Triple07 Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 (edited) So yesterday we had our worktops fitted, 1st issue is we have a rather long joint in the worktop in a window sill that we were told would be from one slab so that we didn’t have a joint , we then knew we would have 2 joins each side where it would meet the rest of the worktop (U shaped kitchen) and we were told that the join would be smooth to touch, that no join was invisible, but it would only be visible if you look close. Obviously with quartz/ silestone we knew it couldn’t be seemless. 2nd issue is they cut the hob out too small despite it being there, easily rectified though. but our main issue is the type of joins, I just want to know if this is acceptable. It looks horrendous to me, almost like it’s been tiled, the joints are “grouted” with a thin silicon layer to seal. Help! Edited July 29, 2018 by Triple07 Closer image 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triple07 Posted July 29, 2018 Author Share Posted July 29, 2018 Oh and the drainer groves are on the wrong side from what was specified, meaning the tap is not central to window which will REALLY bug me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 Sounds like a proper FUp. Whats written down and signed for re the drainer ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triple07 Posted July 29, 2018 Author Share Posted July 29, 2018 Nothing was written down or signed....yeah hindsight is a wonderful thing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vivienz Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 I certainly wouldn't class that as barely visible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 We have 20mm Silestone and the joints were made flush as possible, with a colour matched epoxy adhesive and then buffed down and polished when cured. I can take some photos either tomorrow or Tuesday that show the way our joins look, but I'd have to say you can't easily spot them without looking closely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan52 Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 Being right under the window doesn't help hide the joint. The light will always catch the sides and make it more visible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tennentslager Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 Erm...don't want to ask but how much did you pay? And how did you pay...it's really not good enough that one of your WOW items is so poorly finished Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triple07 Posted July 29, 2018 Author Share Posted July 29, 2018 So far I have paid £2k deposit (via bank transfer ? ffs what an idiot) meant to pay a further £3k on completion. I have emailed them but as yet no reply, it is Sunday though. The close up photo of the join isn’t the one under the window, that’s one further down the run of units, and every bit as visible. the slabs they used were bevelled, even on the join so they were never gonna get a clean seam, shoddy finish. @JSHarris photos would be much appreciated, I am currently moaning to a family member that thinks I am simply being “precious” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizzie Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 @Triple07 looks like a poor job from your photos. I would not pay the balance pending resolution. Not sure what can be done now its in situ. If they fill it in some way it may not last. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 That’s a lot to pay for something that’s not right. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterW Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 8 minutes ago, Triple07 said: So far I have paid £2k deposit (via bank transfer ? ffs what an idiot) meant to pay a further £3k on completion. I have emailed them but as yet no reply, it is Sunday though. The close up photo of the join isn’t the one under the window, that’s one further down the run of units, and every bit as visible. the slabs they used were bevelled, even on the join so they were never gonna get a clean seam, shoddy finish. @JSHarris photos would be much appreciated, I am currently moaning to a family member that thinks I am simply being “precious” Ask the family member to pay the balance then ...... let’s see how long they moan for then ..! The bevel is there to take the epoxy joint compound - they should have epoxied them together then made it proud, polishing it back to a flat surface. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triple07 Posted July 29, 2018 Author Share Posted July 29, 2018 Fingers crossed for a swift resolution when the company respond to my email! @Tennentslager it’s WOW now for all the wrong reasons! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 4 hours ago, PeterW said: Ask the family member to pay the balance then ...... let’s see how long they moan for then ..! The bevel is there to take the epoxy joint compound - they should have epoxied them together then made it proud, polishing it back to a flat surface. They should be able to un-install it, and re-do the joints properly. No smiles, no more cash. Tell them to come and take them out if they want to get funny. Tell them if you cant see the joints then maybe the non mono section may be liveable. Lets see what they come back with first eh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherryfountain Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 This looks a totally unprofessional job and I would refuse to pay any more money until it is sorted out. Quartz worktop blanks are up to 3050x900to1400 deep why so many joints? Was the job properly templated as all details of tap position, drainer grooves,cutouts,sink position,polished edges, joint positions are all clearly written on the templates all to be confirmed by the customer before being fabricated. Where there are joints they should be barely visible when bonded with the proper matching epoxy adhesive .If you look on YouTube there are videos on how a joint should look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryder72 Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 Thats a bodge. Period. The joins should be better than that and the front edges at the join should alight. The worktop overhang should be consistent across the kitchen (provided the kitchen is well fitted). