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Originally Posted by daved150

wait!!! even if it's finnished!! what do you mean, "seal"? i've never heard of that. this is 1 1/2 inch granit!! polished and shyt...IT FUKIN FADES????

No - I have been in the field for over 15 years, had granite in my own house for 10 and sold over 1000 granite countertops. It doesnt fade. It does, however, stain and you can damage the finish if you clean with a product that has harsh chemicals in it. You may want to seal it to keep the sheen shinier and it make it easier to clean and protect it from staining. If its in a bathroom, the chances of something staining it are rare. You want to keep red wines, lemons, oranges, anything citrus away from your tops as the citric acid can eat the shine (that is if you leave it on for a great deal of time). Dont buy a product at home depot or lowes as they are mostly water based. I would recommend a product called Gel-Gloss - comes in a pink spray can. Its the easiest and cheapest to use. You spray it on, let it set for a few minutes, then wipe it off. It works great on marble, granite and cultured marble tops. If you do invest in a kit (it would run you around $150 for a good kit) make sure you buy it at a marble or granite place. Or you could buy it online. We used to sell this product https://cgi.ebay.com/Fila-MP-90-1-Lit...QQcmdZViewItem which worked rather well. You can find others - ask me before you buy one. Stick to using Windex or another mild cleaner to clean it. I use the gel gloss about once every 1-2 months as it acts as a cleanser also. Let me know if you have any more questions. BTW - they are going to use AKEMI epoxy to seal your joints. You may want to ask what color they use as the akemi can crack and flake over time - if its a highly used area. Or better yet, ask them if they have any they can give you for later.

Tweet^there's your answer d150. It's porous...period. Seal that bad boy for a long lasting color and shine. Ya got kids. Hell, my counter top looks like a bird bath after I shave. Think about it. Tap water has harsh chemicals in it.

The company that did my father in-law's kitchen and bathrooms didn't stress the importance of sealing either. It's simple. It's porous. Permeable by anything...water, air, Windex, etc...

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Originally Posted by horsepwr

^there's your answer d150. It's porous...period. Seal that bad boy for a long lasting color and shine. Ya got kids. Hell, my counter top looks like a bird bath after I shave. Think about it. Tap water has harsh chemicals in it.

The company that did my father in-law's kitchen and bathrooms didn't stress the importance of sealing either. It's simple. It's porous. Permeable by anything...water, air, Windex, etc...

thanks...i gotta do that. it's a bathroom counter top and with all the shyt i'm going through, i want it to stay nice as long as i'm in this house!

TweetOMG!! That sound just like something that would happen to us. To catch you up to speed... We last year renovating an old 1940's building located downtown into an urban loft and office for my husband's business. As you can image there are just too many things that can go wrong when taking on a huge project like this. Since my husband only need parking space for his trailer (they contain all of his equipment for work), he just needed a small space for his desk. Most of the space inside the building is our living space.

There were four concrete countertops already there from the previous business that was in the building. The former owner was just going to throw out the countertops, so my husband asked if we could have them. Our kitchen was designed around the already existing countertops. This kind of through the cabinet guy because they are use to building the cabinets and then fitting the countertops.

The cabinets were looking amazing... hand cut by Amish, distressed cherry. By time we get there, the cabinet guy had left, so my husband decided that we are going to put this concrete countertop ourselves. It was in two pieces that fit together and each end formed the sink, but one piece must have weight 500 lbs or close too it. We finally get the second piece on and low-n-behold... there was a 5 inch gap in the center, so the ends DID NOT meet. Called the cabinet guy to come back and take a look at it... he just stood there scratching his head. The first sink we bought wouldn't fit... ended up having to buy a custom sink. Then the cabinet guy made some blocks out of teak wood to fill in the gaps around the sink. Yes... concrete counter with teak chopping block to feel the gaps. It's convoluted but it works.

The other problem is that there was only one hole for a single-mix faucet, so natural the way the sink fit in the faucet will only reach one side of the sink. To fill the other side of the sink, you have to use the sprayer. In order for the spray to reach the other side of the sink, the balance has to be set off which means the sprayer will not stay in the faucet handle. It is constantly falling into the sink.

We combined the second and third countertops to make the center island in the kitchen that has the range, oven and a seated dinning area... oh, and the stripper bar. LOL

The last counter top was going to be used in the bathroom, but it didn't work out. Thankfully I talked him out of it, but it's was entirely too small for the master bath and too big for the powder room. We ended up with this beautiful granted countertop that found at a salvage store. We left it to the store to install it.

