Grinding Seams Not For Amateurs

cheesedog · 09-06-2007, 01:26 AM

i got a call from a guy that had black galaxy installed in his kitchen a month ago. the installer tried to grind the seams flat and polish. he never shouldve touched the seams. these are the only two seams beside the one in the middle of the sink. both are ruined. you cannot see in the pictures, but there are half-moons where he went too deep. i informed the guy that i could possibly bring the polish back, but the dip in the stone would only get worse, and im not about to touch it. plus its a new kitchen and he should have it replaced. the picture with the bottle shows the guy putting some junk on that the installer put on to try and hide his F-UP. you can see that it makes a nice shine but only for about ten minutes. needless to say, hes pissed and is going to try and get them to replace it. your thoughts please:

Huligar · 09-06-2007, 02:14 AM

No need to replace the tops, You can remove the half moons and replace the shine.

This is the type of work I love to get my hands on. Take a look at the video and see how we handle the same situation a few months back.

I also want to take the time to mention that this is the type of stuff we show the guys in the class.

cheesedog · 09-06-2007, 02:25 AM

the half moons are like 1/16 deep at the front of the seam. i can remove the half moons but there will be a pretty nice dish in the stone and warped reflection, to me this wouldnt be acceptable on a counter top thats 4 weeks old. i can get the polish back, but the counter is junked as far as im concerned. i would have loved to get paid to fix this as well, but i think id only get myself in trouble.

cheesedog · 09-06-2007, 02:31 AM

thats a good video. were you using powder with a buff pad? what rpms do you run?

Huligar · 09-06-2007, 10:07 AM

Cheesedog, you can remove the half moons and leave no no dish or warped reflection on the stone. Take some time and practice on a scrap price of stone, this level of skill will get you paid. the fabricator will rather pay you than rip out the stone, the customer would rater have it fix than deal with the whole install proses all over again.

That video was taken on a real job site, the fabricator read a post on another site and try his best. as you can see from the gloss meter the stone was shot, it still had lippage, and it stood out from the rest of the stone. With a little pride and practice anyone can polish seams.

As for your next question, we only discuss that in trade area of this site.

Topshop · 09-06-2007, 10:53 AM

I doubt that Cheesedog would get paid by the customer - the tops look like pre-fab blanks to me. I would stay out of this one unless the installer contracted to pay for the fix.

What's up with that nasty bright colored glass tile? It doesn't match anything around it.

Funny when I first started in this business - before I knew how to top polish - Regent sold me the same polish for the same type of situation. Man I got suckered into alot of B.S. - stupid.

Scott Suchan · 09-07-2007, 02:35 AM

Top, it's pretty widespread in the industry to use "juice" when they don't know how to do a proper repair. If ICP doesn't work then they pullout the big guns and use Ager. Doesn't matter that it's temp fix, as long as they get out the door with the check. One of the problems with this industry is that there are few set guidelines for what is the correct way to do things. A lot of guys think that if you can hit a polish with a chemical or wax then it's O.K.. Few know that a true polish stands on it's own. Same with repairs. Until I went to the repair class the only info I ever got was about using chemicals to realize results that polishing can do on its own. Alpha will help out with "know-how" on repairs with the twist lock turbos and black buff pads, they're also into helping people do things properly.

Good luck with the repair. It might be time consuming, but it's certainly possible to do

cheesedog · 09-07-2007, 02:37 AM

its honestly hard to tell, from looking at the bullnose and everything, it kinda looks like prefab, chinese style. i just dont feel comfortable getting involved.

Huligar · 09-07-2007, 08:46 AM

Cheesedog, in that case stay away from this job.
I hope we see you at the next class.
This is a simply job, but if you do not have the conference in your skill, this job can and will kill you.

NuTech Floor Pro · 09-14-2007, 01:06 AM

LOL.

Why would he be pissed? He certainly did not pay for that. It's a real shame that this kind of stuff and work ethic is what keeps us in business. There is not a day that goes by that some homeowner is crying on my shoulder about the way they have been treated by the last contractor. I too, believe it is more than fixable, but also I believe that the customer deserves better and he should be allowed to be the "first" to screw up his counters. The fact that he knows what happened will lead him to stare at the bullnose everytime he passes looking for the slightest inkling of a flutter along that edge so he can once again mutter to himself. The fabricator should be posted for the world to see. Cheesedog, I go on record, I'll come to fix it at a premium price, if it comes to pulling it out and the owner is interested in a fix rather than pulling them or dealing any further with his contractor. We can even video it.