Originally Posted by
Markus Keller
One of my biggest concerns, and this is what I'm looking for documentation on, is the sink wall seam. The guy joined two pieces of granite in the middle of the stainless steel sink, right down the middle of the faucet hole. With the stresses of pots in/out of the sink and people pulling on the faucet, I just don't see this lasting. He also seamed down the middle of the cooktop.
I have seen that quite often.
I am not aware of anything which prohibits seams in those locations, however, those locations are also where the granite will crack if it cracks, because there is so little material left - thus having the seam there allows for a crack to form between to cut joints instead of through the granite itself.
When properly installed, there should not be any stresses on the front joint as it is fully bearing on sealant and the sink is sealed to the underside of the granite (presuming an undermount sink) which acts as reinforcing across the joint.
With the cooktop, the cooktop is not sealed to the granite but rather sets in a hole cut in the granite. The granite itself should be solidly supported and there should not be any problem there either, and, like at the sink, with little material left that is where the crack would likely appear.
I've heard urban legend that these seams in the middle of appliances aren't allowed. Never seen actual doc's. Anyone know a reference to some standard?
I've never heard that.
Ours is seamed at a different location as ours is a 'U' shape and the granite turns the 'U' corner then there is a seam, then the sink a couple of feet down from the seam.
I've seen seams in many different locations, and I've seen cracks at those locations at the sinks and cooktops (probably from people standing on the granite during construction).