Sounds like you've got a very responsive fabricator. We've all seen the GW disaster countertop installations with little to no response to problems. Best of luck - it sounds like your fabricator will do whatever needs to be done to make you satified.

Thanks, romy - yes, very responsive. Unfortunately, also very busy, so we may get a visit once a week (in between text and phone tag). DH and I are getting far too good at pulling/unhooking the cooktop, then reinstalling (still makes me nervous every time we do it, though, because of the glass top!). Must say our outdoor grill's side burner is getting more use than ever as we're having to do all of our sauteeing outside.

I just wish there were more answers out there. Really, 3-4 months of dry time just doesn't sound feasible, so I hope we can find a 'safe' middle ground.

Linelle - By phone, I couldn't see his non-straight face, and he surely couldn't see me picking my jaw up off the floor! ;) When I first introduced myself as a homeowner whose fabricator asked me to make the call and do some research, he seemed a bit uncomfortable -- said he generally only communicates with their member fabricators/installers, and not the homeowners. I can see that they don't want to get caught in the middle of what might be messy situations. But he still offered to provide information if he could.

BTW, you pegged me: I LIVE in my kitchen!

ETA: The kitchen's quite a sight right now as I've got towels and cardboard and poster board all over the counters/island -- getting very frustrating for us to 'live/work' around as we have to think twice about where we can lay dishes, take care not to splash in the sink, etc.

Polishing uses diamond blades to cut the crystals and smoothes the cut edges to create a shiny surface. Honing recuts those crystals to expose a rougher surface composed of crystal edges that are not ''cut'', but are exposed. You are having minute crystal popouts that result in ''dust''. That will continue to happen due to the physical structure of your stone.

It has zero to do with any impregnating sealers. Impregnating sealers are not solids that fill in between the crystals. They are liquids that sink down into the crystalline structure to keep other liquids from penetrating. They have zero affect on the crystals themselves.

See stones shed crystals. It's normal. An some stones shed far far worse when honed and the edges of the crystals are exposed. The usual remedy for polished stone is to use steel wool to grab those exposed crystal edge and yank them out faster than normal wear and tear would do. Wen a stone is honed, you'll have a much more massive job doing that because there are many more exposed crystal edges. Some stones are just not well suited to being honed.

romy: that's so odd -- I received email notification of your new comment (re asking for slabs to be replaced), and I was able to read it, but it's now disappeared! I even checked a different browser...very odd.

Deleted comment as I was posting the same time as Sophie. There are several people on GW with Calacatta Macaubus Quartzite but I think they are polished.

Rehone or possibly even replacement. It doesn't sound like the pitting & grit is something you can live with.

Thanks as always, Sophie. I've gotten so many different comments on this, I just don't know what to think any more. So, when one applies acetone as a sealant stripper, does the sealant not 'come up/off' in solid form?

I tried to do as much research over the past year as I could, but it boiled down to my relying on the fabricator's knowledge and expertise. He didn't at all think honing this stone would present any issues -- jumped on this option immediately, and even sent us home with prepared samples (of the 'sister' slabs to ours) : honed, leathered, polished.

After installation and when this issue presented itself, he did mention that quartzite is fairly new to the scene (5 years) and has only recently exploded in its popularity.

romy - It may be that we end up having them re-hone (buff?) to get us back closer to a polished surface, if it'll produce more closed pores and a smoother surface. We're now entering that gray area of how hard to push, when does being a reasonable customer result in our having to settle, etc., And, yes, we've paid the invoice in full because we trust this company to do the right thing. I'm just trying to fact find in order to know what that 'right' thing is.

ETA: When this issue first surfaced and I was talking to their office coordinator, he DID tell me that at the end of the day, it was incumbent upon them to ultimately provide a smooth and sealed (water repellant) surface.

romy - In your deleted comment, you asked if my fabricator had ever honed CG/M before. In fact, right around the time of my installation, they did a very similar job not far from here, and the surface was honed. Office coordinator mentioned there was similar grit issues on that job, but they "figured out a way to resolve it." He's hearing this second hand, so he says he doesn't have the details of exactly how it was resolved. I asked him a while back to please obtain the specific details, as it would be very relevant to my kitchen. However, I've received no follow-up.

I have a white quartzite referred to locally as Brazilian marble, but it looks a lot like Calacatta Macaubus Quartzite. My fabricator told me that it shouldn't honed. Polished only. That's what I have and it's lovely. Just installed, so I'm not yet using the kitchen.

dyhgarden -- Oh, so very happy for you! Do you have any pics you wouldn't mind sharing? I can never get enough of seeing these in people's kitchens.

Not finished, but you can see the countertops.

Oh, my....absolutely gorgeous! You have to be so excited.

