Do glues, sealers, and supplies range in quality?

Fabricators use a variety of glues, tints, sealers, and supplies to join seams, seal natural stone, and make your counters look their best.

“Are all the glues and other materials of equal quality?” That is an excellent question which leads to another. How well trained is your fabricator in creating nearly invisible seams, sealing natural stone, and properly cleaning counters after installation?

First the issue of supplies quality.

Glues, tints used to make glue match stone, sealers, and the products used in the process of creating your counters evolve over time because manufacturers are constantly improving their products and developing new ones. Quality varies. How well they work on different natural and manufactured stones also varies.

Out-of-date and low quality supplies exist in the marketplace and are used by some fabricators who don’t worry about creating the best counters. Other fabricators are stuck in the rut of using what they’ve always used because, well . . . they’ve always used it. They seem unware of newer and better products, or don’t have the energy to keep up.

Higher quality and state-of-the-art supplies abound, evolve, and continue to morph into best in class due to the competition that exists among large chemical companies. Fabricators who are fully engaged in their businesses keep up with the best products and pay a premium to use them because they help produce fabulous countertops.

Secondly, the training issue.

Fabricators using outmoded or low quality supplies will not produce high quality countertops because they can’t, even if their employees are highly skilled.

However, high quality glues, tints, sealers, and supplies allow skilled fabricators to create amazing results.

Conversely, the best supplies in the hands of inexperienced or otherwise unskilled fabricators will lead to unacceptable quality countertops.

The takeaway.

 Make sure your fabricator is using high quality (and sometimes more expensive) glues, tints, sealers, and supplies when you contract with them to produce your counters. Also, make sure your fabricator employs skilled and experienced people to use them to best advantage. They should be willing to take you right out into their shop and show you what they use.

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