Installing a moen faucet: PVC gasket vs silicon

[titan77]

I am in the process of installing a new 8" spead Moen foucet on out new Granite vanity top. My concern was that the instuctions say to use putty to seal the valves and h2o spout in to the granite top. Plummers putty will stain the granite so then silicone came up. I started thinking that it would be hard to work with silicone for two reasons; 1. it will pretty much glue the part to the top making replacement at some point a nightmare. 2. I have to have exact placement of the parts when I set them in otherwise I will have a mess.

So I started to notice other mgf use rubber gaskets to make the seal, I could not find one of the correct size so I got some PVC shower pan material 1/32" thick and made mine own gaskets. I also picked up some Oatey Dam corner material (black rubber). I picked the PVC (grey) since I was concerned the black rubber might react with the granite.

Sound like a good plan? Also, how tight should I tighten the hot and cold water valves? I am getting them good and snug but I don't want to crack the granite either.

thanks!

[jimbo]

If you can make a seal that does not show an 1/8" thick gasket line, which would be ugly and hard to keep clean...no problem.

Silicone is not a nightmare to work with later. It can be removed from the granite with a razor blade.

They also now make a non-staining putty just for this...best of both worlds.

[titan77]

The PVC material is less than 1/16 of an inch thick, and the handles screw down to the granite top so you will not see any gap. How tight should I tighen the valves to the top? Just enough where they will not move?


Also, how much of the clear lube should I put on the spout where the 2 rubber rings are (where the mixed water leads to the trim spout).