Mum in law is looking to replace her worktops and I've pointed her towards Maia worktops at a local Builder's Merchants. I suspect she'll come back saying "Wow". And then pour herself a stiff brandy from the £700 a length price.
I've surfed and found cheaper suppliers, and also other makes of a similar type of top - ones with thick surface layers and near-invisible corner joint systems.
Are there any preferable ones from my list above? Any to be avoided?! She'd be looking for a near-black, speckled finish.
I'll be fitting a new sink, etc. myself, but don't have the equipment - or experience - for doing the Mason's Mitre corner - so we'd need to call someone in to fit the actual tops.
Anyone in the North Devon area who could do this - one straight and one 'L' worktop - so one corner (and two cut-outs)?
It's not just the mason's mitre joint that you'll not be able to do, you'll probably also struggle with any other (straight) joints and the end caps because these require a 1/2in router, a random orbit sander and a decent vacuum cleaner. I've seen the Maia vids where they say that you only need to sand-in the joints but I'm extremely dubious because on Corian, Colorcore, LG-Himacs, Staron, Iro, etc (solid surface bespokes) it is always necessary after jointing to resand the entire surface including the joint area to make the joint almost disappear. Myself, I can't see these pre-made worktop sections being any different (I worked on Howdens Capri a while back - similar system where they said the same - and were wrong), so it may be worth specifically asking the fitter if he has done solid surface and if he has an appropriate sander with a vacuum cleaner because of the extremely fine dust which comes off these materials
"The person who never made a mistake, never made anything" - Albert Einstein
"I too will something make, And joy in the making" - Robert Bridges, 1844~1930
"The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” - Bertrand Russell from The Triumph of Stupidity", 1933
Mistral by Koronia solid surface no chipboard core no re-edging once cut butt joint sand it all down once fitted costs bit less that any you mentioned, undermount sinks no problem shaped easily cut wit.h ordinary fitting tools! Routers and circ saw and such
marc1106 wrote:Mistral by Koronia solid surface no chipboard core no re-edging once cut butt joint sand it all down once fitted costs bit less that any you mentioned, undermount sinks no problem shaped easily cut wit.h ordinary fitting tools! Routers and circ saw and such
Yes, but take a look at the installation instructions here, especially the Jointing Procedure and Jointing Smoothing sections - the process is just a slightly modified form of what every other solid surface manufacturer uses. The vacuum pull-ups used are circa £150 to £250 each (and if you don't use clamps like those you get a discernable joint line) and the sander used, a Festool Rotex, isn't cheap, either. From the composition of these worktops you'll also need a vacuum cleaner. I just don't call those "ordinary fitting tools". I suspect that sanding to P400 may or may not leave discernable marks - it all depends on lighting, and in kitchens downlighters tend to show the slightest flaws in solid durface polishing out IMHO. Have you actually done any of these, and if so in what colours?
"The person who never made a mistake, never made anything" - Albert Einstein
"I too will something make, And joy in the making" - Robert Bridges, 1844~1930
"The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” - Bertrand Russell from The Triumph of Stupidity", 1933
Jnk iv fitted biscuit, tongaro and the white one ( arctic frost i think its called) iv never used the seaming tool on any and yes they all had joints, I don't own any festool gear all dewalt , i borrowed a da sander from a mate who does car repairs ! Sanding down to 400 is only half the process as you then polish the tops over with the discs provided, the bonuses are no need to buy edging or take the time to have to edge them! Undermount sinks are a p*ss of p155 too no needs for a " special" section for um sinks.
To be honest all solid surfaces are easier to install than laminates as they're more forgiving if something does go the way of the pear, but as I said there's no chipboard core or re edging to worry about !
Ps my Henry Hoover coped with the dust but I did use a bag!
Well all I can say is that I'm surprised. I certified as a Corian fabricator about 8 or 9 years back and since then I've fabricated and installed a number of systems, mainly in commercial environments with a few domestics. To date everything I've fabbed has had the same sort of instructions about seaming needing to be "mirror cut" with a router and the best results being obtained using seaming cramps followed by overall sanding. None of the fabricated systems has much by way of board beneath - you normally just bond a 50mm wide strip of green MDF around the perimeter so that you've got something to screw the top down with.
Some colours are much more forgiving of sloppy jointing, though, such as Glacier White (where you can get away with absolute murder) and some of the light solid colours as opposed to dark, heavily speckled colours (like Corian Mardi Gras or White Chips) where a line of solid colour in a too-wide joint just screams at you. Dark colours are also much more sensitive to cleanliness (i.e. cleaning both the surface and machine out after a grit change). The biggest pain in the bum was Howdens Capri which was actually semi-transparent ane where if you didn't get an absolutely perfect joint it would show very badly indeed.
To my mind there are three points about using a Rotex; firstly unlike many other sanders it has a robust gear-driven final drive - the drive inside a DIY RoS probably would break-up under the strain (and I managed to completely trash the gear train a blue Bosch RoS this way when I started out), secondly the Rotex has two actions, fine and coarse which you do need for different parts of the cycle, and thirdly it's about the fastest sander you can get with first rate extraction. There are a couple of suitable tools on the market which are durable enough, Makita make a dual-orbit sander and there's the Mirka Ceros, for example, but most woodworking routers will sooner or later be killed by solid surface - as will your lungs without decent dust extraction.
Sorry if I seem unconvinced, but my experience obviously differs from yours
"The person who never made a mistake, never made anything" - Albert Einstein
"I too will something make, And joy in the making" - Robert Bridges, 1844~1930
"The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” - Bertrand Russell from The Triumph of Stupidity", 1933
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