[Sue Turner]

I am thinking of doing Lam. tops again sence the SS has slowed down a bit and am worndering if any of you are seaming in SS sinks into your Lam tops. I thought I saw something on it here but not sure.

If you have been doing it have any of you had any problems to speak of ? What if any is your customers response to this ? Is it worth showing in my small show room ?

Any info would be a help.

Thanks in advance

William

[Norm Walters]

William, this thread will keep ya busy for awhile.

http://www.thefabricatornetwork.com/Forum/tabid/54/forumid/8/threadid/3307/threadpage/1/scope/posts/Default.aspx

[Travis Harper]

William, Check out Karran http://www.karranproducts.com/?flash=on for solid surface sinks or if you want to do stainless steel sinks check out Counter Seal http://www.counter-seal.com/ . Both are pretty good and easy to do. Does take some time to mount sinks but it looks pretty nice. I like STainless better because when you mount karran sinks the adhesive heats up and bubbles the laminate slightly. It doesnt hurt anything but it is noticable.

[Sue Turner]

Norm & Travis thanks for the info, I knew I had seen something about it on this site just could not find.

Thanks again, William

[Mark Mihalik]

That’s pretty cool. They look much better that a drop in. Thanks for the info.

[Reuben Hoff III]

William,

I know I posted on the link Norm linked for you, but can not remember if I stated this there or not. Since I started doing the karran sinks 98% of the costomers go with them a nice sell and really not that difficult to do. Also since showing them the interest in counterseal has gone away.

Try them and you won’t be disappointed.

Reuben

[Tom M]

William and mark,

I like them, but I am also cautious. I have a vanity in my home that I told the kids to have at, and so far it has held up well. The main issue I have is that, try as they might, laminate is not water resistant on the edge and will eventually delaminate if exposed to enough moisture.

The worst I can say is that the edge will likely always have a bit of a hard transition, as the more you try to radius it, and I mean a color bit – 5/32″ or so, the more edge you expose to absorb moisture.

[Mark Mihalik]

Thanks Tom,

I rarely do any laminate (unless it comes with a large SS or stone job). I like the look, but would always recommend a quality surface upgrade.

One thing I think most SS and granite guys can agree on is that laminate stinks.

[Chris Yaughn]

Uhmmmm. Mark.

Not sure how to say this but Tom is kinda an old school laminate guy. Some of the coved, bendy roled splashy things they do are pretty neat.

Chris

[David Gerard]

Hey,….. we do lots of laminate jobs. I use alot of diff. wood edges and styles to avoid the cheap crappy look. Add some tile and Bobs your uncle. In the house I sold last year I had lam tops with a raised bar. I had a tile artist friend do salmon swimming across the lenth from each end and done in my wife colors. Looked great! In 5 years you dont like em, re- skin em. When a customer says I can’t afford SS I can make them more than happy with lam. It’s all about the customer, especially in a small town.

[Mark Mihalik]

Sorry guys! I don’t want to offend anyone.

Around here the only laminate I see is the plain square edge that bubbles up in a few years (when I replace them) or the stuff from the big box stores with the large gapping seams. Every once in a while I’ll see a beveled edge or maybe an oak front edging (often broken off on a small piece). I’ve seen too many improperly built laminate tops, however, I’ve removed improper or dated SS and granite too.

I guess I’m ignorant to the laminate industries potential. I still think SS and stone is better, but the price reflects it.

[Sue Turner]

Your not offending me in the slightest. I started doing Lam in the early70’s and in the mid 70’s I started SS. I would much rather do SS but when I am getting 3 to 4 calls every week for Lam. I see money making piotintial.

BTW if Lam is done properly you will not have bubbles are other delamination for a long time. As a matter of fact I have pulled out Lam jobs that looked almost brand new but were really 10 or more years old, just well taken care of.

You also must remember not all areas or customers can afford SS or Hard and Shinny. Get the jobs where you can and mske money on those jobs.

If you apply the same skills and workmanship to a Lam. job as you do to a SS job you will still have something to be proud of.

William

[David Gerard]

Hi MarkM, Like Red Green says “w’ere in this together” In my new house my sweetie wanted a lam top……A LAM TOP!!! I said ” are you crazy, you live with the MAN!” I added a nice edge that matched out old school style window trim and did it in hickory to match the cabinets. I did however win the bath choice of SS and all my sills and header trim have SS incorporated. A most uniqe application ” What ever you want lady” Norm ,try that one sometime, it works!

[Chris Yaughn]

Mark,

As laid back as TOm is you prbably couldn’t offend him with a baseball bat .

It seams like the last few houses we have seen have gone Quartz / solid surface in the kitchen, Lam in the laundry room and cultured Marbel ein the baths. The installs on the cultured marble (not by us) have been , …shall we say …interesting..

Not sure how you can run a bead of white painters caulk caulking the splash to the deck on dark cultured marble top and walk out of the house with a straight face.

Yee Ha!!

Chris

[Norm Walters]

Chris, from what I’ve seen, even if its clear caulk it’s way too big of a line, like a 1/4″ WTF?

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