The Stonegate Guide to Joining Worktops

The Stonegate Guide to Joining Worktops

The Stonegate Guide to Joining Worktops

Featuring our brand new Bondex Colour Match Adhesive and Ratchet Seam Setter.

There are several worktop joints that you can use to connect your stone work surfaces together but they all require the use of a guide or template to achieve a professional finish. This is one method of joining worktops, and this blog post will help explain how it works as well as offer additional guidance on what type may be best for your needs.

Video Guide for Joining Worktops

Here at Stonegate Precision Tooling we recognise the importance of ensuring our sales and customer service team, not only know all there is to know about the products we sell but also have first-hand experiencing testing them, too. This enables our team to give our customers excellent advice not only based on knowledge but also experience.

With this in mind, Larry Clark from our Sales Team tested out our brand new stone glue, Bondex Colour Match Adhesive, with our Ratchet Seam Setter to join together two slabs of Silestone Blanco Maple creating this easy to follow, how-to guide on joining kitchen worktops.

Larry used the supplied colour match chart to match the Blanco Maple Silestone to Bondex Paper White Colour-Matched Stone Adhesive. Check out the results in our joining worktops instructional video below:

 

 

Written Guide for Joining Stone Worktops 

In the joining worktops video guide, Larry follow these simple steps to create the perfect join between two slabs.

 

  1. Prepare the stone: Place masking tape alongside the edge of each stone slab that you are going to glue. This will protect the stone from any excess glue and also make it easier to remove, resulting in a cleaner join.
  2. Using the colour match sheet, select the right colour: Using the provided colour match sheet, find the stone you are joining from the list and match it to the correct shade of Bondex. In our video, Larry used Blanco Maple Silestone which matched to paperwhite.
  3. Mix in the hardener 100:3: Scoop out the required amount of glue for your join and mix in the hardener from the tube. Bondex recommends that your solution only needs to contain 3% of hardener to provide the perfect mix.
  4. Apply to the stone's edge: Apply your adhesive to the edge of the stone, ensuring to get an even spread to the edge.
  5. Lay Ratchet Seam Setter on top: Align the slabs of stone closer together and lay the Ratchet seam setter on top. The suction cups need to comfortably fit on each slab, with the white stoppers over the join.
  6. Tighten the suction cups: Tighten the suction cups by turning the cogs that are on top of them, until they are fully tight. The Ratchet Seam Setter should now be stuck to the slabs.
  7. Ratchet until the l gap is closed: Pull the ratchet toward the join and then back. Repeat until the gap is fully closed.
  8. Level by tightening the white stopper over the seam: Turn the cogs over the stoppers to the required tightness in order to make the two slabs level. You can use a spirit level to check this.
  9. Leave to dry approx. 30 minutes: Leave to dry until the glue is cured, Bondex recommend approximately 30 minutes.
  10. Unscrew all cogs: Unscrew the cogs from the white stoppers and suction cups until they are loose enough to break the seal.
  11. Lift the Ratchet Seam Setter off the stone: Providing you have loosened the cogs enough to break the seal you should now be able to simply lift the Seam Setter off the stone.
  12. Remove masking tape and additional glue: Peel off the masking tape and remove the additional glue. Larry very carefully used a heavy-duty knife blade for this to ensure a clean cut.
 
In order to perfectly join stone worktops together, you need a few things. You will need adhesive that is specifically made for the type of surface you are using and some sort of an edge protector so your edges don’t get scraped up during installation. A lot goes into joining these two surfaces together but with enough time and patience, this can be done relatively easily at home. If you have any questions about how to perfect this process on your own we encourage you to reach out! We would love to help answer all of your questions or point in the right direction if needed!

Finally, marvel at what amazing job you did!

Stonegate Precision Tooling, the UK's most trusted supplier...

 

Here at Stonegate Precision Tooling, we've had the privilege of working with stone fabricators across both the UK and worldwide in providing them with the most innovative tooling and consumables for stone. Our work with stone fabricators has given us the first-hand expertise our customers need when choosing a key supplier to provide them with the essentials to keep them in business.

 

Through aiming for 100% customer satisfaction we exceed in honesty, loyalty and integrity whilst ensuring that our high-quality, performance products are available whenever our customers need them - 98% of our customers receive their orders on the next day; on time, in full. We work hard with all our customers to provide a service that ensures our customers experience value in all that we do and it's this commitment that has enabled Stonegate to become the UK's most trusted provider of specialist products and knowledge to stone fabricators.

 

 

 

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Further reading on the Stonegate Tooling Blog: