I got a call that the customer's sinks had come down. With a little scraper and a push they soon looked like this. Gobs of polyester will not hold up sinks, especially when no silicone is applied to the flange.



The lack of seal at the sink allowed water saturation causing the polyester edge build up to fail and turn white in front of the sink area. I buried this scraper without a hammer tap.



This couple had recently purchased this home and she didn't like the small sinks anyway, so she asked if I could undermount a nice stainless Kohler. Kohler specified a 40 13/16" cutout left to right and I had 40 15/16" existing. I figured it was close enough and penciled in my cut lines. They had a candle-holding plate in the family room that was just the right radius for tracing the corners; the fat coffee cup was too small.



I'd never made a granite sink cut-out beforethat was to be polished anyway. I cut the straight cuts with my Metabo and changed to a segmented blade for the corners, then rode around with a cylindrical 50 grit thingie before the 50 grit on the knuckle dragger with a flex pad. Viper three step pads took to me to finish. I bought a 3/8" roundover for my Metabo, but the lady liked my freehand roundover enough that the bit never made it out of the box. 



I was able to widen and clean the failed edge enough to inject in some methelmethacrylate. 



Not bad considering.




Seam before and after a little CA. I used two Hercules Sink Harnesses to support the sink. They will lift seams, but if you loosen the harnesses, the Gorillia Grips will put the seams flush again.




Finished. She is delighted. I billed 'em for twenty hours, drive time and plumbing included.

Joe

P.S.:

I've got three French "granite" sinks for sale cheap. Not a scratch on 'em.

another nice save there Joe. Sounds like a good customer too.

Posted By John Christensen on 06 Nov 2011 04:57 PM

Nice job, Joe.  It is always rewarding to take on a challenge like that and be successful in the end.

Now get to the bank

Johnny C

Hah, at get to the bank, that made me smile John!

Joe, what can I say, except for "another disaster corrected by the Joe-ster!"

Keep up the good work!

Nice work Joe !

Some of your best stuff !

Keep it up.

Thanks everyone, I appreciate it.

Joe

Joe, Nice work.The Kohler sink you used looks alot nicer. I used one of them awhile back there nice$$$$

I see the dust respirator and face shield in picture #4.  can I assume that you made the cuts dry?

Johnny C

Posted By John Christensen on 07 Nov 2011 06:35 PM
I see the dust respirator and face shield in picture #4.  can I assume that you made the cuts dry?

Johnny C

With all of the dust in the photos I would saw YES very dry and dusty.

Posted By Karl Crooks on 07 Nov 2011 07:22 PM

Posted By John Christensen on 07 Nov 2011 06:35 PM
I see the dust respirator and face shield in picture #4.  can I assume that you made the cuts dry?

Johnny C

With all of the dust in the photos I would saw YES very dry and dusty.

Hmmm... busted by Karl for dust again...

Really, this is a mess no matter what you do. However, I masked off everything I could and got a fair cross-breeze through the windows right above the sink.

Joe

Posted By Kowboy on 08 Nov 2011 11:02 AM

Posted By Karl Crooks on 07 Nov 2011 07:22 PM

Posted By John Christensen on 07 Nov 2011 06:35 PM
I see the dust respirator and face shield in picture #4.  can I assume that you made the cuts dry?

Johnny C

With all of the dust in the photos I would saw YES very dry and dusty.

Hmmm... busted by Karl for dust again...

Really, this is a mess no matter what you do. However, I masked off everything I could and got a fair cross-breeze through the windows right above the sink.

Joe

Sorry Joe, I hate spending time cleaning up and the customer still not real happy no matter how good the job looks cause I dusted the place out. We all know how bad this dust can be, like sheet rock dust once it gets air born its a mess they keeps on giving long after we are gone.

This one would not have been a ez one to control.

Please tell me you used  atleast one and prefeably two shopvacs w/ filters and drywall bags.

Those catch the bulk of it with us, but I always hate cutting in the house regardless.

Posted By Chris Yaughn on 08 Nov 2011 11:37 PM
Please tell me you used  atleast one and prefeably two shopvacs w/ filters and drywall bags.

Those catch the bulk of it with us, but I always hate cutting in the house regardless.

Chris:

Fortunately, this kitchen had a pocket door on one end and I masked off the other entry. When I opened the window, the masked door drew in, meaning the window right above the sink was sucking out most of the dust my shop vac wasn't getting.

I warned the customers that it would be a bit dusty anyway and they expressed no objections. Wet or dry, there's gonna be some mess on this one.
They thought it was worth it.

Joe

Looks nice. How long did it take?

We like to use those zipwalls. They contain most of the dust but once they are removed you better have the dust collected or it just spreads throughout the room.

I thought we were having an issue with that, but it kinda resolved itself and I don't know how. Try this http://www.zipwall.com/faqs-repairs.html

Thanks Andy, I didn't even know that had a repair page, I'll try it, should work better than tape.

Posted By Andy Graves on 10 Nov 2011 07:02 PM
Looks nice. How long did it take?

Andy:

It took about 16 hours total, drive time included.

Joe

Since this has turned into a dust collection thread, I thought I'd show the best dust method of all - do all the cutting outside. This opening must go from 29 1/2" to 30" wide for the new slide-in range which requires no notches.The top on the left is only about 19" wide. The idea is to pull the top and the left cabinet filler, cut a 1/2" off the top out side, fill the right notch, reinstall the top and put the filler on the right.




Right notch before and after.

3 1/2 hours.

Joe

P.S.:


I hired a new tech today, he walked on to my first refinish job. Full of enthusiasm, but incredibly short attention span and needs constant supervision.

New helper seems a bit short to be of any real value. Will you still have to pay the minimum wage?