By Cameron DeMille

Several years ago, I was called out to a home to take look at a broken countertop in a kitchen. At this point, I had been in the restoration field full-time for approximately seven years, so I had a pretty good idea of how to read certain situations and ask the right questions to get all the information I needed.

In this case, that would be particularly important, since the potential client had informed me he was not the homeowner; he was renting the place. These situations can be tricky when submitting the proposal or trying to collect the payment. Typically, the renter will want to keep it as cheap as possible, while the homeowner will want the stone replaced.

Somewhere in-between is where I shoot for: A presentable repair that will not break the bank, and hopefully appease both parties. In this particular instance, the client stated he would like to have the tops repaired as soon as possible, and he would pay for it.

I learned a long time ago to just do my job and not involve myself in other peoples’ business, so I agreed to work up a price. As I had other appointments that day, I took pictures, made my notes, and left.

Later that day, I was at the office going over my notes and information for the day. I spoke with my mom, who is our office controller, about this particular job and how I had a funny feeling about the renter. He gave me the impression that he was trying to get this done under the radar without alerting the landlord. The client had expressed his dislike for the homeowner, claimed he was mean, nickel-and-dimed them, etc.

In California, a contractor is not legally allowed to ask for more than a 10% deposit. A job like this that would be finished within a single day, so  we would typically waive the deposit and just collect in full when done. I expressed my concern about the possibility of not getting paid and made a joke something along the lines of “at least I’ll get some good pictures out of it.”

We went back and forth for a few minutes, deciding whether or not to pass on the job. I decided since the schedule wasn’t packed, I could afford to lose the day if they did indeed decide to pull a fast one. I really wanted to do the job, and so we called and scheduled it for a few days later.

Upon further inspection, I noticed that the tops were set with Liquid Nails®; to me, this is a No-No. There was a single 1/16” shim in the corner, on top of a glob of the adhesive.

The plywood sub-top, which is common out here in Southern California on 2cm material, was dipping slightly down at the corner. While the top may have been level, it was not correctly supported underneath.

The Review

A nice Jupurana Granite counter with a large corner piece broken clean off.
The sad glob of Liquid Nails® on the sub-top. The rest of the shims were stuck on the bottom side of the granite.
The original installation had an unsupported gap between the sub-top and granite.
This shows approximately how the shims were setup underneath the granite.

The Prep

Before attempting to repair, all loose crumbs and debris must be thoroughly cleaned from the area.
A quick dry fit with no additional support shows how off it really is. The break is very uneven.
The tedious task of shimming an uneven area begins. I started by finding the correct shim size to support the existing main top.
On the opposite side, you can see the gap is half the size, where I used a 1/16 shim vs. a 1/8 on the other side.
Here we have the shims in place to offer the correct support; the red (1/8) shims on the bottom side are where the plywood subtop dips downward. All are set with regular caulk to just hold them in place.
Four bar clamps and two pieces of granite work incredibly well here. The granite acts as a straight edge to clamp pieces together.Here, the piece is dry-tested out dry to see how even it sits before epoxying in place.

The Repair

This is the basic “repair kit” for re-attaching broken pieces. This can also be used to re-set seams.
The epoxy was prepared. Touchstone Express II Knife Grade from Bonstone was used for this repair. Express II KG is a fast-setting epoxy gel that provides an incredibly strong bond.
The epoxy was put in place, and the pieces slid together tightly.
Before clamping, excess epoxy was scraped and the crack scrubbed with a rag and acetone to get epoxy below the surface.
After the epoxy was cured, the clamps were removed and the surface cleaned off. Here you can see the open crack that is left.
For the cosmetic repair, Akemi Super Penetrating is a water-consistency acrylic. It fills shallow voids and will polish to a very high finish.
The crack was taped off to keep the acrylic from flowing all over the place, and) to act as a screed, so a minimal amount of overfill could be left. The crack was taped off to keep the acrylic from flowing all over the place, and) to act as a screed, so a minimal amount of overfill could be left.
The tape was removed a little too late. It should be removed right when the glue starts to gum up.

The Polish

Here we have a clean surface ready for the final steps of polishing. The glue is carefully shaved down with razor blades. This leaves minimal work for the diamonds.
The tools I used on the job:
• NSI Solutions Phantom SL3 kit, with the SL3 Adapter, SL3 Turbo pads 300, 500 and 1000 grit;
• Milwaukee 5540;
• No-Spin Backer from Omni Cubed;
• and, to finish it off, MB-20 granite polishing paste from MB Stone Care.
After the first cut with the 300 grit SL3 Turbo, there are still some low areas that need to be flattened-out. Even after taking every step to make a level, flat repair, it never come out perfect without grinding and polishing.
After the second cut, we are almost at a perfectly flat surface.
This picture shows the surface after all the diamonds are completed, included an Alpha® Ceramica 1000 grit (not shown in the kit picture).
At this point, we get down at an angle to inspect the clarity and the straightness of the reflection. You want to make sure everything is good before moving on to the final polishing stage.

The Finish

MB-20 is a paste, but can dry up and become clumpy over time. This will not affect performance. Just spritz a little water on the counter to loosen it up a bit, and on you go.
A hog’s-hair bad is the go-to for MB-20 users.
After a few sessions with the MB-20, we have a perfectly polished surface with a virtually invisible repair.

After I was done with the repair, I cleaned up my tools and wiped down the area. I called for the client to inspect and approve, which he did. He then asked if he could pay a couple days later, as he had a check coming in.

Red Flag. I asked about a credit card, post-dated check, etc. No dice. So I thanked him and went on my way.

The end of the week rolls around, and he stops answering his phone. Reminders in the mail, emails and phone calls go unanswered. We never did get paid, but I did get all these cool pictures.

Moral of the story: Stick to your policy, it’s there for a reason.