finishing the laundry sink – part 2
Installers of granite or synthetic counter tops will usually run a bead of caulk or construction adhesive along the top rim of the cabinets, lay the surface in, and let its own weight keep it in place. Since my counter top is made of three layers, I decided to take some steps to make sure they were all firmly connected to each other, and to the cabinets. I also found that that relatively thin width of the substrate to the right of the sink was bowing upwards, so, after running a bead of Liquid Nails along the cabinet edge, I used a few L-brackets to pull the substrate down onto the cabinet and keep the whole thing in place.
Securing the substrate
Then I ran a generous bead of Liquid Nails on top of the substrate to secure the backer board.
Some liquid nails to hold the backer board down
And several drywall screws didn’t hurt, either. I used short screws that didn’t protrude through the substrate.
A few drywall screws finish the job
Cutting stone tiles on a wet saw in sub-40 degree temperatures makes for chilly digits. The first day, I could only work for 30 minutes at a time before I couldn’t feel my fingers anymore and had to warm them up. Not a safe situation when working with power tools. On day 2, I got smart. My secret?
A glove liner...
...covered by a heavy rubber glove
Field tiles were cut with square edges. I planned to run a strip of tile along the edge of the counter top to cover the edges of the substrate and backer board, but I didn’t want the unfinished 3/8″ edge of the granite showing. So, I back-cut the vertical and horizontal edge tiles at a 45-degree angle to give a nice tight grout line along the edge of the counter top.
Back-cutting the edge tiles at 45 degrees gives a finished edge with a tight grout line
The bed of the wet saw accommodated the angle, but, with the fence, wasn’t big enough to handle 1′x1′ tiles on the lower side of the bed – which is what I needed to back-cut in the correct direction. So, I put the fence on the upward side of the table and turned the tiles over the get the correct cut. At 45 degrees, I still could only get a little over 8″ between fence and blade, so that dictated the general size of the tiles. But, the extra 4″ wasn’t wasted – it was used for the vertical edge and backsplash pieces.
Using the adjustable bed to cut 45degree edges
Still wet from the saw: the corner tile, with both edges beveled
Tiles taking shape
Another dry fit. It's starting to look real.
So, now, you’re thinking, “black granite tiles, black granite sink, what a bold design statement.” Yep. That’s it. Also, black’s the only color granite floor tile that Home Depot carries in stock. And, I wanted a big deep single-bowl sink (most kitchen sinks are on 7″ or 8″ deep, this on is 10″), which basically limited me to this model in “granite” or “mocha”. I guess I could have found a stainless sink. But, hey, it does look good.