Help - island bench has a join

Housetohome · Sep 06, 2020 11:12 pm

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum and currently at fixing stage on our build. We are building in VIC and disappointed to find out that the stone on our island bench has a join.

Our stone is Silestone 3.112m length x 1.2m wide x 40mm thick. Silestone has it for 3.5m length x 1.5m wide.

During sales contract, our sales consultant has indicated that the client is requesting no join but later on was omitted at the final home proposal as we were told that it's a standard document.

Our colour document has a disclaimer that a join may be required but we still insisted to put a note that we are requesting a 1 piece stone and no join but was told that it's our builder's standard document and cannot be altered.

We have reminded though our new home coordinator since the beginning and our site supervisor prior and during our build many times to ensure no join on our island bench.

If I knew that this is going to happen, we should have just gone for laminate and replace with stone after hand over rather than having to pay so much to upgrade to a stone.

We cannot win against the builder but any thoughts?

Thanks

chippy · Sep 07, 2020 12:02 am

What Silestone have you used

Housetohome · Sep 07, 2020 3:19 am

chippy

What Silestone have you used

Blanco orion

Housetohome · Sep 12, 2020 8:57 am

Just want to up this hoping to get some opinions😊

Althom · Sep 12, 2020 9:52 am

We have Ceasarstone benches in Nougat. There's one join due to length. Unless you're looking for it you cannot see it.

Blacktea2sugars · Sep 12, 2020 5:29 pm

Hmmmmm

How disappointing.

If you have documentation that a single piece of Silestone can be done to 3.5 and 1.2 w, then you should be ok.
They only join to save costs and labour etc.
No point accepting it if you're not happy with it.

We went for a specific size island bench to make SURE there was a single piece of stone involved.
I'm sure you did the same thing.
Get the builder to get the mason back and redo it in 1 piece.

Housetohome · Sep 13, 2020 9:29 pm

Althom

We have Ceasarstone benches in Nougat. There's one join due to length. Unless you're looking for it you cannot see it.

Thanks. The join on my stone is where I'm supposed to be mixing flour for baking. It's where we added an electric powerpoint underneath for the mixer. Now I need to re think. Hope it won't look too noticeable later on as we may end up replacing it😔

Housetohome · Sep 13, 2020 9:32 pm

Blacktea2sugars

Hmmmmm

How disappointing.

If you have documentation that a single piece of Silestone can be done to 3.5 and 1.2 w, then you should be ok.
They only join to save costs and labour etc.
No point accepting it if you're not happy with it.

We went for a specific size island bench to make SURE there was a single piece of stone involved.
I'm sure you did the same thing.
Get the builder to get the mason back and redo it in 1 piece.

Thanks. I'll try to contact Silestone if they can provide that info as I don't have it. Also I've already requested with my builder but they didn't listen. We may end up changing it after hand over but such a waste of money since we paid so much to upgrade to a stone.

chippy · Sep 13, 2020 11:00 pm

It's a difficult one.
The stone mason's will have maximised the slabs. The most economical way to cut the whole kitchen may have meant putting a join through the island.
If you went to the builder and stipulated that the island had to be a full slab then they may have ended up having to purchase an extra slab to achieve it, so the builder in an attempt to save money will gone with the join and it would have been cheaper for you as well.
Really it comes down to your documentation and it sounds like it's in the builders favour.
I know when I built the cabinets for our house I wanted to have our island (3.0x1.4) in one slab. In order to do the underside of the overhang it meant we had to get 2 sheets so I ended up using the rest of the slab in our bathrooms and laundry. It only cost me the labour to make.
Of course the other possibility is Silestone didn't have any jumbo sheets in stock so you were going to have a join regardless. There have been numerous supply chain issues in recent times.

Housetohome · Sep 14, 2020 9:56 pm

chippy

It's a difficult one.
The stone mason's will have maximised the slabs. The most economical way to cut the whole kitchen may have meant putting a join through the island.
If you went to the builder and stipulated that the island had to be a full slab then they may have ended up having to purchase an extra slab to achieve it, so the builder in an attempt to save money will gone with the join and it would have been cheaper for you as well.
Really it comes down to your documentation and it sounds like it's in the builders favour.
I know when I built the cabinets for our house I wanted to have our island (3.0x1.4) in one slab. In order to do the underside of the overhang it meant we had to get 2 sheets so I ended up using the rest of the slab in our bathrooms and laundry. It only cost me the labour to make.
Of course the other possibility is Silestone didn't have any jumbo sheets in stock so you were going to have a join regardless. There have been numerous supply chain issues in recent times.

Thanks chippy. Appreciate the info. Very helpful.

Would it be possible to change the stone later on in one full slab without having to remove the waterfall ends or it will be a mess?

Or removing the entire stone including the waterfall end is the only option?

chippy · Sep 14, 2020 10:29 pm

The waterfalls make it very hard. The joins are epoxied together so it's not so simple to pull it all apart.
It's quite likely that the mitre along the waterfall end will break and chip so you'd more than likely end up pulling it all out and doing it again.

Housetohome · Sep 14, 2020 10:35 pm

chippy

The waterfalls make it very hard. The joins are epoxied together so it's not so simple to pull it all apart.
It's quite likely that the mitre along the waterfall end will break and chip so you'd more than likely end up pulling it all out and doing it again.

Thanks. Oh no! We should have gone to laminate but anyway, good to hear that there is still an option. Due to costs, I guess we'll just change it once the join become very visible and when it starts to separate.

chippy · Sep 14, 2020 10:51 pm

Good cabinetry and a good stone mason and the join should never open up.
Never know, you may just get used to it.
When you are building it's very easy to focus on small details that a visitor would never notice.
Having said that, it's you that will live there and sometimes you can't unsee some thing's that will stand out every time you look at it.

Housetohome · Oct 16, 2020 10:52 am

chippy

Good cabinetry and a good stone mason and the join should never open up.
Never know, you may just get used to it.
When you are building it's very easy to focus on small details that a visitor would never notice.
Having said that, it's you that will live there and sometimes you can't unsee some thing's that will stand out every time you look at it.

Thanks😊