Granite is a natural stone and one of the preferred materials for countertops. The stone looks elegant, elegant and very attractive. Furthermore, it has commendable strength and resistance against extreme temperature variations. This means that the hob will not develop cracks if you place a smoking utensil on it. It also doesn’t take any damage if you place an ice pack on it.
Good quality granite is very strong and durable. However, not all granites 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 might develop in a stone block when it is torn 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 instead sell them at lower costs to factory owners, who then use different techniques to camouflage the damage. 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 making a poor deal if you don’t pay attention to the quality of the stone. The problem here is that it is very difficult to identify the flaws in the polished stone because the manufacturers use various tricks, such as applying epoxy adhesives to cover the cracks. For a layman, it is almost impossible to find out if the stone is of the best quality, unless you know exactly what to look for. Read below for certain parameters that will tell you that the stone might be defective.
cracks
During the polishing process, the cracks present in the stone are covered. Therefore, it is difficult to identify cracks on the polished side. To identify cracks, the trick is to check the rough back of the stone slab. If you look closely, you can make out cracks on the reverse. This is one of the basic checks you should do 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 shows up as white flecks on the slab. Such stones are of poor quality because quartz makes the stone brittle and breaks easily. Therefore, these stones are rejected by manufacturers of good quality slabs. The polishing process does not fully cover this flaw. So when shopping for granite countertops, study the surface to make sure the color and patterns are consistent.
thickness uniformity
You can easily identify irregularities in the thickness of the slab. Study the side of the slab and look closely around the entire edge to see if the thickness is even. You should not buy an irregular slab because the thinnest parts become the weak links in the slab and break easily.
Be a smart customer and make the right decision.