I new to granite and need advice

last year

I had this countertop installed yesterday. As I cleaned it up and felt I noticed a craze or crack. It’s in a corner and raided plus open. How can I tell if it a problem or natural? Thank you I advance.

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Comments (14)

HU-161159613
last year
I'm no expert but that looks like a crack that could break off. I would have the company you bought it from take a look at it.
Gina Dillon
Original Author
last year
Thank you as I was looking at all areas I found 2 round the sink as well. Not to mention the broke my water line and made me hire a Plummer. Not a great start.
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I bet you got lots of info about your granite. Good info for the alcohol and water cleaning mix. The first thing you want to do is test the porosity of the stone. Something I think the fabricator should have known more about. Its easy to test- puddle up some(2) palm sized puddles of water and let them sit on the top in various locations for 10 or 15 minutes. Then wipe away the water with a paper towel and see if it left a darker mark. If so your tops are porous-If not they have either been sealed or possibly resined at the point of processing or the stone quarry. This material comes from brazil fyi. If the slab has a mesh backing it could have been resined and you wont need to seal it. The sealer will not absorb into a non porous surface. Again something your installer should have explained to you. Being resined isnt a bad thing so dont worry. You can do some research about it online if you like. Anyway the important thing is that you know the character of your stone. so you can maintain it in the simplest matter and enjoy its beauty for years to come. Ammonia can and will breakdown sealers but many folks say it wont damage stone. Cant be sure it wont affect a resin however. I say why use it as there are so many other products to safely use. I like to tell folks to use a no rinse ph neutral cleaner for stone. Its pure logic when you think about it. If you use a product such as a soap that needs to be rinsed eventually after many months there will be buildup of the soaps which even when rinsed will leave a residue. I am in many homes where if I slide my finger across the stone it smears like grease. A dilution of alcohol will fix that right up most of the time. But why get to that point the soap residue atracts soils. I recommend for daily cleaning one of these types of cleaners with a ph range of 7-9 so that if you do have sealer properly applied(thats another story)it wont degrade it. That means you can get many more years out of the sealer. Yes the way to check is the water test. Every stone should be treated and tested individually. I would think the fabricator would attend to the sealing and educating the customer in regard to that and the ongoing maintenance of the stone. It isnt a cookie cutter product and that service should be included in the price of the stone. Stu Rosen www.mbstonecare.com www.stoneshine.com
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Hi Pedimom, Wondering if you have had any luck with the grantie seam problem? I am shopping for granite and started to think about your seams. They have been just terrible to you. I am so sorry you are going through this. While learning all I can about granite I found some links on my search. Maybe this will help you on your discussions with the granite people. Thinking of you and hoping the installers fix this for you. Good luck. Boxerpups ............ http://boards.hgtvpro.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/5081053852/m/7061072093 Better place yet is in middle of sink. short seam on each side of sink easy to hide. Other then that pick the end which is not seen as easy from outside the room. The lower the angle you look the easier it can be seen. so when your farther away the seam will stand out more because of the reflective nature of the stone. But any good counter company worth their salt should be able to seam this with little effort and is should hide quite well. Black is a fairly easy color to seam. Its the lighter colors that oftemtimes is harder. ............ http://www.stoneadvice.com/forum/search.php?fid[]=1 ..... http://tomcordova.com/24/seams-in-granite/ Granite countertop seams should be smooth to the touch and no more than 1/16ÂÂ wide. There is no written rule about this but this is the quality standard in the industry. The joint should be filled flush with epoxy in a color that best matches the general granite color. If you are not happy with the color, ask the installer to redo it. This is not difficult. Sometimes the joint can be made smoother with the epoxy as well. If the joint is still rough, then you will need to have the seams professionally ground down and re-polished. This is not easy to do correctly and even impossible with some homogenous colors. Best wishes, Tom Cordova .................... Q. How can I get the smallest seam possible where two slab countertop panels meet? A. Well obviously a good fit and straight cuts are key. But here are a few other tricks of the trade. Get some large soft rubber suction cups of five or six inch diameter and some turnbuckles eight or ten inches long. Attach one cup to each end of the turnbuckle. After you butter the edge of the seam with the epoxy that you have tinted the color of the granite stone you are using set them in place and squeeze them together gently. Then take your assembly of turnbuckles and suction cups and straddle the seam placing one suction cup on each side. Then spin the turnbuckle to gently pull the two panels together. You don't want to apply too much force here or you will break the suction of the rubber cups to the granite. Wedges are also useful in achieving a tight seam by forcing the panel in the direction of the seam.
