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Quartzite stress crack or fissure?!?!

4 years ago

My installer appears to have caused a stress crack while installing my White Pearl Quartzite countertop. Every hole that was drilled for a faucet or air gap has small white “cracks”. You cannot feel the crack at all with your fingernail but visually it’s noticeable. I can’t find anything online about white stress type cracks. Can someone shed some light on what was done wrong and how to fix. Is there anything I can do to conceal this?

Featured Answer

PRO

Granite City Services

4 years ago

I am a fabricator. It's an error that resulted in a cracked countertop. Should be replaced. We drill quartzite all the time and have never had this problem. Also a schlock move to draw with pencil on the countertop. Normally the holes would be laid out over tape. Also have to ask why the holes weren't drilled in the fab shop instead of on-site.

Comments (14)

PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
4 years ago
Light gray Sharpie. Do it now before you fill it with contamination by feeling for the crack with your finger.

It appears he smacked the drill against the top when the the piece he was drilling let go. Amateur. If he had to eat this top he'd never do it again, I promise.
scottie mom
4 years ago
Geez. He didn't even bother to wipe off his pencil marks. Hope the Sharpie works :-/
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This was installed last night . Im pretty sure this is a crack . I’m going back today to talk to company . Any thoughts of Best way to repair ?
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THanks, Joe -- your comprehensive and helpful comment from earlier just appeared. We will follow all of your diagnostic suggestions tonight when we get home from work and let you know. The fabricator is planning on coming to see it himself on Thursday. I am happy we will be so prepared. I think they may need to replace the stone. Sophie, I am curious why you think it should be repaired. If we had cabinets, appliances or tile installed with a large crack, I would think they would replace it entirely. Why for a counter would they just repair it when we purchased an intact and not cracked stone?
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@Joseph - I understand there might be cracks that transect the slab so there is actually something to break off. However in the example posted by the OP and with my very similar hairline crack, it is very short and so my comment was specific to those kinds of cracks where there would be no place for it to be "snapped" off. There is no place where it could be broken apart and disassembling and removing it would seem to create potential problems without providing any kind of benefit in terms of filling a small short crack in situ. But I speak completely as a lay person whose only experience was having a very similar small hairline crack filled without having the counter removed - the water shut off - or having my bathroom left with construction debris. The end result just looks like an additional small grayish "swirl" :-).
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Just reiterating that those are natural fissures in your stone. Your stone is beautiful, and natural fissures are part of the beauty of how Mother Nature made it. But those fissures may be stressed by not having enough support. Just like if you had a faint hairline crack in a dinner plate, and then put a big steak on it, then perched the dish on the edge of the counter.
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Zalco/bring back Sophie!
4 years ago
Surely if the installer broke the countertop she or he has to replace it? I would not be happy with the Sharpie solution.
chispa
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
If he had done that to just one hole, I might let it go, but he did it to every hole he drilled. Either he is really bad at drilling holes or the quartzite is very fragile? If there are no other cracks like that anywhere else on the slab, then I think you have to go with drilling error.
karin_mt
4 years ago
/\ what Oldryder said, exactly.
tracsurf
4 years ago
Just wondering what your installer did to fix this or did they replace the counter?

I just had Calacatta quartzite countertops installed and I also have stress fractures around the sink...but even worse

Trying to figure out what to do myself because fabricator says its not his fault
Heather Fleury
Original Author
4 years ago
Tracsurf - the installer replaced the slab. It took a couple more weeks to get everything in but was worth it. I would press your installer to do the right thing, replace and make you the client happy.
Mcc
4 years ago
Heather- any more pictures of your new stone? I’m debating White Pearl, White Lux and Taj Mahal. Any unusual colors in yours?
HU-656653905
4 years ago
We went with Sea Pearl Quartzite. Supposed to be very hard and they broke a number of blades cutting. So far six weeks in no issues. Looks great in my opinion but stone yard tried to sell me some marble first calling it soft quartzite. My fabricator went with us to purchase to make sure we got the right product. Also went with the thicker 3 inch stone slab vs 2 inch.
PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
4 years ago
"Also went with the thicker 3 inch stone slab vs 2 inch."

You went with 3cm (centimeter) 1 1/4", not 3".
PRO
GN Builders L.L.C
4 years ago
Heather, you have some good advice above, the countertop is damaged.

Quartz is a manmade material that is created by combining crushed stone with color and resin to make an engineered slab so there is no fissure.
PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
4 years ago
"Quartz is a manmade material that is created by combining crushed stone with color and resin to make an engineered slab so there is no fissure."

That's true, but the stone in this thread is quartzite, which is natural.
Heather Fleury
Original Author
4 years ago
We are happy with our new slab!

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