Sigh...owner meticulously re-sealed all surfaces with GranQuartz Impregnator sealer for porous stones (I served as his timekeeper); was told not to touch the surface for 48 hours. It's been 48 hours. Believe it or not, the surface is even grittier than before....ugh! I recall that of all the surfaces, the bar top was the most smooth/grit-free (relatively speaking). Today, the majority of the bar top surface is generally quite coarse. :/ I'll report back to him on Monday to see where we go from there.

So sorry!

Here's a close-up of my polished countertop.

Ooooo, dyh -- beauty and progress: filled cabinets and hanging towel! ;)

Javiwa - so sorry. Let us know what happens. Did he give you any ideas of other possible ways to resolve this?

romy - He truly thought (hoped?) that an application of sealer would do it. Having looked at this from every perspective I could (nature of the stone? sealer application process? sealer itself? decision to hone?), I couldn't see how. It was sheer hail Mary-type hopefulness on my part, blended with a fear of appearing obstructionist, that I agreed to the fresh application of sealer. Worse case scenario, he said, was that if it didn't work, he'd just re-strip and try to figure out a Plan B. No mention of what that might be.

When I brought up the other job, he seemed to think the grit was indeed resolved with using the proper sealer -- though, given my recollection of the details of various conversations I had between office rep and installer and owner at the time, I didn't think this was the case...too many cooks stirring the pot and not talking to each other, IMO.

To jmschubert -- I received email notice of your comment (screenshot below), but for some reason it's not showing up in this thread as a post (yet):

This all occurred so many months ago, I had to scroll and reread my OP. :) We waited the 2-3 days after sealing before touching the surface, and we noticed it right after that (we were so anxious to run our hands across our new tops).

What's odd (or not...maybe unexpected is a better term) was that we never noticed any grittiness in the original 8" square sample presented to us -- it was a nice, smooth, matte surface; perfect, we thought. And the sample wasn't sealed (which, we come to find out from the fabricator, should not have been the case as his guys are only supposed to give out sealed samples so customers can put the surface through its paces). This is why, in the beginning, we were attributing grittiness to a sealant issue. Who knows? Perhaps the sample happened to hit a small section of slab that simply wasn't gritty.

Will be very interested to see how your stone turns out. Ask your fabricator if the sample is sealed (if so, what type of sealant and how many coats). If you're able to run through similar water-based and oil-based liquid/substance tests, then report back, that would be so helpful and appreciated!

I will be surprised if the grit issue is resolved through a topical sealer.

You're right, Joe -- sealer never did resolve the grit issue. I took to the fabricator (at his request) as much information and as many opinions as I could gather, but left it to him to choose a path.

Apologies that I didn't post my status here -- thought I had, but it was actually as comments in a different thread. After a fairly long visit with the crew trying all different heads and pads and powders, etc. (which devolved into an even more inconsistent honed finish, more grinder marks being introduced into the mix), we decided to try leathering (which we didn't originally like because the sample the provided had an orange peel, dimply texture). They brought a larger sample piece, leathered it on-site and, voila, it was very nice (had none of the orange peel-y texture they originally showed us, so go figure). We were told not to touch the surface for several days, after which time the owner returned to seal the tops. After that, I ran water/oil absorption tests, which failed.

So, we're knee-deep in trying to figure out an appropriate sealant -- haven't even run my hands across the tops in search of grit. On that front, what is, is. Another several weeks have passed...ball is in their court, and I haven't heard back.

Oh my gosh, we are in the process of having calacatta quartzite installed. We picked out our beautiful slabs and are now faced with edging problems due to the nature of the stone. Would love hear how other people have had this stone edged. Thank you all!

When I was researching stones, I spent a lot of time on the Arizona Tile website as they have a fairly substantial description of the slabs they sell (which is not always accurate, but more info is better in my book). The website mentions on each quartzite option that the stone is polished and that an epoxy resin is added to create a smooth surface. I got the impression that this was standard course for Quartzite. Assuming this is true, perhaps the honing removed some, but not all, of the epoxy resin and that is the source of the grit. You could ask your fabricator whether the stone producer applies any topical resins to the quartzite.

luckystar44 - We went with a simple eased edge.

rjknsf - Our fabricator did mention that this was a resined stone coming from Brazil. However, he didn't indicate that honing/brushing/leathering or otherwise disrupting the polished surface might result a gritty surface -- I think he's as surprised as we were.

Thank you javiwa. We also want an eased edge, the problem is where the edge is glued together, the two joined pieces show a line where they are joined, due to the light color of the stone. The quartzite is 2mm. This is a sample showing the eased edge and chiseled edge. We do not want the chiseled edge but it would not show the two joined pieces. I wish you the best outcome with you quartzite.

Well, I can't say whether that would be the cause, but it seems the most likely reason. In the photos in your original post, it looks like the gritty areas occur in natural seams and fissures in the material. The resin is applied to fill those.

I know it's too late, but this is the kind of mystery that would drive me crazy if I couldn't solve.

