I have a question regarding a job i have coming up, its a custom countertop featuring a type of granite tile that is meant for counters. The tiles come with a bullnose edge that is about 1-1/4 inch which give it the apearance of being a real granite countertop, it comes with right and left bullnose corners, right and left inside corners, and pencil strips. the actual field tiles are only three-eights thick, but the bullnose is meant to hang over the edge of the plywood ontop of your cabinet. its quite a neat system. anyhow a decorating store wants me to go out and do a job, its 3 countertops, total of 71 sqft they also want me to install 3/4 inch ply. they also want me to attach a 4" high peice of ply on the back of the cabinets, then install a 4" peice of granite to act as a splash guard. the reason for this is it is in a log cabin where the walls are not flat, and there will be a 3 or 4 inch gap beetween the back of the cabinet and the logs, that is something the owner will adress in the future when he decides how. The cabinet is built so that there is no cutting required at all depthwise, il only have to cut a couple of peices and the 4" splashguard peices.



He wants to pay me $1350.00 i have to supply the ply and mortar/grout. i said the price looked ok but i said the only way it may change is if there are structural probs with the cabinet, if i have to repair etc or add extra bracing, then the store owner said he was the one installing the cabinets and that hed make sure there was enough bracing to screw into, i stressed that there can be no movement. I also then mentioned that i wasnt to comfortable with just 1 layer of ply, but he said no he wouldent expect 2 layers, however after discussing with my uncles they said i should put a layer of 3/8's ontop of the 3/4 at least and glue everything together as well as screws
The uncles also said at the worst case scenario, if i have to supply 70 sf of 3/8" ply myself, at least i can guarantee the job and from what i understand the code requires more than 3/4 inch underlay. My original quote included ditra over the 3/4 inch, the other issue is that the bullnose lip only hangs over the edge so far,(about 1 inch) if you put 2 layers of ply theres a chance a bit of the bottom layer would be visible as it would not be completely covered by the bullnose, i supose the bit of wood that shows could be painted/stained to match the countertop, the only other option would be a 1/4 inch cement board or something similar.but that would be too expensive for me to include in the current cost i think.

. Heres the thing, since hes going to brace the cabinets so i have something to screw into, he should be responsible for structural issues because i dont feel i can guarantee it on one layer of 3/4, i dont want grout to crack etc, i know people dont walk on countertops, but theres still alot of pressure, banging, etc that goes on, and when a dishsink is full it is quite heavy. I have to see if i do have to cut a sink space in, make sure i bring the old jigsaw and have a template handy. the job is about 35 minutes out of town so i havent seen it yet.

My plan is to tell that since he is installing the the bracing in the cabinets, he will be responsible for the "structural" aspect of it if he does not want to have me put the extra layer. He had a countertop done in his store with it and i dont even know if he used 3/4 and its fine so far, mind you it will not see the abuse that an actual family homes counters will. This will be my first job for this place and i want to make a proper impression, then again its my reputation if something goes wrong. What would you guys do? I am going to phone him and tell him but i still havent made up my mind, i suppose if he braces it enough it might be okay, im still sceptical though.

thanks for your input
steve

Since you are responsible for the the tile, you have have to cover your butt for the next year..at least. Since you have no way of knowing what the structure will do, you cant really guarantee what the weight you add will do to it. Not to mention it's a log house...those things are notorious for moving and expanding contracting. If they dont want to beef up the surface, then you might want to consider Ditra on top first. Cant hurt, and it will waterproof it somewhat...though even Schluter wants 2 layers of ply first. Don't do anything for free.