The customer says ice slid off his roof and broke his outdoor barbeque granite. This is what I found when I arrived yesterday.






Despite her mother’s admonitions, the resident four-year-old has managed to misplace the shiny granite piece from the impact point and on the edge.




 I had to steal some material for repairs.



I clamped a wood straight edge underneath that spanned the perpendicular break and doubled the Dani clamps on each side of a solid surface straightedge equipped with a glue slot. I tinted a bag of Integra and got it too dark. Hating to waste material, I gently kissed a new bag of clear with the too-dark stuff and got a nice translucent brown. I put the translucent on the top edge and the too dark on the bottom and when the pieces were placed some of the too-dark squeezed up and made a perfect mix of colors without blending.



The filler is too small to cut freehand safely, so I hot melted it to a shim that I could step on.



I cleaned up the broken edge with my diamond-bladed Metabo. 



 The finished fill at the impact point is in the center of this picture. 



 The finished end. Yeah, the top right needs a little touch-up. 




Not bad for a college boy.





 I left that job and did this one on the way home. When the lady breaks her own top through foolishness, she is really anxious to get it fixed.

Joe

Nice work, Joe!!

Slight derail here.  How did you attach 12 pics to your post.  I get locked out at five.

Johnny C

Posted By John Christensen on 30 Apr 2010 11:56 AM
Nice work, Joe!!

Slight derail here.  How did you attach 12 pics to your post.  I get locked out at five.

Johnny C

Johnny:

Thanks. I just kept posting pictures and they kept going in, although I was worried I was going to have to make two posts, as has happened before.

Joe

Joe looks real good, but what's going to happen to all that resin when it gets real cold outside.  I am assuming this job is in Michigan.

Posted By John Cristina on 30 Apr 2010 10:39 PM
Joe looks real good, but what's going to happen to all that resin when it gets real cold outside.  I am assuming this job is in Michigan.

John:

Your assumption is correct, the job is in Michigan. I don't know what will happen to the resin in the cold, but I'd be more concerned about expansion in the heat.

I think the guys who sell, build and install these units blow it when they don't offer a granite cover similiar to that for the stainless steel grill. Stainless steel has no ultraviolet light sensitive resin in it and would only dent if hit by roof ice. I'm envisioning something like a hot tub cover for the granite that would slip over each end.

Joe

Joe,
    Too bad you were more concerned with making money than doing what would have been right for the homeowner.

The customers homeowners insurance would have covered this peril and paid for him a brand new piece of stone.  I'm sure this damaged piece will be at risk during the next freeze. If it does fail, it was money wasted, and too late to file a claim.

I feel it is only fair to point out to you, what you point out to everyone else.
However, (and it's hard to type this)

for a college student, pretty nice work!!

Did a good amount of outdoor kitchens in FL. Never had that happen. Did have a top get thermoformed by accident though. Wound up being great to hold a watermellon while you sliced it. Still pretty impressive repair work given with what you were handed.

Looking good Joe
 

Posted By Kelsey Crisp on 01 May 2010 09:33 AM
Joe,
    Too bad you were more concerned with making money than doing what would have been right for the homeowner.

The customers homeowners insurance would have covered this peril and paid for him a brand new piece of stone.  I'm sure this damaged piece will be at risk during the next freeze. If it does fail, it was money wasted, and too late to file a claim.

I feel it is only fair to point out to you, what you point out to everyone else.
However, (and it's hard to type this)

for a college student, pretty nice work!!

Kelsey:

This barbeque was in the backyard of a million-dollar house. I doubt the guy who lives there was unable to do a quick cost/benifit analysis as to whether or not my charges would exceed his deductable or whether the increase in his homeowner's insurance premium was worth the cost of a claim. It was his call, not mine.

You bring up a fair point, however, and that is, considering the incredibly cheap prices of installed granite, would replacement have been more cost effective than repair? While we're not allowed to discuss pricing, there is no rule against saying I had to drive a little over an hour to and from this job, for which I charge full rate, and the repairs, including drive time, took about six hours.

It is no secret that in Michigan one can get retail 3cm granite installed for between $30.00 and $40.00 per square foot, depending on color. For the sake of speculation, let's presuppose this homeowner was able to get 16SF (half of the BBQ, there was a seam in the back) @ $35.00 each which equals $560.00.

The big question is color/pattern match. Can he get replacement granite that color matches? What is the value of the time spent by him or his fabricator color matching? Considering the seam match is behind the grill, how much does the color match matter? Only the homeowner knows how much this subjective decision is worth to him. If he replaces both sides, he will have color match, but at a price of $1,120.00.

I don't think saying my repair was less than the cost of the imaginary 16SF is breaking any rules here either. His color match was not good, it was perfect.