Oh, luckystar -- Hopefully that's just a sample, the only purpose of which is to show what the horizontal seam may look like and NOT to show that your edge will be pieced together so unevenly! :) With natural stone, the seam may be visible, but less so in the hands of a more proficient fabricator. Hopefully others who have a 2 cm CG/MW countertop with laminated edge can chime in (and provide photographs) of their well done tops so you can get an idea of what can be achieved. Mine is a 3 cm, so a laminated edge piece wasn't required. [ETA: Or hopefully one of our pros can advise regarding how a mitred eased edge might be achieved with this stone.]

rjknsf -- Oddly enough, it was over the 'blank', non-fissured areas where we felt the most grit as our hands passed over. Yes, this has been a very long haul.

Javiwa- did you ever solve your grit problem with your counters?

kim k: So, so sorry I didn't reply to your post. The grit/counter issues were resolved, sort of, in that I settled for a crappy job and had to move on with my life. The ugly details here, if you care to see/read. Scroll down to 6/10/2017, 1:08 p.m. post for the small claims update. The entire process has paralyzed me to a point where we are still without a backsplash. I'm so gun shy about hiring anyone at this point, DH and I have been contemplating DIY. I just need to get up the energy to find someone local (a master/certified tiler) who will take the job. (If anyone in the Houston area can recommend someone, I'm all ears. No disrespect to handyman-types who might do a great job, but I don't want to take any chances.)

Over the past 18 months, I've turned my attention to something more gratifying and soul fulfilling than being angry about my kitchen: butterfly gardening! Butterflies will not fail you, people. :)

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It you have specific questions, kim k, perhaps I can at least provide my experiences (i.e., are you considering having macaubus/calacatta quartzite honed?).

I took these pics just now -- in many parts of the stone, these bright white veins (some of which I pointed out above) are still quite visible.

(Click to enlarge.)

Pic #2: The white arrow points to a pit I noticed this morning. So, I grabbed a safety pin and lightly scratched at the bright white spot in Pic #1: it very easily powdered up and resulted in another little hole. I'm so apathetic about my tops, I don't care any more about creating another hole -- at least it's in a relatively unused part of the counter run (but not less visible, as the area sits right beneath a window).

So, perhaps stone that arrives polished should not be honed/leathered by the fabricator on this end. Dunno. But that would be something my fabricator should have realized and perhaps warned against -- i.e., that veins might be opened up, exposing, what, resin? I'm assuming that's what the white powder is. If Karin is reading this, perhaps she can advise: a quartzite vein shouldn't be powdering like this, correct? Or is it possible this powder does naturally occur? I just wouldn't have thought ANYTHING in a slab of quartzite would be affected by the head of a safety pin.

And for anyone wondering, Tenax Proseal sealant did the job: our tops are very resistant to both water- and oil-based liquids.

I am reading this - with great interest! Field testing by consumers is one of the fastest ways for me to learn about all the ways stone does - or doesn't - hold up IRL.

It is completely possible that something in a vein could be weak and powdery. That is natural. I mean, it could also be epoxy or something, but it's also totally possible that it's natural.

It sounds like your quartzite is not fused together as well as others. Some quartzites are not highly metamorphosed and they act a little more like sandstone. Sand grains popping out would definitely be an indication of this.

Veins/cracks/fractures are places where groundwater passes through the rock when it's underground. Groundwater always has minerals dissolved in it, and it leaves behind minerals in the fractures. Sometimes that makes the fracture quite strong; sometimes not. It depends how long ago that happened, how deep the rock was, and what mineral it was. In your case it sounds like the minerals in the fractures didn't get heated and fused to the rest of the stone. That's not necessarily bad and it doesn't mean the stone is weak. It's just an artifact of geology.

I have heard from a local fabricator that the original polish and seal on quartzite is more robust than what they can do in-house. He called it "some sort of Brazilian ju-ju." :)

So it looks like you have a quartzite that is not super well fused, that got compromised when the 'factory finish' was removed. A bummer of a situation, and a hard one to predict. I'm sorry you've had this experience and I agree that it would be stressful and discouraging.

I'm not sure if you've read this one yet or not, but it talks a lot about the varying porosity of quartzites. It came out after your original posts.

http://usenaturalstone.org/properties-of-quartzite/

Good luck with your next steps. You've handled this about as well as it could be done!

Cannot thank you enough for taking the time to post, karin. Brazilian ju-ju -- love it!

A few miscellaneous thoughts:

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Macaubus White/Calcatta Gold quartzite: just be sure it's the real deal! Properly sealed, it can perform beautifully well.

Unless you're absolutely confident in your fabricator's ability and experience, I would hesitate to have him hone/leather MW/CG that arrives polished -- at least not without getting references and actually seeing work he's done. Note: an 8x8 sample is not good enough!

Of course, depending on the application of the slab section in your house, these pits and powdery veins may not bother you at all. You wouldn't be able to knead bread or roll out pie pastry on it, but it may look gorgeous on a bar top.