www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

Hi

I've fitted new worktops, was a bit nervous doing it but couldn't find a joiner that wanted the job this year so have gone ahead and butt joined them.
I got both tops cut square and set at 90 degrees, put 'special' clear silicone (topseal?) in there and 3 clamps. After clamping up I'm still left with a 1.5mm gap/bead of silicone. Is this acceptable/could it be problematic in the future?




It draws my eye constantly however looking at how uniform the gap is and cuts are I'm pretty sure I did all I could and this is possible a case of too much silicone packed in? I'm on the fence about whether to rip apart and redo but not worry is the second time will look worse. What do you think?

To be honest that is not too bad and perhaps you are overfocussing on this a bit. A colorfil joint sealer in colour would have worked better than the black line that emphasises the join line. Did you have dog bone bolts to pull it tight? I would leave it.

DWD

I've seen a lot worse, don't worry about it.

The face of the worktop has a small bevel at the top which is why the gap looks big.

It does the job but not aesthetically, would ask for either of these:

Cheers guys, that's what I needed to hear.
I did use dog bones underneath. I'd had some concern that if the silicone ever works its way out it would be hard to cram back in being such a small gap - but there was plenty sandwiched in there and hopefully that's some years away yet. Will colourfill at that time (might last longer once the wood has settled? I didn't use colourfill initially as read the wood would expand and crack it)

Re. the type of join; I resigned myself to it being a butt join when I realised I'd be doing it - it doesn't massively offend me. I'm sort of indifferent between the butt join and the hockey stick type. I'd prefer a mitre but it's beyond my skillset and I did read not to do it for solid tops (no idea why).

The Masons mitre is to get a neat finish on rounded edge worktops. You do not need them on square edged tops.

The silicone will glue it when set.

DWD

yes never mason mitre on solid tops. that type of join is only for laminate worktops with a rounded edge. square edge laminate tops can be butted.

biscuits and tie bolts to keep it together