SFGate

Studio Homes no pic in your post

alabamalibrarian83 Forgot to attach the pics

alabamalibrarian83 Pics are attached now, please weigh in & tell me if this is acceptable work in your opinion.
It's not so much the seam as the fact that the pieces don't align visually; yes it's a busy pattern but the 'flow' of the pattern is obviously interrupted. Artistically these 2 pieces shouldn't be bumped up together in my opinion.

elvis1963 Not loving the piecing together sorry

sayboone I would definitely ask my contractor to address the granite. Beautiful bathroom though!

ginale That should NOT be!! Where did you buy it? I would call them tomorrow!

vixynkitty The seam has to land somewhere. Mine is in the middle of my double sink.

Lori Wallace-Roberts I'm not a designer, but I would not be happy with this. It's really noticeable, especially up close. I'd be complaining!

kimdee24 Mhm... Seems like they could have found a better place to make the seam... not crazy about it.

Mary Chang It looks kind of obvious that someone mis-measured. The seam should have been in the corner.

Robin Absolutely!!
When we built our house we had a seam smack down the middle of our two basin granite countertop in the bathroom. We had them remove it and put a single piece in it's place. It's unacceptable. If the seam was required because of the 90 degree corner it should have been at the narrowest point. I hope you get it sorted :-(

patti mcnab needs to be re-done

alabamalibrarian83 I've loved everything else up til now... I hate to throw a fit, but it just seems so obvious that the pattern could have been aligned better with a better 'flow'. Instead it looks like somebody put the pieces together in the wrong order. The seam is in a strange place, 4 inches to the right of the cabinet? Would putting the seam directly on the corner not be an option, & look better?

kimdee24 I hate throwing fits too, but sometimes... you just have to speak up. Otherwise it will drive you nuts every time you look at it.

ginale It's not that there is a seam.....that has to happen. The problem is the way they cut your granite. It is suppose to be cut so that the movement of the granite fits together perfectly at the seam so that it flows and you can barely see the seam. It looks like they cut a patch from another section and pieced it onto the end. You have a right to say something.

Robin there's no aligning patterns in natural stone. They won't have to replace the whole thing. They can re-cut at the corner and replace the right side only. You don't have to throw a fit...just ask your contractor if he/she would connsider this acceptable in their own house. Maybe they're hoping you'll just accept it. If you don't say anything you'll hate it forever.

carolinesothern I agree with you. That will drive you nuts every time you look at it. It's too bad but I suspect you have paid good money for this so ask for them to fix it.

Studio Homes oh come on installers! that is just terrible!

Anyone that installs granite knows better but they were hoping you didnt. Get them to fix it. I know it feels terrible to ask but its your money, your investment and your house that you have to look at every single day.... and if you did a job that wasnt up to par and you knew it wouldnt surprise you if someone called you out on it ....so I am pretty sure it wont be a surprise to them.

you will be glad you did after its fixed.

Interiors International, Inc. Get it redone.

ginale Btw....although they did a terrible job with the seam, the granite is very pretty. Once they fix the problem, you will love it and be glad you said something. :). Good luck!

Ironwood Builders I think, from a contractors point of view, your granite choice is more the issue. ANY top that large needs to be seamed and corners are not the place to do it. Houses are almost always a bit out of square, especially after the drywallers get done. Attempting to do a perfect corner seam is just as fraught with problems...and would have cost a lot more $$ up front. ANY slab with that much pattern is going to show seams...no matter where they are. You have a crisis of communication. No one told you up front that the variation in your slab would make seams very noticeable....but communication is a two way street, isn't it? Did you ask what the difficulties would be in getting the look you want correct or even think to ask how they would make such a big "ell" shape from a 5X9 slab? Or did you just trust that a lack of communication meant a total understanding of your design goals? Sure, the contractor and his slab fabricator are at fault for not making sure you knew this stuff, they need to mitigate the issue and get you happy...

grandmalucy12 I would address this before they keep your extra granite like they did mine . Then couldn't find it

alabamalibrarian83 @Ironwood Builders we were told by our contractor that we needed to use Carols Carpets (of Montgomery AL) for selection & installation of granite. Inside their store they ONLY have 6"x12" pieces of each granite type that they sell. He gave me a little 4"x4" chunk to bring home & test against my bathroom colors, & the little silvery chunk I brought home was homogeneous, gray & sparkly. So I agree that there was a breakdown of communication somewhere, because I fully expected the finished countertop to resemble the piece in their store, & the piece he let me take home.

