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Post by jfc on Apr 22, 2008 20:57:13 GMT
The money saver on granite is making your own templates . Thats it ! Leave the rest to the supplier . I have fitted loads of kitchens and seen one maybe two broken granite worktops and trust me everyone on site winced when the saw it .
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Post by jake on Apr 22, 2008 21:32:47 GMT
Trowelled smooth and then ground/polished. Dead trendy and lots of choices of colours, much nicer than granite which is seriously unfashionable - naff as can be and problematic by all accounts. I kind of agree, but if you read beyond the advocate*, concrete is even worse than the rather tedious granite. Unless sealed (i.e. plastic coated), lemon juice = damage. It can look much better than granite to my eyes, but less practical. Satin stainless for me, everytime. It actually works. *I would say that in the plural, but it really boils down to that one book |
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Post by jake on Apr 22, 2008 21:47:28 GMT
The money saver on granite is making your own templates . Thats it ! Leave the rest to the supplier . I have fitted loads of kitchens and seen one maybe two broken granite worktops and trust me everyone on site winced when the saw it . Grr. Been there, kind of. Granite cill on our extension, 2.6m long, CNC machined with long bevels and all sorts to make a 30mm slab look like it started at more like 40/50mm. Expensive, but less so that nonobtanium 50/60mm granite. I checked it, fine. I dry-fitted it, fine. I put all the chocks in to hold it at the right angle and dry-fitted again, fine. Went for the real thing, it wouldn't sit quite right. I took it off, fine. I put it back on, fine, but still awry one side. I took it off again, well, I lifted it, but it slipped and as soon as it did I saw what was going to happen and how I really was utterly helpless to stop it happening. About ten minutes later it hit the ground. The inevitable happened. I am a second older, and about £700 less well off. I have the makings of a nice something or other for the garden or something, though. A slightly too smooth but somehow fractured looking Stonehenge for dwarfs, anyone? |
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Post by engineerone on Apr 22, 2008 22:45:03 GMT
hell of a way to get a cheap grave marker mate  still got some stone chisels if you want to learn. did you actually measure the beam before you tried to instal it, and if so was it what you had booked??? paul  |
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Post by jasonb on Apr 23, 2008 6:33:19 GMT
If you go with something with a few veins in it you can't see the joint when they glue it back together, heres one I broke earlier snapped above the loo. The problem with going for a lighter stone is that they are more likely to show stains than the dark ones, no leaving tea bags on the top Jason |
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Post by Keith on Apr 23, 2008 6:50:42 GMT
I did a tea bag test with a load of granite samples and I only found one that didn't mark ( a jet black very dense stone from India) even most of the dark granites stain. Then the bits of quartz come out leaving a pitted surface, its expensive, heavy and awkward to fit, it's hard to see how it caught on  Then again the Corian type worktops aren't indestructible, I know someone who makes a good living just repairing Corian. |
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Post by jake on Apr 23, 2008 9:46:54 GMT
did you actually measure the beam before you tried to instal it, and if so was it what you had booked??? paul It was perfectly sized, just not sitting on the bedding mortar quite right, so I needed to take a little mortar out at one end to get it sitting level along the length. It shattered into five pieces (long and thin), not clean breaks either, so gluing (which I considered) was out of the question unfortunately. I got it re-made, and someone to help me lift it into place the second time. |
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ike
New Member
Posts: 8 
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Post by ike on May 2, 2008 15:52:56 GMT
How about tiles on MDF? T'would balance out the wood flooring?
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Post by Scrit on May 2, 2008 16:21:06 GMT
Then again the Corian type worktops aren't indestructible, I know someone who makes a good living just repairing Corian. I think you've answered the quastion yourself. Corian was originally sold into the commercial market where repairability and hygeine are paramount. it wins hands down on both counts - but then it's only plastic stuck on chipboard when all said and done Scrit |
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Post by mrgrimsdale on May 3, 2008 17:09:36 GMT
They are all destructible except stainless steel perhaps, and some woods - teak & iroko?
What's wrong with good old formica? Dead cheap, stick it on chipboard with a nice hardwood lip. Lasts well but easy to replace when you feel like a change.
Does "Decormel" still exist - even cheaper than formica?
cheers
Jacob
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Post by cnc paul on May 3, 2008 17:56:20 GMT
Or Formica ColorCore......solid colour throughout
Paul
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Post by Scrit on May 3, 2008 20:11:02 GMT
Or Formica ColorCore......solid colour throughout Except for the fact that it's niormally onlky 6mm or 12mm thick and stuck onto chipboard - just like Corian, etc Scrit |
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