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Preparation for Countertop’s Installation

 

When you install a countertop and sink for your kitchen, if you don’t do some prepare yourself, there will be always some detail problems and you will have to delay the time. 

So, what should be done before the installation?

1. Firstly, the countertop fabricator will send a person to measure the existing countertops and make a pattern for the new ones. It is better for you to stay at home to ensure the details yourself. Don’t be shy; ask any questions about the projects while they are there. And tell them, what you want to change in the size or shape of your countertops. If you call them to change your idea a few days before the installation, that would be too late.

2. Take attention at your countertops thickness, corners and small angles. If the new countertops is not the same thickness as your existing countertops, that can be create a problem where the wall paper or tile you are not planning to replace no longer meets the new countertop on the back wall.

3.If it is not necessary, don’t let the fabricators take your countertops. Some of them will want to take the existing countertops back to the shop to use as templates, and leaves the homeowner without cabinet tops for several days. But this doesn’t happen often because it isn’t necessary. They can use a cardboard to make a templates of your countertops.

4. If you offer the sink yourself, it is better to let the fabricator to take the sink back to the factory to make sure everything fits. Such as, if the hole for the undermount sink is cut wrong it can create a never ending list of problems.

5.On installation day, before the installer arrives with your tops. remove the upper drawers from the cabinets and cover the contents in the lower drawers with old towels or something similar. When the old countertops are removed, debris will fall and the covering will make cleanup much easier. Make sure the workmen cover up the floor that will be traveled from the truck to the kitchen. Small pieces of stone in work boots will leave a nasty gouge in a nice hard wood floor. Before the install starts, tell them not to cut any stone in the house. It makes a very find dust which you will be finding for months after the install.

6. In granite installations, the holes for the faucets are often drilled on the jobsite after the sink is installed. This will make dust, but it is normally controlled with the water used to keep the temperature of the drill bit down. The wet dust runs down into the sink and needs to be sprayed out carefully and with plenty of water. The dust is a very strong abrasive and will scratch the surface of your new undermount stainless steel sink.

7. If you are going to use any 2cm backsplash, it is sure to be thicker that what you are replacing. If there are any light switches or electrical sockets to be covered, the switch plates will no longer fit using the original screws. The screws will all need to be replaced with longer ones.

These are just several points to consider before your new countertops installation. But I hope this article is useful for you. Good luck to you.