Tips for Identifying Flaws in Granite Before Buying a Countertop

Granite is a natural stone and one of the most preferred materials for countertops. The stone looks elegant, elegant and very attractive. In addition, it has commendable strength and resistance to extreme temperature variations. This means that the countertop will not develop cracks if you place a steaming utensil on it. It also does not suffer any damage if an ice pack is placed on it.

Good quality granite is very strong and durable. However, not all pimples are the same. There is a big difference in their quality that arises from the process by which they are cut and polished into the finished product. For example, a long crack could develop in a stone block when it is knocked down from the mountain. As a result, most of the slabs that are cut from this damaged stone block have cracks. Since extracting stone blocks from the mountain is an expensive process, quarry owners do not discard damaged blocks, but rather sell them at lower costs to factory owners, who then use different techniques to camouflage the defects. Furthermore, granite slabs can also be damaged during transportation or storage.

So while choosing granite for your countertop is a great idea, you could end up doing a bad deal if you don’t pay attention to the quality of the stone. The problem here is that it is very difficult to identify defects in polished stone because manufacturers use various tricks, such as applying epoxy adhesives to plug the cracks. For a layman, it is almost impossible to know if the stone is of the best quality, unless you know exactly what to look for. Read on for certain parameters that will tell you that the stone could be faulty.

Cracks

During the polishing process, the cracks in the stone are covered. Therefore, it is difficult to identify the cracks on the polished side. To identify cracks, the trick is to check the unpolished back of the stone slab. If you look closely, you can make out cracks on the reverse side. This is one of the basic checks to make when buying granite countertops.

Pattern defects

Good quality granite has uniform colors and patterns. However, the colors and patterns are not always uniform. This happens due to the uneven concentration of certain minerals in the stone. For example, the presence of excess quartz content manifests itself as white spots on the slab. These stones are of poor quality because the quartz makes the stone brittle and it breaks easily. Therefore, these stones are rejected by manufacturers of good quality slabs. The polishing process does not completely cover this flaw. Therefore, when shopping for granite workbenches, study the surface to make sure the color and patterns are uniform.

Uniformity in thickness

You can easily identify irregularities in the slab thickness. Study the side of the slab and take a close look at the entire edge to see if the thickness is uniform. You should not buy an uneven slab because the thinnest parts become the weak links in the slab and break easily.

Be a smart customer and make the right choice.