Turning cut-offs into a slab

[The Glass Man]

Yes, I'm so cheap that i want to make my countertops from cut-offs, but hear me out. To preface: I am remodeling a very old, poorly built home that was donated to me by my family to accommodate my growing family for the next 3-5 years. The house will most likely be demoed in 6-10 years to make room for duplexes. So my budget for the whole house (in shambles now) is about $5000. Cheaper than 3 years rent! But most of my work is elaborate so I can gain some experience working with various materials, like granite.

So, while shopping at my local habitat for humanity "re-store" a came across black galaxy cut-offs. 6"x20" 3/4 thick, with 1 long & 1 short flat polished, for $2 a piece. I purchased enough to do both my short kitchen counters, and backsplash. My origanal idea was to cut them in half so they would look like tile, and grout them in. But after thinking on it, I would like to cut off the polished edges (where needed) and glue them together. It doesn't need to look perfect, just be smooth, and worth the effort. So enough gabbing, on to the questions.

1. grout or resin, I'm already predisposed to glue(resin), but open to suggestions.

2. if resin, what to use? I was looking at the 32oz knife weld.

3. I am a glass man (duh) with a lot of experience drilling, sawing, and polishing glass. I have access to a 5' rotary sander with diamond pads in 60, 80, 120, 220, and 400 grit. I also have access to a batt. operated makita wetsaw (handheld) with 4" solid diamond blade. Will these things come in handy, or should i rent a wet slide saw? And do you use antifreeze mix when sawing (like i do with glass)?

4. should I try to fab as a whole slab, than install. or fab in sections, than glue together on the counter.

Any other suggestions for this project would be greatly appreciated.

Thanx for the help(sorry for the spelling)

[Mark D.]

You may make it look nice, you might even start a new fad, but you won't be able to make it look like a slab. The biggest problem you are going to face is getting every top on the same plane. You are going to find out that even though the granite may all be the same that when the same granite comes from different slabs some will be thicker than others.

I would set these like tiles, even if you use shims and silicone to adhere them to the substrate. You can grout this menagerie or you can use knife grade polyester resin with color to make joints, but unless the tops are all on one plane it will look weird (I am being kind here).

The "diamond" pads yo have are either not diamond polishing pads or they are not diamond at all...those grits are very irregular from diamond polishing pads which usually go from 50 to over 3,000 grit in a single set. If you have a variable speed grinder that would be a better tool for dry polishing, but a wet polisher will give a faster polish and could give you a better finish. I don't like cordless tools for cutting granite. They lack power which could mess up your cuts, not to mention ruining them altogether. I like a Skillsaw and a straight edge with a turbo blade designed for cutting granite here instead.

Install them like tiles and then grout or make the seams with a colored polyester resin.

We sell a dvd set on how to fabricate granite countertops which you could use to give you an idea of what is involved. Let me know if you want some links.

Glad to be of service,
Mark

[gimpybmxer]

hahahahhahahahaha, good luck........... to get the best results youd want to set them all upside down on something PERFECTLY flat and glue them that way(use a plastic trash bag or something between your pieces and what your using as a table, something you can peel off later.), this will keep the pollish sides flat with each other. set up some type of jig, or clamp to hold them together nice and tight.  you want the seams as small as you can get them...... once it all dries take a cup wheel and grind off all the glue from the bottom, or wipe it while its still wet. when you flip it over youll probably have a lot of dry glue to scrape........ but once you get it all off, you should be good to go.   BLACK is proably the harddest to face pollish, so if you pieces arnt nice and flat on the pollish side, you probaly DONT want to mess with grinding it all smooth.   I MAKE CHESS BOARDS like this, and it works well, but i cup wheel it all smooth, and then face pollish the whole thing to ensure a flat level playing surface.  id recomend just grouting it together like tile...

[The Glass Man]

Wow, thank you, you were both very right. I tried to glue 2 pieces together anyway ( I'm hardheaded like that), I realized the thickness variations that Mark mentioned, and I figured out the process gimpy mentioned, upside down, on a plastic covered piece of glass, and clamped tight, but there is no mistaking the seam, or the color difference, even though it was very slight. Plus, there is no way to do this for the whole counter, it's to big. I will definitely be grouting. I think it will still look really nice, plus it was really cheap!
  So cheap that i went back and bought enough white marble pieces to do my bathroom floor, these were bigger pieces, 20"x 20" to 20"x 10 (still $2 a piece). I also bought a handfull of other big pieces in various other colors, i don't really know what I'm doing with them yet, but i could not resist at that price. I bought a used wetsaw to do all this work. And after using my 5" sander on a few pieces, I'm sure it will work for what i need. I was mistaking, they are not diamond, they are silicone carbide, but they are not for polishing, we use them for shaping, we use cork and felt for high gloss polishes, but I don't need to polish any edges, all my pieces have 2 polished edges already, for the outside edges. I just need to mimic the small bevel on the top of a flat polish, so that all 4 edges of the middle pieces match, I found i can do this like i do glass, with a 120 to shape, and a 220 to smooth, then a 400 and wax to polish to a dull gloss. It's not perfect, but it's close, and we're only talking about a surface 1/8th of an inch wide, next to the grout lines.
  So here's my next questions; now that I'm dealing with floors, the fact that this a pier and beam house comes into play, the house will shift. I have access to NP-1 and silicone to use on the substrate. But I want thin grout lines and I would like to use a grout that is as flexible as possible. Any suggestion? The proper subfloor (substrate) is another question. Some one suggested concrete board, but that seems rigid for this project. Are there any other alternatives?

thanx again for all your help

[gimpybmxer]

for your tile id look into using ditra mat on top of your wood subfloor.  im no tile expert, but i have laid granite pieces on floors as your mentioning............ it was a mosaic look tho and i HATED it..... hahhahaha.  anyway, the ditra is an oarnge plastic mat that looks like a checkerboard, it has raised edges throughout and it works great.  i THINK it is meant for bathroom areas, where water is a problem, but i know people who use it under ANY AND ALL tile that they lay.... it works well