Tear Out Day and Where the Old Tops Go
Getting the old surface off is a demolition job with a finished kitchen underneath it, and the removal sequence recorded at asheville countertop installers bivio treats it as separate work from setting the new stone. Plenty of Asheville countertop quotes leave tear out and disposal off the sheet entirely, which is where an unexpected charge appears.
How an Old Top Comes Off
Laminate is usually screwed up through the cabinet frame from below and glued along the back. The screws come out first, then the bead of adhesive at the wall is cut with a blade, and the sheet lifts in one piece if the cabinet run is straight. Old tile on a plywood deck is broken up in sections. Existing stone comes off whole where it can be lifted and is broken deliberately where it cannot.
Where Damage Happens
At the top edge of the cabinet, where a pry bar takes the face frame with it, and at the wall, where a stuck backsplash pulls the plaster off in sheets. In an older house the plaster is the fragile part. A crew that scores the joint and works patiently costs a little more time and saves a plasterer, which is a fair trade in a house from the nineteen twenties.
Disposal Is a Real Cost
An eight foot run of granite weighs several hundred pounds and cannot go in a household bin. It leaves in a truck and goes to a transfer station, which charges by weight. Stone is inert and often accepted as clean fill rather than as waste, which is cheaper, but somebody still has to carry it out of the house and pay the gate fee.
Getting It Onto the Quote
Ask whether tear out, carrying out and disposal are included or extra, and whether the crew doing it is the same one setting the new tops. Ask what happens to the old sink and any surviving faucet. And if you want the old countertop kept for a workshop or a garage, say so early, because it comes off in pieces once nobody wants it. There is often a salvage option worth asking about. Intact granite comes off some kitchens in good condition and gets taken for outdoor benches, garage tops or hearths, and a crew with somewhere to send it will usually charge less for the removal than for a run to the transfer station.