Templating and Fitting Granite Worktops
“It would be nice if you were there for fitting, but it’s essential you are there for templating.”
We say it a lot. Fitters need to be let in, and it really helps if they get offered the odd cup of tea, but by and large they need to be able to get on with their work without people crowding them,. Not least, their job involved carrying amazingly heavy weights, and it can be actually dangerous if the householder (not to say their children!) are breathing down their necks, or on their kneecaps.
But templating is a different matter. The template defines the look of your kitchen. This is where the overhangs, corners, drainage grooves and other details are all hammered out. We need your answers to our questions – or we need you to authorise someone on site to answer on your behalf.
Check out our video on the importance of templating – and how to be ready for it – here.
Templating Granite worktops
We make traditional, plastic templates – real-size mock-ups of your worktops. We prefer this approach to laser templating. It is solid and concrete and very reliable – words which could also describe our templating team. Templates are made by our Olympian (Bulgarian sailing team) Mikhael, Andy (Affordable Granite MD), and occasionally Ben (workshop manager) and Antonio (one of our most skilled masons.) We have a great templating team. They visit your home to get your worktops right.
Manufacturing Granite worktops
The templates are brought back to our workshop. Here we cut straight lines on saws, holes on the CNCs, and polish and finish with hand tooling. Everything that happens here should be governed by the template that you have thrashed out with us on our templater’s visit.
Installing Granite worktops
This is where the rubber hits the road. This is where we see the quality of the template – or whether a kitchen fitter has moved your kitchen units after the template is made! Sections are unloaded from the van and carried into the kitchen. Some machining work may be done outside (hob cutouts may be finished, and upstands cut to length on site) but the bulk of the stone sections arrive ready to fit perfectly into your home.
The key to it all is the template. Here is our “template readiness check list”:
The following criteria MUST be met before templating granite worktops:-
- Base units must be in their final position and fixed. Any subsequent movement will invalidate the template.
- The units should be level to within 3mm.
- All end panels must be on.
- All hobs, range, sinks & taps etc. must be on site. (Unless Affordable Granite are supplying the sink)
- Undermounted ceramic or acrylic mix sinks, and all undermounted sinks with waste disposal units, need to be in situ and supported adequately from beneath.
- Any plastering must be completed.
- Temporary worktops (if installed) removed
Point is, the secret to a good worktop fit is the template. Where all is ready for that, and the customer is on site, and nothing is subsequently moved, we have the best chance possible of getting you the granite kitchen worktops you have always dreamed of!
We are Affordable Granite, the leading installer of granite and quartz worktops in Surrey, Sussex and across the South East. For samples, quotes and any questions connected with any aspect of worktop installation or kitchen design, please don’t hesitate to contact us on 01293 863992 or by email on sales@affordablegranite.co.uk/ .
