Granite Countertop Installation – Go With Slab Countertops
As you may know from some of my recent posts, I recently had a new granite kitchen counter done in my house. The installation of the countertop was incredibly easy. While this was simple for me, my friend suffered: he opted not for a tile, but instead for tiles for his countertop. He didn’t want to listen to me: if he had listened to me, his granite countertop installation would have been so much quicker and so much easier to do. Slab installation takes just one day – granite tile takes much longer. One slab covers the entire area making it easier: it’s easy to fix if something goes wrong in terms of proper placement. If a single tile is off, then the entire countertop installation has to start over, and that’s very irritating, to say the least. Judging from our experience, I would say that for easy granite countertop installation, go for a slab countertop.
When you install a granite countertop that is just one big slab of granite, you do it very quickly. The process takes a little less than a day: all you have to do is take the tile and stick it on the current countertop with an adhesive and then let it dry. On the other hand, you have to keep lining up each tile correctly; if not enough adhesive is added it will loosen. If they’re not lined up correctly, it’ll look crooked and ugly – you won’t be able to start over unless you want to have a horrible countertop. Unfortunately, my friend didn’t line them up correctly and as a result he had to start over, wasting a lot of time and money.
Always make sure you have the correct measurements; otherwise you will cause a problem no matter how well the rest of the job was done. If the slab is too large, it can be easily cut to size with an electric diamond blade; this is not the case with tiles. If one of the tiles protrudes too far, it can be dangerous (especially for children) and will need to be removed. If you try to cut the tile it will start to crack and as a result it will look like someone dropped a bowling ball on your newly installed countertop and that would be a shame. So while the tiles may seem easier because they are so much smaller, they are tricky; slab is a much easier material to handle and far superior. I am glad that I decided to use the granite slab – now my kitchen has a beautiful radiant glow thanks to it.
While installing granite countertops is a good DIY project, it’s always best to get professional assistance when doing any type of home construction or remodeling. It may cost more, but the build will be much better and the professionals are much less likely to make a mistake. When it comes to home construction, spend more so that you spend less in the future on repairs for simple mistakes or because something wasn’t done right.