Ironwood Builders OK. Valid point! I never allow a client to decide a counter top from a sample (especially figured slabs). All slabs are selected by the owner, usually with me or a trusted sales person present. As I said, communication is the key ad the contractor and his carpet people(?) are at fault for not giving you this information upfront. They need to mitigate the issue to keep a happy (thus far) client. It is up to you what that mitigation is! Replacing the tops over the seaming is not unheard of. Make sure you are happy with the end results....whatever you negotiate them to be!

alabamalibrarian83 This is all the customer gets to see when making a selection. I chose the one on the next-to-bottom row, far left.

Lizabeth Larger patterns will show more seams. So you never saw the slabs?

Studio Homes I have granite installed several times a year for new construction....always the same installers. There is no such thing for them having issues with corners....a good installer can take the piece right out to their work vehicle and trim it to fit an out of square corner....with ease. It happens to us once in awhile and its amazing how quick and precise they can do this....maybe they are just reputable and well equipped.

they shouldnt have showed up to the site with these pieces. ...even if they did plan to use these shapes they should have tried to find a better piece to blend.

they would have thought it through better if it was going in their house.

Ironwood Builders Studio...a true 45 degree absolute corner cut would need to be made perpendicular to the cabinet sitting on the seam (terrible waste of material too). If the room is even 1/16" per foot out of square in both directions the net difference over 8' is 1/2". Any attempt to close it down opens the 45, closing the 45 means a gap at the end walls..the top is trapped! when the top was templated, a seam location was decided on by the installer/templater. The communication breakdown was way earlier.

Jayme Hobbs I can see your concern. I would address this with your contractor and go from there..good luck! Hope you are able to work out a solution.

alabamalibrarian83 No I wasn't shown our specific slab, just these little sample chunks in the showroom. The slabs were stored somewhere across the street.

rawketgrl Sorry for the hassle you are going through.
However, thank you for posting this to warn the rest of us to:

1. Pick the actual slab you are buying.
2. Discuss the counter layout, seam placement, and what to do with any extra pieces with builder/installer prior to cutting the slab.
3. Consider solid surfacing materials if you do not like the look of seams.

Good luck.

Amy Stanley Even if you didn't see the slab they should have discussed the seam with you when they came out and did a temp plate? The bottom line is you are not happy with the job, you are paying for this and I would address it. It appears to be two entirely different pieces seemed together not good!

alabamalibrarian83 @Amy Stanley my husband met them at our home when they came to do the template, but they said they didn't need him to do anything but let them into the house. They never asked his opinion nor gave indication it was anything that required our input. So we were pretty clueless.
@rawketgirl Glad you can learn from our disappointing experience!

finndian You could have them cut little square pieces of granite and bond them to the surface of the counter along the seams and the front edge of the counter to create a custom built-in "tray" for fragrances or other items that are grouped together.

alabamalibrarian83 @finndian What a creative idea. Do you have any photos of that type of thing?

finndian I don't have photos but I did something similar on a job when I didn't like the seams along the sides of a counter. I just had him make a 3/4 by 3/4 inch square strip and place it against the wall and bond it down. The added benefit was you could rinse the counter without wetting the painted walls. It looked good. If I had your situation and didn't want to redo the counter I'd make the tray as long as he can polish the strips he makes and make it look intentional.

Stoneshop I'm sorry that you were left in the dark about all of this, alabamalibrarian83.

When we do seams, we always try to do them at the sink when possible. This way, you are only seeing about 2" in the front and 2" in the back. When a full seam like this is required, they DEFINATELY should have talked it over with you. Since your granite has so much movement, they should have called you in so that you could see the layout as well. Laying out natural stone is an art form, and there are usually ways to do it so that it looks nicer than your situation.

