Help with granite seam!

[David Edwards]

To me, this last pic looks alot like the result of something done with a squeegee.

[Boyd]

I don't know if they're dyed or not, however, from what I've seen and read about for 10 years, that would be my first guess.
Blanks, eh? That's why they seamed it the way they did. Little choice in blanks.
Good News: If your fabricator is going to replace it out of one piece, that will not be a blank. Go to the stoneyard and carefully scrutinize the slab to be used. If it has faults, reject it.
Think about material grading here, if this were a top-flight selection, it would net the seller more money to keep it in slab form. I can't imagine most blanks to be A grade material. There is time and money involved [albeit the labor is cheap] to create a product that is sold dirt cheap.

[JG1inNJ]

Originally Posted by David Edwards

To me, this last pic looks alot like the result of something done with a squeegee.

Here's another pic I just took of it. It's slightly blurry, and there isn't a glare in the kitchen like this morning, but you can still see it.

[JG1inNJ]

Originally Posted by Boyd

Good News: If your fabricator is going to replace it out of one piece, that will not be a blank. Go to the stoneyard and carefully scrutinize the slab to be used. If it has faults, reject it.

Whats the consensus about the blotchiness forming in the stone. Should the fabricator replace it for free based on this, or his his offer to replace it at his cost still fair?

Were you given the opportunity to view the stone before it was fabricated?

[JG1inNJ]

No

I don't know about usual process in fab shops, but most of the guys on here always have the customer inspect their stone before the first cut is made. Some guys don't even keep stock in their shop, they send customers to slab yards to pick their stone.

This is to ensure that when a problem such as yours occurs, they can say "well you inspected it prior to fabrication." But since you did not have the opportunity to select it, it was left up to the fabricator to okay your stone prior to fabrication. If the shop did not cause the blemishes in the stone, they should have caught them before they worked on it, especially since you were not given the chance to okay it.

Hope all works out.

[Boyd]

JG1, here is the question for you. Do you want more blanks installed? Same seams, same quality of material? From what I gather, the most likely answer is no.
If you want A grade in one piece [which is what we do, if at all possible], then you pay for the slab and he donates the labor.
Now, granted, I'm a fabricator, but I think he's being very fair with you.
ABS is not supposed to be hazy and full of splotches. We know they dye it, but I've never seen a field remedy. Only vain, but well-intended attempts. Experience tells me to 'move on'.
You have the remedy at hand.

[JG1inNJ]

Originally Posted by Boyd

JG1, here is the question for you. Do you want more blanks installed? Same seams, same quality of material? From what I gather, the most likely answer is no.
If you want A grade in one piece [which is what we do, if at all possible], then you pay for the slab and he donates the labor.
Now, granted, I'm a fabricator, but I think he's being very fair with you.
ABS is not supposed to be hazy and full of splotches. We know they dye it, but I've never seen a field remedy. Only vain, but well-intended attempts. Experience tells me to 'move on'.
You have the remedy at hand.

I have the rememdy at hand, but it's going to cost me $1800-$2000 to get another black top...and this is after I already paid $4000 for the kitchen granite which I expected good quality granite. Not a top that has been Dyed.....

I called the fabricator today and told him about the blotchy granite and he pretty much laughed me off, telling me that it's been outside in the sun and snow at his shop and it was fine, and NOW it's turning blotchy. He asked what I'm cleaning it with and I told him granite cleaner. I thought I told him a joke by the way he was chuckling.

[Stoneseller]

Originally Posted by JG1inNJ

I called the fabricator today and told him about the blotchy granite and he pretty much laughed me off, telling me that it's been outside in the sun and snow at his shop and it was fine, and NOW it's turning blotchy. .

That might help explain some of the weird shaped hazy spots. A good quality deep black granite won't be affected by being out in the weather, at least not for a substantial amount of time. Think about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
OTOH, a low quality greyish granite, that most likely was treated with something, whether kerosene/oil mix, Ager, Resin, etc that is left out in the weather is liable to to appear to be bleached out from exposure to UV, or perhaps affected by acid rain. The odd shaped patterns might be where something like a scrap of stone, hunk of wood, peice of plastic, etc, was sitting on or leaning on the stock. I've seen plenty of 'stains' in various types of stone in my yard caused by this situation.

In your second to last picture I notice the stone really has a lot of mottling & color variation even in the non-foggy areas. I don't know if that's just the way the light reflected in this one pic, but if that color is accurate I'd guess you may have a Chinese stone. I have a sample on my desk here of 2" thick Chinese black granite that looks to match the referenced photo almost identically.

I'd be curious to see if acid does anything to the stone. If you had a scrap of the same lot, I wonder if a cut lemon left of the surface for a few hours showed any reaction.

Last comment / question. What does the sample in the showroom where you bought the counters look like in comparison to what you have? Black granites are one of the stones where I find keeping your samples current is critical.