Many homeowners who make the decision to remodel their home often have the concern of knowing if the person they hire is reliable and does quality work. When looking for a granite fabricator, it is recommended to ask for references, see pictures from previous jobs and know a little about what granite fabricators do during the fabrication process.
Quality granite fabrication work can be determined by several factors. Most people find that the visual aspect of granite countertops is most important. Natural stone countertops should be level, especially over long spans, in which quality installers “shim up” countertops to make them that way. Countertop seams are another issue that many homeowners have concerns about. There should not be lippage at the seam, and the width of the seam should be minimal and be completely filled. Many stone fabricators use a seam setter to pull the counter-tops together to make a tighter seam joint and will fill with quick-drying polyester adhesive.
Stone fabrication is just as important as the installation process. A quality fabricator will spend more time on the job because of extra details. When a granite fabricator makes a polished edge, such as a full bullnose, two pieces of stone are glued together. What the fabricator uses to glue these two pieces together is extremely important, as using inappropriate glue can cause the buildup-edge to come apart and fall off. A quality fabricator will be using more costly epoxy adhesive, which has a superior bond compared to polyester, and is actually stronger than the stone itself.
Although granite seems to be strong, it can crack or break easier than most would think, especially when it is cut in thin pieces like a backsplash, narrow areas such as around a sink cutout, or on island overhangs. A quality stone fabricator will epoxy support on the underside of the stone. Typically this is done by cutting a narrow groove on the back and inserting fiberglass rodding into the groove, and gluing it in. Fiberglass rodding is one of the strongest materials that can be used to increase load tolerance and deflection up to 1,600 percent, and is superior to metal rods as it does not rust and it mechanically bonds to the adhesive.
Island Stone Center caters to Hawaii’s stone fabricators, offering a wide variety of fabrication supplies, tools and maintenance products, such as natural stone care.
Address: 1111 Dillingham Blvd. #E1-B (Kokea Shopping Center near Subway)
Contact: 848-0989
Website: www.IslandStoneCenter.com
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