I had a nice piece of dark brown granite already cut for the bench. Originally I wanted to use left over granite from the sink top but it was not wide enough to completely cover the bench, and the narrow pieces I had cut for the master shower were too difficult to install. So Bill had me go out and get another granite remnant to cut one wider piece for the master shower ledge and have enough left over for the bench in the family room shower.
Although I had the bench seat cut about to size already, after fitting it over the tile edge of the bench I decided to trim off another half inch using the wet saw so that the bench didn’t overhang into the bathroom. Then I had the arduous task of polishing the edges. I have a series of diamond sanding wheels and the roughest one can round the edges of granite. Then it takes about seven more grits to get a polished edge. If one grit doesn’t do its job then it is necessary to back track and try to move from the lower grits again to the higher. I don’t have enough patience for this so I left the edge a bit marked up. I’m hoping the sealer will cover it.
There was waterproofing at the bathroom edge of the bench, but the handyman had a problem with the corner of the bench so to fix that I added a piece of cement board to the end. That meant a gap between the waterproofed bench and the tile. So I filled that with caulk.
Bench with caulking over hardboard edge
Bill had bought special mortar to set the master shower ledge.
Natural Stone Mortar
There was plenty left to mix up a small bucket of it for the bench. Just in case there was something special about setting the granite, I looked up instructions on the internet. But there was not more information than just coating the bench and the granite with mortar spread with a 3/8″ trowel.
Both bench and granite coated in mortar
Then I picked up the granite and laid it on the bench. A bit of settling it into place by shaking it back and forth to get a good set. And cleaning off the excess mortar provided a nice preview of what the finished product will look like.
Bench set in place
I didn’t plan ahead and I had to wash that thick layer of mortar off the overhang which was messy and kind of a pain.
Bench overhang
I also checked the slant of the bench with the plumbing level and it was good. Setting the bench was a short job that made me feel like I was getting close to finishing the project.