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 20 hours ago, Triple07 said: So far I have paid £2k deposit (via bank transfer ? ffs what an idiot) meant to pay a further £3k on completion. I have emailed them but as yet no reply, it is Sunday though. The close up photo of the join isn’t the one under the window, that’s one further down the run of units, and every bit as visible. the slabs they used were bevelled, even on the join so they were never gonna get a clean seam, shoddy finish. @JSHarris photos would be much appreciated, I am currently moaning to a family member that thinks I am simply being “precious” The bevels are deliberate, so they can be filled with the special two pack epoxy resin, colour-matched, jointing compound and then finished off flush. This is one of the two joints in our Silestone work top, that shows how it should look. Bear in mind this is now a few years old, and has been cleaned a few times, so looked a bit better when it was brand new. The technique the fitters used was to use the epoxy resin to bond the joints together, then they trimmed off the excess with a brand new Stanley knife blade whilst if was partially cured, leaving the surface very slightly proud, then they waited until the resin had fully cured and used a power polisher to get the final flush and polished finish to the join. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 21 hours ago, Triple07 said: Nothing was written down or signed....yeah hindsight is a wonderful thing. Surely something was written down? They must have had some written indication of where the cutout was going, for example? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 The way our guys did it was turn up with some stiff, clear, plastic sheet and lay that on top of the kitchen units. They carefully shaped this to fit, then marked the positions of all the cutouts needed on it (the under-set sink was already resting on a frame in the top of a unit). The cut out for the hob in the island was traced from the manufacturers paper template on to a plastic template. They then rolled up the templates and took them away to their workshop to cut the stone, coming back a week or so later with the cut worktops ready to fit. The chance of any error was pretty small by doing it this way, I think, and I remember them getting me to double check that their plastic templates were right before they took them away to cut the stone, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newhome Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 We had to sign on the dotted line to say that the template was as expected. We didn’t pay anything up front at all although we had to agree to pay the template cost if we hadn’t gone ahead with the order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 3 minutes ago, JSHarris said: ...(the under-set sink was already resting on a frame in the top of a unit). At the risk of taking the thread off topic, I thought the sink was fixed to the underside of the worktop by some tapped holes or other similar fixings to strap it to the underside of the worktop. Is it normal to support it independantly in a frame then just rest the worktop over it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan52 Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 My under mounted sink was put on with a tube of stixall. A piece of timber was wedged under it to hold it in place overnight then removed the next morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 16 minutes ago, ProDave said: At the risk of taking the thread off topic, I thought the sink was fixed to the underside of the worktop by some tapped holes or other similar fixings to strap it to the underside of the worktop. Is it normal to support it independantly in a frame then just rest the worktop over it? The MIs for our sink said to just lay it loose, but supported, on the frame on the top of the unit, then when the worktop was fitted the fitters used clear silicone to bond the return on the top of the sink to the underside of the worktop, gently easing the sink so that it was dead-centre in the cut out, then cleaning up under the slightly overlapping worktop edge. Combined with the worktop being bonded down to every kitchen unit (there are no mechanical fastenings) it's not going anywhere. Part of this is just the sheer weight of the stone; that, combined with the adhesive, made sure that nothing will ever move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 I don't doubt the worktop is not going anywhere, but the sink just bonded with silicone, nothing else? I was sure when I was considering one from Howdens, I saw details of tapped screw inserts in the underside of the worktop to screw clamps that hold the sink in place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 1 hour ago, ProDave said: I don't doubt the worktop is not going anywhere, but the sink just bonded with silicone, nothing else? I was sure when I was considering one from Howdens, I saw details of tapped screw inserts in the underside of the worktop to screw clamps that hold the sink in place. Bear in mind the Silestone is only 20mm thick, so drilled and tapped holes in it aren't going to be that strong. The whole thing feels really solid, with the sink flange bonded and sandwiched between the frame on top of the underlying unit and the heavy stone above. It also made for a quick and easy way of fixing it. I can't see a problem with it personally, as there's no where for the sink to move, as the flange is so well supported as well as being bonded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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