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Originally Posted by daved150

more pain....keeps getting better and better

I feel your pain... David's house was hit by lightning last week fried the heating/air and probably the majority of the house's wiring. We're not sure just how bad the damage is, because a electrician hasn't given us an estimate yet.

Then Friday I went by my house to turn the heat on, so the pipes wouldn't freeze this weekend or winter. I hit the garage door opener and the door starts to go up and then CRACK! The door sticks, but the opener continues pulling on the door and 3 out of the 4 glass windows on the door SHATTER it pieces!!!

Keep in mind that we are trying to sale both these houses!

Oh, no... that lightning wouldn't just burn the entire house down for us. I guess we couldn't set it on fire and tell the fire department that it must have been a slow smoldering fire.

TweetThings could be worse. I hired a reputable company to expand and renovate the kitchen, foyer and bathroom. Well, after 70% comlplete, the company went belly up. Seems the owner had two girlfriends, a wife, 5 homes and couldn't keep up financially. So he dipped into company funds which prevented the contractors from getting paid. long story short i had to spend and additional $30k just to finish the job. Now this SOB is back in business under his son's name.

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Originally Posted by skinnyman

Things could be worse. I hired a reputable company to expand and renovate the kitchen, foyer and bathroom. Well, after 70% comlplete, the company went belly up. Seems the owner had two girlfriends, a wife, 5 homes and couldn't keep up financially. So he dipped into company funds which prevented the contractors from getting paid. long story short i had to spend and additional $30k just to finish the job. Now this SOB is back in business under his son's name.

yep... been there too, but on the contractors side. One of the last jobs my husband and his crew did last year was this guy who owned a car dealership. They did concrete repair for his house and the dealership, but he didn't pay. My husband went to court and the guy lost, and still hasn't paid. Instead he closed up his dealership, so now we have lien taken out on his house. My husband found out he has a restaurant in town. We tried to get money from it, but he closed it too... we're out $25,000. It's not like you can reposes someone's driveway or patio.

Tweetgawldang! Not what you guys needed to be dealing with right now. Good luck.

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Originally Posted by skinnyman

Things could be worse. I hired a reputable company to expand and renovate the kitchen, foyer and bathroom. Well, after 70% comlplete, the company went belly up. Seems the owner had two girlfriends, a wife, 5 homes and couldn't keep up financially. So he dipped into company funds which prevented the contractors from getting paid. long story short i had to spend and additional $30k just to finish the job. Now this SOB is back in business under his son's name.

i got an ex-partner i had in a car lott that cost me 23K plus a WHOLE lot of legal prob's i'm STILL dealing with, that did the same thing. the state took his license and now he's opened back up under his kids name!! i want to kill the fuker, but my lawyer advises against it

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Originally Posted by dixiechick

yep... been there too, but on the contractors side. One of the last jobs my husband and his crew did last year was this guy who owned a car dealership. They did concrete repair for his house and the dealership, but he didn't pay. My husband went to court and the guy lost, and still hasn't paid. Instead he closed up his dealership, so now we have lien taken out on his house. My husband found out he has a restaurant in town. We tried to get money from it, but he closed it too... we're out $25,000. It's not like you can reposes someone's driveway or patio.

i'd sure give it the old college try!! get a couple migrant workers, a generator and a jackhammer!!!...

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Originally Posted by daved150

i got an ex-partner i had in a car lott that cost me 23K plus a WHOLE lot of legal prob's i'm STILL dealing with, that did the same thing. the state took his license and now he's opened back up under his kids name!! i want to kill the fuker, but my lawyer advises against it

... I know the feeling bro! I had a stock broker "friend' who ripped me off for $30,000...I would go to nightclubs just looking for his sorry ass...It took me about a year to get over wanting to kill him..Lmao...His exact words to me were "Bro, youre my friend, your $$$ is safe with me. No way will I lose your money"..arrrhgghhhh!!

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Originally Posted by daved150

i'd sure give it the old college try!! get a couple migrant workers, a generator and a jackhammer!!!...

Don't give him any ideas. You should have seen how long it took me to talk him out of killin' him.

He did assure me they wouldn't find his body. Hmmm... their pouring concrete for a theater renovations as we speak.

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Originally Posted by daved150

i got an ex-partner i had in a car lott that cost me 23K plus a WHOLE lot of legal prob's i'm STILL dealing with, that did the same thing. the state took his license and now he's opened back up under his kids name!! i want to kill the fuker, but my lawyer advises against it

i would have to agree with your lawyer and don't kill the guy....have someone else do it.