breaks Someone needs to train that designer proper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Konnie Posted January 11, 2016 Report Share Posted January 11, 2016 Lot of people looking and using cheaper man made type stone surfaces, better ones are silestone cimstome, Decton is a newer one coming through, all good but not cheap, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosd Posted January 11, 2016 Report Share Posted January 11, 2016 Just an idea... On your repair, why not use a length of steel and bond it underneath that piece with the support bar extending beyond the thin strip and into the main piece? Obviously use steel thin enough so it can't be seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sitsinhedges Posted January 12, 2016 Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 Well it was my turn today on this 20mm granite worktop. Everything went fine and it was fitted and laying in place for the sink to be cut in. We started by drilling the four corners of the cut out with a 35mm diamond core bit. The idea is to use a Festo type track saw with a diamond blade to join up the four holes but because the saw baseplate hits the back wall cutting from front to back, in one place we had to slide the granite towards us a couple of inches to finish the cut. On carefully pushing 80 odd kg of granite the couple of inches back in to place the 60mm wide uncut pieces at the front and back just cracked and that was that. These are far more fragile that anything I've ever used before. Luckily the boss turned up at just the right moment to see exactly what had happened and that it wasn't really our fault. We ended up doing a virtually invisible repair to it and did the 3 other cuts and it does look OK but I doubt we will be using them again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Konnie Posted January 12, 2016 Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 Have you googled "sink hole savers" these are very good for helping with the problems you are having, it's what we use for granite that we have to fit with pre-cut holes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sitsinhedges Posted January 12, 2016 Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 Have you googled "sink hole savers" these are very good for helping with the problems you are having, it's what we use for granite that we have to fit with pre-cut holes. That's interesting but in my case it was already in situ and we only need to shift it a couple of inches to finish the cut off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shropshire_Lad Posted January 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 We did manage to get our cut outs done and tops in place but cracked on the final polishing. It is just not strong enough to cope with insets cut out of it. From a fitters point of view far too risky of a product to work with. We won't be touching the stuff again . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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