I would speak to your contractor and the fabricators about it.

sam0705 Just wanted to chime in that you have a legitimate gripe when you go back to the installer about not going over the seam with you. We just had kitchen counters put in and they made me initial in 10 different places about where the seam was going to be, I sat there with the guy and measured with him to make sure it was going in the only place I thought it was acceptable and they still emailed me after to make sure.

DIAspoton sounds like finndian has a workable solution. be absolutely everyone is clear on the desired end result before they start cutting. the carpet people have no business selling granite that way. i've never heard of not choosing your own slab. don't be nice and settle for less than you want. it would be terribly wrong to have the seam bother you on a daily basis for years to come.
hope finndian's idea works for you.

ginale What happened alabamalibrarian83?

alabamalibrarian83 @ginale They are coming back Friday at 9am to assess the situation. #fingerscrossed

kimdee24 I didn't pick my own slab either, I just saw a sample. But I don't have any seams (except the bridge behind the slide-in range) and my granite has a pretty regular pattern to it.

Good luck alabamalibrarian83. I hope this gets resolved to your satisfaction without a lot of hassle.

alabamalibrarian83 We were told this was an example of high quality, perfect work, there's nothing wrong with it visually, and it couldn't have been done any better.
They did not see my point and it was a disappointing conversation.

I was required to even choose the grout color used in our toilet room, so there would be no surprises once it had been finished. It does not make sense to sell customers on a small piece of granite a few inches wide, giving them a total shock once it's already been installed.

My Thoughts:
A. When the showroom sample varies that much from the finished product, it is misleading. It's like an obese unattractive person using a misleading tiny thumbnail photo of their 'best feature' on MATCH.COM, then their date shows up and realizes wow this is not what I expected.

B. They should REQUIRE the customers to lay eyes on the actual slab, and give them the chance to choose their own slab.
(I did go across the street to where Carol's Carpet gets their granite-- Robert F Henry Tile-- but I got sent over there to look at vessel sinks.)

C. If they are unable to actually let you see the slabs, they should have large photographs in the store to show what it's going to look like once installed. I was googling "creama typhoon" and searching for pictures on Houzz, trying to get an idea of what this little 4x4" sample would actually look like in a bathroom.

D. They should involve you more on the whole process, not just sell you in the showroom. If our piece of granite looked this drastic and unusual, we should have been involved in the process for template, cutting, how it was going to 'fit together.'

ASVInteriors I'm so sorry that your conversation when in the direction it did. Thank you however for posting some very valuable advice to other people who will doubtlessly encounter similar situations: forewarned is forearmed!

alabamalibrarian83 One last pic.

alabamalibrarian83 "Showroom quality work"

finndian They are bluffing you, they know it is sloppy unacceptable work. They are hoping you don't push it. I'm finding more and more that threats of bad reviews online (yelp, etc) are transforming some vendors into honorable men.

JDM Countertops, Inc. I'm very sorry alabamalibrarian83. This is not exemplary work. We are a granite/stone fabricator, and I have all my customers go select their specific slabs, especially with material that has that much movement and variation. In many cases, we will even have the customers come to the shop to go over the lay out when seaming and flow are tricky (or just when the customer wants to). If your fabricator is limited to one slab, you may not have much choice on your lay out, but the seam location could have been more strategic.

This was a problem with communication, and poor decision-making with cutting and lay out. I wonder if the carpet store does not like to have their customers go to their suppliers to select slabs....sounds like they are trying to hide something.

chrisroh When I selected my granite, I looked at a big slab. I had the entire back splash done in the granite and it made the kitchen so much brighter even tho the granite was dark.

Granite Grannies Perhaps it would have been ok if they had let you know that it needed to be done that way, but I would definitely ask them to do something about it. That could be done a LOT better.