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Comments (28)
Personal experience here, but please note, not all businesses are created equal. We had several bids on a granite project here, and we chose the guy we liked the best (local, friendly, hungry) with the cheapest bid. Holy hell broke out! He really had no idea what he bid on, but he stuck by the contract, and he did eat his profits in overtime and extra expense. It was a learning experience for him, but he was gracious. If he ever gets a project like we gave him, I'll bet the bid will be on the high end. He took photos of the finished thing, and everyone who visits calls this their favorite room. Custom is custom, but a contract is a contract. They should eat that extra slab in my opinion. Our project was difficult because of an extreme curve intercepted by posts. The granite cracked twice, and the wood backing it popped off like a boomerang! Tough project, but been in place for a year, and all is good. Oh, here is a link to what they did at our house. They were all out here last 4th of July trying to finish prior to our guests coming! They did go the second mile, and I would highly recommend this company local to us! Here is a link that might be useful: Granite Bar Top
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PRO
BeverlyFLADeziner
last year
It looks like a patch to me, however, some marbles are very susceptible to cracking compared to other marbles.
PRO
3 Peaks Renovations
last year
last modified: last year
Hard to tell from these pics, however the first photo appears to show that the crack is only superficial and not deep in nature...However that being said, this is either poor slab choice, or no attention to detail/inspection/sloppy job by your granite cutter/installer. For example, when we pick out individual granite/marble slabs with clients in the warehouse, we ALWAYS steer them away from the worst quality stone, Good luck !
jackowskib
last year
I would not accept that and not pay until resolved.
PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
last year
That is completely natural in a very fissure-prone stone. Rub a little color matched Sharpie over it if it makes you feel better, but you've got no complaint against your fabricator.
Gina Dillon
Original Author
last year
Thanks everyone. I found several more around the drop in sink. A little worried. The company is coming tomm to check it.
Mama Cita
last year
Good to get it looked at, hopefully not a problem so you can just enjoy it! The colors are gorgeous!
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
last year
How was the edge detail done this looks like a very thick corner so Iassume you did a mitered edge detail to make the slab look thicker . If that is the casr then there really is no fear of the corner breaking off and that stone appears to be a type that is going to have natural fissures . Is it possible to see the whole counter . How did they break the waterline since this has no effect on the waterline I need a bit more info. My first question is was there this fissure on the slab you chose since always taking pics of the slac choices is a good plan also having them marked as yours before the pics. I need more info. What is the stone called ? It does not look like granite to me.
HU-835885234
last year
I am not a stone pro, just a property owner with several units that all have stone counters. If I found this I would be having the stone installers replace it. The stone should be smooth with no cracks. Your finger nail should not find the crack, maybe a seam, but never a crack.
User
last year
If you want a guarantee of a fissure free stone, you will need to pick a completely different stone. Like man made quartz. On your dime. Natural fissures, pits, flaking crystals, iron deposits, and a rough surface are all possible when choosing natural stone. Like what you have. It isn’t plastic.
loobab
last year
What type of stone is this?

Is it granite or marble?

Did it crack because of the type of stone it is, or the grade/quality of the stone?
Gina Dillon
Original Author
last year
They came out and gave me options. I choose to have corner removed and it looks amazing. No more crack. They did say it was a crack and were willing to replace but this option worked even better. Love the blending and vines. Thank you to all for the words of wisdom and in the future I won’t make the same mistake. 🙃
Gina Dillon
Original Author
last year
Even looks better then the original corner.

I new to granite and need advice

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HU-161159613

Gina Dillon
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I new to granite and need advice

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