Granite Counter Top

[Kurt Aebi]

Does anyone know how you attach a bottom mount sink to a Granite Top. LOML got a great deal on an Atlantic Green Granite vanity top and I am in the planning stage for a Butternut Vanity to go beneath it. I have no experience with Granite so any help would be appreciated. Also how to attach the top to the vanity would be nice too!

Thanks in advance.

Kurt

[Chris Padilla]

Kurt,

I can't help with the bottom-mounted sink but when I installed the combo Corian top/sink in my 1/2 bath, the directions just recommended putting several nickel-sized dabs/blobs of silicone around the flat spots of the vanity that the counter will rest on. That was it. Once you hook up the plumbing and sink, it will remain in place. Also, its own weight tends to keep it sound.

[Jamie Buxton]

Here's how I do undermounts and granite tops....

I cover the tops of the base cabinets with plywood -- usually 5/8". I cut the sink cutout into it, and then with a router carve the top of the plywood so that the top of the sink's flange is flush with the top of the plywood. Put a bead of caulk on top of the flange before the granite goes on. It will mostly squeeze out, but the remaining caulk seals water out. (The other way to do the caulk is to put the granite in place first and then work the caulk in. My granite guy does it this way. He uses latex caulk, and colors it on-site to match the granite.)

My granite guy holds the granite in place with globs of polyester resin. It is some product sold to the stone trade. He's doing big surfaces, and the globs are part of his leveling process. He puts the globs down, then the granite, and then tamps the slab down in just the right place. As he's tamping, the globs are getting squeezed out, and then they cure. Your project is much smaller, so you probably won't need the leveling trick. I'd use a few thick beads of caulk. Granite is darn heavy, and isn't going anywhere.

Another trick the installer uses is to drive sheetrock screws through the plywood if he needs to lift the slab.

Does your granite have an applied edge? That is, is it something like 3/4" thick in the middle, but 1 1/2" thick at the edge? If so, that dropped edge will cover the 5/8" plywood. If the slab is just flat, you can drop the plywood inside the cabinet, so its edge can't be seen under the slab. You'll have to attach cleats to the inside of the cabinet, but this works just fine.

[Robert Ducharme]

Here are some photos of how a under counter sink was mounted.

[Jim Becker]

I used the same technique as Jamie to prepare our undermount kitchen sink for the soapstone tops.

[Kurt Aebi]

Thanks alot guys.

I wasn't even thinking of using a "backer" board under the top, I had nightmares about drilling and using anchors, etc. - Thanks for the excellent ideas. I feel much more at ease with the project now.

I am attaching a picture of the color of the granite and the butternut.

Let me know what you guys think of the combination.

[Russ Filtz]

That combination looks HORRIBLE! You will do better by getting new material and sending me those scraps for disposal :D

[Chris Padilla]

I've always thought of butternut as walnut's blonde cousin...such nice grain patterns that hand-rubbed oil finishes bring out eloquently. :)