Amy Stanley That is bs that work looks like an amateur did it. As the fabricator they dropped the bomb. If your granite had too much movement to hide a seam you should have been informed of this ahead of time giving you the option to pick a different style. You should have been present and signed off on a final template prior to any cutting of your granite. Do not accept this answer- if you are not a satisfied customer they should be doing something to fix it. I ended up using Home Depot for my granite purchase instead of a local granite company because of a similar situation. My BIL is a contractor, his clients went and chose their slabs of granite- after the installation it was very clear that the slabs did not match even though they were the "same" granite. He had to fight tooth and nail to get this taken care of. They as the fabricator should have recognized this and directed them better but did not. Thankfully in our case the only mishap I had was they cut the faucet holes wrong, I changed my faucet after template- called let him the same day to let him know this and he said he was putting the change in his final plans but when it arrived it was wrong. I got money credited back and they made a piece to cover the holes, the faucet sets up a bit higher looks really good and intentional- I had the option of a whole new slab as well. This person stood by their work..sounds like yours are not. So sorry!

judyg Just a comment on your purchasing your granite. Having finished 4 kitchens this winter, I cannot imagine that you were not directed to the granite yard to choose your slab. Read this yahoo article. It may help you with how you phrase your complaint.
http://voices.yahoo.com/what-look-buying-granite-countertops-1027315.html?cat=69

Cusano Construction Company Inc. The seam would probably always end in the same location no matter what, but those are 2 different slabs thats why its so noticeable.

Marie Hebson's interiorsBYDESIGN Inc. NOT normal - I don't like the seam - it should have been planned before cutting from the slab.
Unless you purchased a remnant piece - then, you get what you paid for - is this Azul Iran Granite?
If you paid full price, then the fabricator should have templated before hand and given you a solid piece there. I'd complain.

Mary Dancey Interiors Have you made a final payment? If not then don't until it has been resolved. If it was made by credit card you may be able to file a complaint with them. If a cheque run like heck to the bank.

kimdee24 Absolutely unacceptable, and I am angry for you. Stick to your guns, and make them do it over. They had a chance to save face and it sounds like they're choosing the low road here. Don't let them!

I'm sorry this has been such a disappointing experience.

alabamalibrarian83 @Marie Hebson's Interiors No it's not Azul Iran, it's called Crema Typhoon. http://www.tateornamental.com/stones.php?p=6
@Mary Dancey No payments were to be made directly to them; the cost is built into the price tag of our overall renovation that has been going on for 3 months now. Our general contractor was going to pay them 'for us' from his payment, I believe.

bdennison What a beautiful bathroom. Obviously not your run-of-the-mill reno. If your contractor can't stand up for you there is a problem. He must have some clout with his own installer. I wish you luck because that has to be fixed. They didn't even try to match the movement.

lovliny Just had granite installed in my kitchen and I must say the contractor studied the flow of the granite and spent quite a bit of time in matching its direction. I have one seam which is really not visible and the granite flows together beautifully. You are not being picky. The installation was just not good.

mikejo Nothing to do with granite but I am beginning process of renovating my bath. I spent last night looking for a photo of a 2 sink vanity rounding a corner and putting a tower in corner. Then I saw your post.
Did you have tower custom built? I haven't found one. Is tower sitting on top of granite ? Thanks much.

ginale We had our granite installed the day after you posted the photo and I admit it made me a little nervous. But not only did I pick out the slabs, but they emailed me a photo of the slabs with the exact template so that I could approve the cut before they made one cut. There would be two seams and they guarenteed I would not see them. They were right....the pattern matched perfectly and I had to run my hand across the stone to find the seam. That's the way it is SUPPOSE to be. You deserve that. Google some granite installers and show your people how professionals install granite. Your contractor needs to go to bat for you. If it doesn't work out, you will have to creatively disguise the seam and let everyone in your area of this carpet store's shoddy work.

hwinteriors When the granite company came to template the granite, whomever was doing the template should have told you where the seam would lie. That being said, the granite company most likely did this to save waste. This doesn't look like a huge project, so, it shouldn't have been an issue unless someone was trying to skim. When they come out to re-template your counter, you can also have the grout where the counter meets the wall darkened so it blends better.

alabamalibrarian83 @mikejo Yes it is a custom tower & it's sitting atop of the granite. 3 months ago this bathroom was actually a dining room, so the entire project has been a custom project. Good luck with yours!

Ironwood Builders 'bamalibrarian, Did you have that meeting with the contractor today? How did it go?