Freeze thaw cycles deterioriate stone by the expansion of water as it freezes into fissures. The fissures I repaired are completely filled with tinted Integra adhesive, precluding their filling with water and subsequently freezing and failing. I also applied a coat of STT sealer at no extra charge and recommended the purchase of custom fabricated granite covers to prevent a repeat next winter and to prevent ultraviolet light degradation of the resinated stone in the summer. As I stated earlier, the heat from the sun and subsequent expansion of the stone/adhesive probably creates more risk of failure than cold.

Thanks,

Joe

Posted By Karl Crooks on 01 May 2010 10:43 PM

Looking good Joe
 

Karl:

A kind word from the Master is always appreciated.

Thanks,

Joe

This customer just gave me a review on servicemagic:

"Joe answered my request promptly, came out to the house quickly, and did a very nice job on our granite repair. He was upfront about his costs."


He also gave me five out of five stars.



Joe

May you get plenty of work from it.  You are lucky he has not seen you CAD work though.

Posted By John Cristina on 05 May 2010 03:54 PM
May you get plenty of work from it.  You are lucky he has not seen you CAD work though.

I'm anxiously awaiting my grade in CAD. I'll keep you posted. I'm hoping for a "C"...


Joe

it will fall apart by next summer. expansion during this summer will leave small gaps even if you cant see or feel them they are there than moisture will get in there and freezing will separating it more. i would not have don this repair in a controlled environment that's just my thoughts

Posted By Eli Polite on 11 May 2010 09:53 PM
it will fall apart by next summer. expansion during this summer will leave small gaps even if you cant see or feel them they are there than moisture will get in there and freezing will separating it more. i would not have don this repair in a controlled environment that's just my thoughts

Eli:

I respect your opinion but would be willing to bet this repair lasts more than a year, especially if the customers follow my advice to cover. Are you saying that even if this repair were inside, you would not have attempted it?

Thanks,

Joe

attempting it has nothing to do with it that repair can be done by any one with 40 hours of proper training under there belt.


the problem is that inside or out with damage that extensive on granite there is no way you are going to hide the repair i would like to see a straight on photo of that with no glare across it I'm sure all of the breaks a are visible. any glue used for that type of repair will expand and contract way more dramatically that the stone will and it will separate regardless of weather or not it is covered. I'm sure that that guy could have had that piece re made for a very fair price if he picked out a remnant at a local shop I'm sure he would have got a very fair deal and the integrity of the piece would not be compromised. inside or out i would never do that repair because i have a reputation to uphold and if i cant guarantee the integrity of it I'm not doing it.

Posted By Eli Polite on 18 May 2010 10:20 PM
attempting it has nothing to do with it that repair can be done by any one with 40 hours of proper training under there belt.


the problem is that inside or out with damage that extensive on granite there is no way you are going to hide the repair i would like to see a straight on photo of that with no glare across it I'm sure all of the breaks a are visible. any glue used for that type of repair will expand and contract way more dramatically that the stone will and it will separate regardless of weather or not it is covered. I'm sure that that guy could have had that piece re made for a very fair price if he picked out a remnant at a local shop I'm sure he would have got a very fair deal and the integrity of the piece would not be compromised. inside or out i would never do that repair because i have a reputation to uphold and if i cant guarantee the integrity of it I'm not doing it.

Eli:

If you look closely for the breaks, they are visible, but the look like completely natural granite fissures. I would be very interested in any scientific substantiation of your contention that the glue will expand and contract way more dramatically than the stone and will separate whether or not it is covered.

If you read the previous posts on this thread, I've already addressed the cost/benifit of the repair. Please read it and comment.

I am not aware of anyone in the repair business that guarnatees repairs.

Joe

Joe,

Considering what you had to start with, that looks remarkable.  I am not bashing stone. I has its place and no one can beat the pure aestitic look of natural stone. My complaint is more in the semantics of calling this a "repair", particularly as to what a repair of solid surface would look like. In that sense, I will agree with Eli in a sense and would not have done this job. In any case, what would this be called? In my opinion, not "repaired" as it does not look as original but certainly "repaired" as to function. Is there truly a difference in the mind and eye of the consumer or is this just an solid surface guy showing his preference? I really hope not but maybe subliminally it is showing.

Joe,

Since you seem to be  a liberal arts major I find it kind of funny you say there is no scientific evidence that the seam expands more than the stone. I have to submit you are way out of your depth on this and have no idea of what you are posting.

No matter what the repair material (the seam) its organic. Most likely epoxy, or maybe methacrylic, or even polyester, or even phenolic. The organics will always expand more than than the inorganics (stone).

Politefab called it correctly, and you invoked science, which you know little about.

If you disagree post the coefficients of expansion for granite versus the seaming materials.  

Why should Eli and I do your homework for you? He has decades of stone experience, and you have been kicked off stone boards as a wannabe! Id trust Eli's  word on stone repairs over yours any day!

Have a nice day liberal arts boy!

Lenny,  just saying....about qualifications.....


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