Good Adhesive to bind wood to polished granite

[Larry Fox]

I am working on a fireplace mantle / surround and room behind it is TIGHT. The only way that I can sort out to attach it is to glue a board to the granite facing and use that as an attachment point. To this end, I am looking for a good adhesive. The granite has a polished surface if that helps. I see that Liquid Nails sells a product (link below) but am wondering if anyone has any experience doing this and can recommend either this product or another.

http://www.liquidnails.com/products/product.jsp?productId=38

Thanks in advance for youe time . . .

L

[Tom Veatch]

First, I can't claim any expertise in gluing granite, and can offer no advice other than encouraging you to run a test - assuming you've either got a piece of scrap granite lying around or there's a hidden place on the fireplace/mantle - by gluing a small scrap of wood to the granite and see if the result is acceptable to you.

Second, and just for future reference, here's a link to a "glue advice" (http://www.thistothat.com/) site. There's no mention of granite, but for wood to ceramic (close, maybe?) it recommends a couple of products. I suspect the site is sponsored by "LePage", since it seems to almost always recommend a LePage product. So, take the site's advice for what you think it's worth.

[John Thompson]

Unless you have a diamond point bit.. you will most likely not be boring a hole in the granite. I was going to have a granite top business here in Georgia where we have some granite drill a few 5/16" holes with their special bit. At $25 a hole.. I found another way.. :)

I would call a granite counter top installer Monday and ask if they could advice you on what adhesive..

Good luck...

Sarge..

[Rick Fisher]

PL-Premium would be the item I would choose to test.

I think the polished surface would be a detriment.

You can often rent the diamond bits.

[Jamie Buxton]

The folks who install slab granite kitchen counters use epoxy or sometimes polyester to adhere the slabs to the wood subtop. They also use epoxy, colored to match the granite, to fill the seams between slabs.

[James Stokes]

I would think that liquid nail would hold fine if you are not gluing to solid wood. Real wood has a tendancy to move to much and tile pops off.

[Steve knight]

e6000 or goop. it is a silicone adhesive that I find sticks to most things very well and it is flexible enough to work well with wood to metal and plastic gluing. it should stick to granite just fine. when I test a wood to metal joint and broke the wood would break before the joint.
do a test and see. but I find a flexible joint really lasts better then a hard one for two totally different materials.

[Peter Quinn]

I have used silicone to attach wooden frames to glass with success, though there was no load bearing issue as the joint only had to hold the weight of a 5" casing, not a mantle foundation. Silicone will bond to very smooth surfaces, and test pieces indicated a very strong connection in my case.

It is not inconceivable to use masonry screws and create a physical connection between the nailer and the granite. I have used Bosch blue mole carbide granite bits to drill into very hard porcelain tiles and thin granite tiles with good success, diamond is not necessary though it would last longer.

If you choose to try construction adhesive I recommend scuffing the hidden surface with a belt sander to create a bit of key for better adhesion. Tape off the area which will be visible and sand on the hidden parts to remove that gloss.

[Curt Harms]

but stone is listed. Roo Clear works for metal (T track) to wood I know. If You can find it, might be worth a try. The thing that's nice is it's one part and not messy, sorta like titebond for other-than-wood materials.
http://rooglue.com/rooclear.html

HTH

Curt

[Brian Penning]

Lepage's PL Premium....incredible stuff...

http://www.lepageproducts.com/products/detail.asp?catid=22&subid=108&plid=284

[James Jaragosky]

I have used Pure 100% clear silicone numerous times to attach marble plaques to granite wall panels.
I have had to remove just as many, and usually end up damaging the plaques. In fact we use to use silicone to mount typewriters to lamented counter material and once the silicone set you could not remove the typewriter with out tools.

[Larry Fox]

Thanks for all the helpful replies guys - I will give these products a look. This does not need to support weight per-se but needs to have some resistance to pulling off the grantie as it will be used for attachment (which I suppose is another kind of weight). This project has been a breeze to build and finish but a bugger to figure out attachment.

[Steve knight]

I like the silicone adhesive better because it is stiffer when dry and I can get it in runny an non runny formula's and uv formula

[CPeter James]

Another vote for Pl-Premium. I buy it by the case and use it for all sorts of things. It has a little give to it so if things move a little the bond does not break. It is some sticky and will stick almost anything to almost anything.

CPeter

[Scott Schwake]

I used silicone to secure a board to the bottom of a granite countertop, and then attached a dishwasher to the board, holding so far. The granite was not polished though.

[Larry Fox]

Tried a test last night with the Lepage's PL Premium on some scrap and preliminary results are very encouraging. I checked it this morning before I left for work and it looked to already have quite a bond and it says it should be fully cured in 24-hours so I will know tonight. Thanks again to all who posted replies.