Gents,   I was recently asked to bid a solid surface job,  the customer was clear that they were shopping prices and materials.   They were very interested in granite.  No problem, I would recommend >>>>>>>> so and so.   I gave them ideas on some questions to ask and go to the Counter top review site.   I gave them a # and wished my self good luck.    Today I ran into them and asked to get my samples back,  I also asked how the material selection was going.  The said they went with  Granite  from Home Depot along with the cabinets.   They said HD was going to give them a 15 yr warranty on the stone.  They also mentioned that they wanted a sealer put on it,  HD said there will be 7-8 coats put on,  never have to touch it again.       Could all this be true?  They also said the thickness would be 2 " throughout...?  could this be true?     Im not a granite fabber so I don't know but in my travels Ive never heard of 2" solid stone tops,  how would one carry such a beast?   Do I want a top that requires 7-8 coats of sealer?      I don't mind getting beat out but not by possible  false statements made by a sales person.   Somebody please teach me something here.    I got the cabinet install part and congradulated them on their new dream kitchen but I am very skeptical.

Sounds like they got a doozy of a sales person from HD.

The 15 year warranty probably refers to the sealer warranty that comes w/ HD stone.  Get your hands on a copy of it if you can.  It is pretty easy to sell around it.  We do , but in our case it is typically to sell our sealer which has a much better warranty without all the fine print.

2'' thick would be a beast.  We do mostly 3cm and it is heavy enough. Now that I think about it ,I bet they were told 2cm and they heard 2inches.  It has happened to us before.

Yep its a raft.. .. we carry Artisan granite, which comes with a 10 year real warranty, includes labor etc. But that only takes MAYBE two coats, and only on some of the stone. Some stone takes very little sealer if any. I agree I bet they said 2cm and they took it as 2". 2cm is typically what they advertise, then charge extra for a 4 cm edge. Could be the sales person, or could be the customer that heard what he wanted to hear. Our Artisan is 3cm, we do offer a 5 cm edge for an extra charge.

thanks guys,  when the customer said full thickness and 2" I said maybe after build up?   They where very sure it was a big ol thick slab.   I then said maybe it was the sample that was built up to 2 " and that the thickness would revealed at the sink cut out?  no,  2" again they said.   I laughed an said they might not want to be around when 10 guys show up to haul that beast in,  they may need an 11th.   I think your right about hearing what you want to hear.
Hope that top doesn't crush the cabinets.  I appreciate the feed back

Home Depot does offer a 15 year warranty. The homeowner may want to read it closely though. Usually on the long warranties like that the only thing they cover is staining that is caused by food. Any damage other than fabricator error isn't covered and stains caused by "non food" products (cleaners, oils, etching) also aren't covered.

I came across one sealer brand that had a 10 year warranty. If you read the fine print it only covered food stains and you still had to re-apply the sealer every year. The kicker was that if you did get a stain that was covered by the warranty they wouldn't remove it, they would just send you more sealer.

Chris and Wags are probably correct on the thickness. It's possible that it's 2cm. The other possibility is that they are getting laminated edge that ends up close to 2" thick. I have never seen 2" thick slabs though. There's a misunderstanding in there somewhere.

there are numerous sealers out there some are crap and some live up to the expectations. we have a sealer that carries a 15 year warranty. but you have to understand what sealer is and how it works and why disclaimers are still in effect on life time sealers. we all know that stone is porous and sealer is there to block up pours basically. there is still stone exposed after it is sealed because the only thing absorbing the sealer is the pours. am i making any sense here.

i just did a job in paradisio bash this is an Indian stone and it acts like a sponge it soaks every thing up. it took 6 coats of sealer to seal the stone. each coat creates a build up of solids in the stone eventually closing up the pours in the stone. after the 6 coats of sealer i sprayed water on it and let the water sit for well over 8 hours and there was no absorption. some stones can take 8 coats and others don't require any at all. you just have to know how to apply it properly and how it works. if a stone is acid sensitive and you seal it it can still be easily damaged by acid because it is the open pours in the stone being sealed up with the sealer. the rest of the stone is still exposed it just wont absorb. SEALER PREVENTS STAINS and a stain is when something is absorbed into the stone. if it is sealed properly it will not absorb. that does not mean it can not be damaged.

our 15 year sealer is a sealer against stains if the stone stains we will remove the stain at no cost the the home owner. it does not protect against stupidity. our 15 year sealer requires us to do as many coats of sealer as it takes for the stone to not absorb any more if that means 2 costs OK if that means 15 ok than it is finished off with one final sealer that lock's every thing in this topical sealer is about $700 a gallon but it only requires on coat of this sealer. we charge accordingly for the extra labor involved. a 15 year sealer should require no more sealer for 15 years if it dose not than you got ripped of.

it misinformation about stone and not knowing that creates the problem's....

I've used Dry Treat on Kashmir White and it required two applications with the second application being much heavier than the first one. Water darkened the stone significantly after the first application.

Thanks guys,  Im learning with every post.   Sounds like I did my job by getting the customer to make an educated choice   and shooting my self in 1 foot at the same time,  the other foot is safe, since I got the cabinet install.

Posted By Norm Walters on 30 Dec 2009 11:46 PM
I've used Dry Treat on Kashmir White and it required two applications with the second application being much heavier than the first one. Water darkened the stone significantly after the first application.

Norm -
If you're still using DryTreat you may want to read the warranty.

Brian, what am I looking for?

let me save you all a lot of time and energy use this stuff its great. Steven is a great guy i was just talking to him last night about some new products he is putting out in 2010. on top of the great sealers he is coming out with a cleaner for stones that contains an anti microbial. as well as several new sealers for different applications

http://www.stt-sealers.com/testimonials

One misconception is that sealer lies on the surface. It doesn't, it penetrates the stone filling in the pores between the crystals. You do not want a topical sealer ( one that lies on the surface).

I love the quartz products but a word of warning. The very small particulate, especially in the dark colors can be a nightmare. My guess is, the particulate is so small it allows more polyester on the surface and hence, less wear resistance than the larger particulate quartz products. Add to that the honed finish and your looking for problems down the road.