Matt Patterson Custom Homes Depends with what the fabricator had to work with. They might have done better if they had bought two slabs. Were you looking for the cheapest deal? If I'm spending 20-30/ft on granite you squeeze the max out of each slab. If I budget 50-80 I expect a lot of waste. What is that? Cafe Imperial?

finndian This is your typical seam at a sink

OnePlan It's a shame that it makes you unhappy. I guess it might be disguised by placing a towel bayle there or a soaps basket etc - maybe, because it's a natural product, someone should have pointed out that this was a possible problem before you ordered?! With composite work tops ( corian, siltstone, ceasarstone etc) you get a less prominent join. So perhaps ask for that type of top when you do your next project . Or if they offer to replace it - choose something like that as a replacement !

Hope it all works out for you ! :-)

alabamalibrarian83 @Ironwood, Meeting went not so great, they didn't see anything wrong with it & said it's up to high standard & their wives would be happy with it. They are going to talk it over & call us though.
@Matt Patterson This definitely wasn't a penny pinching cheapo deal. The color I picked was one of their "upper middle" tiers. Thecolor is ccalled Creama typhoon.

hwinteriors Anytime the "wives" opinions are mentioned, they are trying to make you feel like you don't get it. So, there are 3 pieces of granite seamed together? Shoddy work. Your gc rec. them, your gc can deal with them. Just tell the gc you won't pay for it until it is fixed. You will see those seams every time you use that bathroom and you will resent the entire project.

kimdee24 Where is your GC in all this? What does he think? Because if you're not happy, he's the one who should be working hard to make it right with his subs.

eggfoosushi Can I chip in?
People are coming up with different names for the colour of granite. Retailers will make up names for their granite to make the colour sound attractive (it also makes it more difficult for a customer to shop around for quotes from different places)
From your photo they did a nice job on the install the issue is with the natural granite pattern not joining perfectly. The graining on the two joined pieces is poles apart but that specific type of granite has such huge variance of graining over a small area that unless they had a whole array of large remnant pieces left over to choose from then you're not realistically going to get a close graining match when two largish pieces have to be cut and joined.
You can see from the photo you provided of the small chip they have in their showroom that even this tiny sample piece shows a completely uneven graining.
The cut can't go under the counter unit due to difficulty joining the angle precisley, which is a shame as it would be hidden. Rather than rip out and start again and hope for two pieces that may match closer can they not blend the two pieces together by widening the seam (in places) and filling with tinted granite fillers which can be cured and then it's not one straight line that you eye's drawn to.( the cream from one piece blend into the cream on the other then the brown on one side will blend with the brown on the other more. The artistically filled bits can be cured and will look like the rest of the polished granite surface. I'm sure this can be done (I read granite and surface covering magazines)Sorry I'm pretty C**p at explaining things.
ALSO, when my husband designed his previous house he chose to import his own granite rather than go with the homebuilders options.(Few people would have this option, I know) He used blue pearl for the L shaped kitchen counter and large island, butlers pantry and bar and then galaxy black, paradiso, and a mahogany granite for bathroom counters. To avoid issues with large expanses where two pieces would be required he used even grained granites that would have near invisible joints.
For anyone else thinking of investing in granite counters please bear this in mind. Even grained granites such as blue pearl and galaxy black are quite a bit more expensive but you shouldnt have joint issues.

Granite Grannies @eggfooshui, I'd like to respectfully disagree. Saying that you should go with even patterned (granite does not have grain) granite is like saying you should only use dasies and buttercups in your yard because it might be hard to landscape a wide variety successfully. The problem with this bathroom is not the granite. If you look at our profile, you'll see dozens of examples of wild patterns with near invisible seams. Of course, it's not always possible to get an exact line up of the pattern, but this picture shows a very poor seam that suggests the fabricator was piecing together remnants from different slabs. We would have cut these two pieces out from one slab so that the seam was merely a slice in a continuous pattern. Consistent or tight patterned granites are not more expensive. Quite the opposite. They are much less expensive. Blue pearl and Black Galaxy happen to be medium priced stones because black and blue stones usually are. Most stones with small patterns like Uba Tuba, St. Cecilia, etc are less expensive because they are easier to quarry and fabricate and there are much larger deposits in the quarrries.

alabamalibrarian83 I would like to mention that I really like the granite bench seat they did in the shower/tub room. :-)

eggfoosushi "We would have cut these two pieces out from one slab so that the seam was merely a slice in a continuous pattern"
Maybe I'm just assuming that the carpet place she went to doesn't have a block saw hidden round the back to slice up slabs.

