How to Install Granite Countertops With Tools
- 1). Go over the surface with a vibrating pad sander to get it flat and dull. Wipe off the dust.
- 2). Measure the front of the countertop across its length, and find and mark the middle. Draw a line from front to back at the middle, using your pencil and square, so the counter is divided in half.
- 3). Apply thinset mortar onto the counter with your tiling trowel, from the front back by more than the width of your tiles.
- 4). Press beveled granite edge tiles along the front edge, beginning at the middle and working to the sides. Set the tiles so the finished edges are facing forward, lined up end to end. Set spacers between them as you go.
- 5). Use your wet saw to cut off the ends of the tiles as needed to fit at both ends of the front row of tiles.
- 6). Set your first course of regular granite tiles behind the front row of beveled tiles, again starting at the middle. Work to the sides as before, cutting the end tiles as needed to fit. Put spacers between them as you go.
- 7). Spread more mortar as needed and continue laying tiles from the middle of the counter outward. Repeat and continue, working your way back course by course, adding more mortar as you go. Cover the whole surface.
- 8). Let the mortar set for 12 hours. Pull out the spacers.
- 9). Spread grout over the surface using a grout float. Press the grout into the spaces between the tiles, while you scrape it from the surface. Wipe up the extra grout with a damp sponge.
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