Anyone know anything about quartz worktops?

lindos90

Does anyone have a quartz worktop or fits/sells quartz worktop and can give me any advice on this please?

Ive recently had a new kitchen, including a 3k quartz worktop. I am disapointed with it, however I am very unsure about raising my issues with the company because I feel they would have been fully aware of the faults when they cut and installed.

In brief the problems are:

1) Many mall 'holes' in a number of areas of the surface (holes are between 1mm and 3mm in diameter) - may sound small, but there are lots of them. I understood that quartz was solid and not porus (compared to granite), but with little visible holes I dont see how it can be! The holes are between the small pieces of stone..is this usual?

2) The worktop has little reflective sparkly pieces, they are scattered randomly over the surface, except for two quite specific areas where the mix is very inconsistant, with a very high concentration of the sparkly bits, they also appear to be surrounded by air bubbles..has anyone else come across this?

3) Theres also a few pale white marks around the sink cutout they look like scratches, but they are under the polished surface, and I suspect they were made while the cutout for the sink was being done.

4) There is a difference in the overhang at the front of the base units olong one of the pieces. At one end its 2cm (like it is elsewhere in the kitchen) but it tapers down to 1cm at the other end and is quite noticable.

Sorry for the long post. Ive tried telling myself that its OK, but I paid a lot for this, and it isnt the quality I expected. I went for quartz as I understood it was more consistant in appearance to natural granite, and thats what I wanted. My issue is if the problems ive seen are valid manufacturing/installation faults, or simply something I have to accept as 'features'.

ginvzt

I am sure someone who knows about this will be here soon, but for the start I would not be happy with the overhang going from 2cm to 1cm, I think it must look odd. Oh, and the holes - 3mm is big!!! How deep are they?

I think I would be complaining to the company (or getting OH to complain, in my case). At least, to see what their response is.

lindos90

Thanks ginvts, Im glad of your support! My OH doesnt think there is a problem really, he says the kitchen is functional and thats all it needs to be. I think thats also whats making me feel uncertain about complaining. Faults of features...that is the dilemma!

The hole sizes, to be fair most are smaller than that, but 3mm is about the biggest one I found. Im avoiding looking for any more to be honest, as the more I find the more upset im getting:(. Difficult to say how deep they are, I could try pushing a piece of playdoh over it and see if I can get an imprint, im guessing at 1mm or 2mm. They look like tiny spaces in the 'glue' that fits the quartz pieces together, almost as if it has not been mixed properly, or the 'glue' was too thick to get inbetween all the nooks and cranies.

ginvzt

Ok, I haven't had any kitchen work done, but I would expect surface to be even, without 'pot holes', even if they are just 1-2mm deep. I think that the dirt and grime would build up in those holes pretty quickly and will be a nightmare to clean.

Does the company have a showroom, you used the web-based company? If they had a showroom, I would go there and see how the ones on display look - I bet they won't have holes in them. And then I would say that what I ordered was what is shown in the showroom, and not what they actually fitted.

dave82_2

Hi lindos90 I have been renovating our house with my gf and it is hard as we have different expectations of how good a job should be.

If she isn't happy she wants me to complain and I find it very hard to complain about something I am happy with!! Often I probably accept a poorer job because I know it will be me doing complaining which is stupid of me!

What you do have to remember is that you have paid good money for it. Often I find it easier to start by asking them to explain why something is why it is. Then if the explination isn't satisfactory take it further.

ryder72

It isnt completely unusual to have small holes in the worktop, especially on quartz with reflective bits. In my experience this problem seems more acute on the lesser known or unbranded quartz worktops rather than the market leaders.

In any case, uneven worktop overhang is poor workmanship. It has to be a constant depth and best measured from the carcase rather than the door.

In my opinion, you have good grounds to reject the worktop.

Amol

lindos90

Thanks for the advice so far.

Anyone got any advice about the air bubbles (they are only in two specific areas, they are not part of the 'pattern')

ryder72

There definitely seems to be a problem with the worktop if the holes are localised rather than fairly evenly spread.

These 'holes' have been noticed then small chips work themselves loose from the main body of the worktop and I put this down to the quality of the worktop itself and I have never seen this problem with the more reputable quartz brands.

Alan_M_2

1/ It is not acceptable to have any surface pitting in Quartz solid surface.
2/ The fleck in the surface should be evenly spread and contigous - this is a man made product not natural so the "feature" argument is invalid.
3/ Bubbles or areas that are not solid point to production problems, the material should be solid throughout.


Any one of the above is grounds for rejection of the product, you have all three.

On top of material issues you also have a sloppy fit.

Unlike KMdesign, I have seen these issues on "reputable" quartz brands, but that's probably more to do with the volume of material I see, all of the items you have listed are manufacturing problems, the product should be replaced.

lindos90

Thanks for the replies, the brand of worktop is Samsung. We did look at silestone, but the samples looked the same as the samsung, the only difference being the microban, We also looked at compaq, but that seemed to have lots of little white lines, which made it look like it needed wiping. There was a none branded one that was just called P mirror quartz, but they told us that one was not so good, as batches were not very consistant in colour and quality.

We were told that the samsung had a very consistant quality, and that it came with a good guarante, which I dont seem to be able to find much detail on the net.

Either of you had any dealings with samsung quartz? Would these things not have been noticed during manufacture, or should they not have been rejected when sold to the supplier? Are there even 'grades' of quality perhaps? At 3k im not happy if I have bought 'seconds'! Is there anyway to tell? I can see some numbers on the back, I assumed this was a batch number.

Edit..can I also ask about the white marks? If the quartz was scratched while the sink cut out was being cut, and then polished over, would the scratches show up as pale white marks?

Alan_M_2

Quartz isn't graded like granite, it's either acceptable or not. I have to say I'm really surprised you've got this problem with a Samsung product, get the supplier in immediately. Samsung made a big song and dance about not getting this product to market until manufacture was absolutely spot on.

I would need to see the white marks to have some idea of what they are.

We manufacture our own non branded quartz product, so I've stood in the factory and watched the process and also seen the issues that occur in every batch....these are then pulled out during quality control. You've got a slab or slabs that's slipped through QC and the issue needs to be addressed.

Samsungs product will come with a warranty, have a read:-

http://www.staron.com/quartz/warranty_information.htm

There are some particularly intersting points excluded, one's that jump out at me are:-

Improper Installation or Maintenance (improper care and maintenance may cause staining, scratches, cracking and chips; cutting boards should be used at all times)

When visual blemishes, blotches, or color pigments are within 18mm in diameter, approximately the size of a US quarter, they are considered normal and not covered under this limited warranty

Natural variation found within the product is excluded from the warranty. The Product could vary in color, size, shape and pattern of distribution in each slab. In addition, the natural color variances within an installation are not covered under the limited warranty

Samsung Radianz™ is stain-resistant, but not 100% impervious to stain. Staining is not covered under this warranty