JDM Countertops, Inc. I'm not sure if everyone who has such strong opinions are actually fabricators, but rather than a fabricator feud over the way things should be done (because everyone has different approaches, esp. regionally)...the REAL problem is the lack of communication. It is sometimes impossible to make a continuous seam when you're limited on material and have strange shaped or angled pieces. The fabricator or GC should have communicated the issues to alabamalibrarian83 when they arose. Perhaps a new material choice would have been made or there were other seaming options she may have chose....

Issues happen in construction, and it's how the company deals with them that counts.

Cusano Construction Company Inc. you are picking this apart way to much, you cant compare samples to the stone in your home. granite is a natural material not fabricated. Yes the seam could have been handled differently, but ultimately you should have been warned of possible problems before the project got this far. I cant believe how much chatter this has created!

alabamalibrarian83 @Cusano The chatter & opinions is what Houzz is all about. When I asked if I should paint my front door red, I had nearly 100 comments. Viva Houzz!

Cusano Construction Company Inc. At some point it needs to stop. Egging it on is not what this about.

calikym They seams DO look bad. I took photos of my granite seam for your reference. Yes, it can be seen but the pattern is matched. Hope this helps. From a distance, it can barely be seen at all.

bdennison very good example of matching motion in stone. thanks for posting

ginale I agree calikym....you show the pattern CAN be matched. Thanks!

Ironwood Builders Bama, any progress?

alabamalibrarian83 @Ironwood Have some good news finally. Carols Carpet has offered to give us half our money back and leave it as is, or re-do the job, with us incurring the minor cost of having our General Contractor have to take off the cabinet tower then re-set it. I'm leaning towards the latter. The granite company who actually did the work -Henry F Tile Montgomery AL - is standing by their work and says it's industry standard; they offer no concessions.

DIAspoton henry f tile co montgomery al is on houzz. you can pull them up and review them and post pics. you'd be doing a service to save other houzzers from this drama.

Ironwood Builders 'bama, I like the resolution. The carpet company is taking full responsibility. I suggest you email Diaspoton's' comments to the slab guy and get him some social media pressure too. From a GC standpoint...I'd be bending over backward to help out too. Show my post to your GC and gently suggest that some effort on his part will ease your pain...and release his final payment. You should not have to pay him for the fubar. He is the main issue...poor communication at a crucial juncture...MY JOB is communicating...as much as I love woodworking, I get paid to communicate...maybe that shows? He dropped a neophyte off at a random vendor and shrugged his shoulders. Pulling and resetting the cabinet is the least he can do.

Grace Reed Granite Grannie's is dead on and they are giving expert advice. Remnants were used to save them $ at your expense. The placement, quality of the seaming and lack of continuity are unexceptable. Glad that the situation is being dealt with. My advice? Have it replaced. In similar situations, I've found that people are rarely happy with $ in the long run. Good luck.

figureskating22 I am really annul so my opinion is to fix it. If this is your dream kitchen then try to make it right.
Hope this gets sorted out.

poorgirl Unacceptable workmanship. looks like they may have had 3/4 of a slab and didn't want to waste a new slab. That piece should never have had a seam right there. Also all the material should have been booked matched. I would also replace it, you will never be happy with it and it will alway be noticable.
If you do replace it, make sure you demand to pick or see the slab and make them do a layout on the slab so you know what it's going to look like. It's not wise to have the seam in the middle of the sink since that is the weakest point of the countertop. Your granite comes in long slabs 10'. The seam should be over by the cutout.
Personally I don't think you should be paying anything for this mistake.
Hope they make it right for you. Good luck

ginale glad the carpet store is working with you alabamalibrarian83!!! I would choose the 2nd option and choose another granite installer. :)

tt67 Someone didn't measure right. Seams are for large space that one piece couldn't be cut...not for a 4 inch slat. Sorry.

Bobbie S Def does not flow from size to side. I would talk to them about it. Nice bathroom! Good luck!