Templating and Slab Installation

Measuring the Kitchen You Have, Not the One on the Plan

Templating is the day the countertop is actually decided. We come out once the cabinets are set, fastened and levelled, with the sink and the faucet on site. Not drawings of them. The physical fixtures.

A laser template records the run as it exists, including the wall that is not straight, the corner that is not ninety degrees, and the appliance opening that ended up an eighth narrower than the spec. Stone does not flex to absorb any of that, so it has to be measured out rather than trimmed out.

Cabinets First

We check the whole run for level and for plane before we template. If a cabinet is low, it gets shimmed then, not on installation day with a slab already in the room.

In Riverside this matters more than it sounds. A great deal of the housing here is slab on grade, and slab movement shows up as cabinet runs that have gone slightly out over the years. On a kitchen remodel where new boxes sit on an old floor, we routinely find a quarter inch of variation across a long wall. Bond a stone top across that and it is under a permanent twist before anyone puts a sink in it.

Seam Layout

Where a run needs more than one piece, the seam placement is a judgement call and we make it out loud with you.

The rules we work to:

• Never through a sink or cooktop cutout corner. That combines the two weakest features on the top.
• Prefer a seam over a cabinet division, where there is framing to support both sides.
• Keep seams out of the sight line from the main doorway where the choice exists.
• On patterned quartz and on granite, match the vein direction across the joint, which sometimes means accepting a slightly worse position for a much better look.

A seam is filled with colour matched epoxy and pulled tight with a seam setter. Done well it is a line you can feel more easily than see. Done in the wrong place it becomes the first thing that fails.

The Sink Governs the Layout

Because our cutouts are rodded and anchored at the shop, the sink position has to be final at templating. Moving a bowl four inches afterwards is not an adjustment, it is a new piece of stone.

That is why we ask for the sink and the faucet on site. Faucet hole spacing, whether there is a soap dispenser or an air gap, and how close those holes sit to the cutout all change the strength of the front rail. We would rather find that at template than at install.

Installation Day

The old top comes off, the cabinets get a final check, and the new pieces are dry set to confirm fit before anything is bonded. Overhangs beyond about ten inches get brackets or a steel plate; stone spans further than most people assume but it is not a beam.

Once the pieces sit flat and the seams pull up clean, the top is bonded, the sink is clipped up to its anchors, and the joint is sealed. Natural stone gets its first seal before we leave. Quartz does not need sealing, though it is worth knowing that it is the less heat tolerant of the two.

After We Go

Granite and marble want resealing on a schedule, roughly annually in a working kitchen, and there is a simple water test to tell you when it is due: leave a small puddle for half an hour and see whether it darkens the stone. If it does, it is time.

We would rather you call us with a question than guess. Cleantechfinance, (951) 882-8328, 6718 University Ave, Riverside.