The other day we had a bathroom vanity top that needed a cove on all three sides.  We decided to just put a seam through the middle to make it a one man install.  I needed more help with fabrication so we kept the helper in the shop.

Anyway, when working out the pieces on CAD, I made a mistake and cut the splash in the incorrect location.  One was too long and the other, too short.

We decide to just glue them up with the offset and see what happens.  It actually worked out really well.  Wouldn't recommend it all the time, but it did work just fine.

Looks good Andy, I see you cant get away from that silver birch.

Andy when I ran install crews we did this kind of thing all the time. We always looked for way to avoid sending a 2nd man to a job. 

Good plan man !

I've done that in the past as well. The only issue that comes up is if the top doesn't fit correctly you can't just cut the seam down to correct it.

Posted By Brian Stone on 17 Mar 2010 10:32 AM
I've done that in the past as well. The only issue that comes up is if the top doesn't fit correctly you can't just cut the seam down to correct it.

Andy

Brian is right that method can become the job from hell.

I have always used this method on wall to wall cove.

Dani,

How do you glue it on? Do you just use super glue or regular adhesive?


Brian,

Cutting the seam would be a nightmare. Fortunately, we didn't have to go down that road.

Andy,

I set the strip on the BS and trace the scribe line, then I tack hotmelt the strip on a 1/2" piece of MDF and cut off the excess material with a jig saw and a down cut blade leaving a 1/16" over hang. I use regular adhesive to bond and an 1" thick MDF panel on top for weight to get good squeeze out. Sanding is quick because you are only sanding off a 1/16" X 1/8" piece 25" long. I do this with end panels also. I always have lots of space so my deck just drop into place.

Dani..thanx for that idea..Love that idea the best I've seen out there...talk about simple.. I never did a cove before

Dani,
I have always been reluctant to three way cove a wall to wall top because of warranty (expansion) issues. Have you ever seen any expansion issues here? This top you show looks long, but I can't tell if it is wall to wall.

Also: are there any colors that won't work with the 1/8" thickness?

Posted By Thomas Mather on 19 Mar 2010 03:15 PM
Dani,
I have always been reluctant to three way cove a wall to wall top because of warranty (expansion) issues. Have you ever seen any expansion issues here? This top you show looks long, but I can't tell if it is wall to wall.

Also: are there any colors that won't work with the 1/8" thickne

Thanks Gene, I have always tried to make fabricating SS simple. I broke away
from the difficult fabrication methods taught by the Mfg years ago. I always thought why make it harder than it should be just because it was written in some manual in 1985.

Tom
Don’t worry expansion if you do it the way I do. Almost every top I do is a cove and after 25yrs that is a lot of tops and I never have had one fail that wasn’t from customer error. Over the years all the talk has been about warranty issues. NOTE:If you build the top with out stress risers and install the top correctly the top will NOT fail on its own. Never have I had a warranty repair on a top that I have built and installed. The1/8” thickness works great for all colors if you use face side, but on the glass series it must be painted.

The top in the above photo is 32” X 119 1/2” wall to wall. I always leave a ½” over all at the shortest measurement from front to back on wall to wall installs.. This gives you plenty of room to drop the top in without hitting the wall during installation. Before you install your splashes on the deck cut your side splashes 1/8” shorter than your backsplash. You will need to notch the filler strip in the  back corner to go around the backsplash. The gray strip on the wall is a piece of standard grade plastic laminate to keep the strip away from the wall, that will give a minim of a 1/16” on each end for expansion on the cap strip and you will have a ¼” on each end for the backsplash. Also when you sand out your filler strip the laminate protects the wall from being hit by the sanding disc. I never use a scribe block on the backsplash because I bend the backsplash to fit to the wall. You can bend a cold BS 5/8” over 10’ and it will not fail. Here is how I do it.

I have always used flat sheets of cardboard for templates and never had one wrong yet. I use sheets as wide as the top is going to be and about 48” long with the corrugated running length wise. I also cut 2” wide strips to follow the wall and 8” X 26” pieces for deck seams with the corrugated running crosswise. The crosswise corrugated cut is very stable to give you a good edge to trace. A little hot met and you have a quick template that works great.

As far as you are able bend a 2 1/4" strip of 3/4"  MDF and clamp it, you will be able to bend the BS also. Note: The MDF bends slowly so you don't have any quick bends so the BS will folow the curve.

By using using my clamping method you are able to bend the BS to mate with the wall

This is the finished deck and you can see how far the wall is out on the one end just think how much work it would be to sand a filler strip on a straight BS on site. I hope this is helpful to you because I have been doing it this way for years.

We do three way cove most of the time. It is more of a pain than anything. Not really concerned about expansion. Typically the top is shorter than a kitchen countertop section.

I would recommend a small gap on both sides though. We have never had a failure because the top has been coved on each side.