Crack on granite countertop

We recently had grantie countertops installed and quickly noticed a crack near which is about 5 inches long and runs diagonally from the front edge of the countertops to the left edge of a joint with another slab. The installer has polished/sealed/treated the area and has it looking pretty good and smooth. I am still not thrilled about having this "crack" that is visible from the top and bottom of the slab. You do have to get close to see it but it is visible and can be felt. Should I accept the "fissure" argument? If not, what is a reasonable resolution? If this should be durable I would accept a price reduction vs. having to remove and reinstall all countertops again and sink. I don't want to pay premium for perfect countertops and settle for cracked countertop. I would appreciate any advice you might provide. Thanks!

 

Dear Doug:

Let's start by taking the “fissure” angle out of the picture. By the way you describe it, that's a crack, period.

Second cracks can be successfully repaired but: 1. Before repairing the crack you must find what caused it in the first place and rectify that. 2. The repaired crack must be invisible and should not be felt.

That is how far I can go with my advice. I can't get involved in the guesswork of whether or not it will never crack again, as I'm sure you can understand. Read my point 1 above. If you don't solve that, all bets are off.

As for the price reduction issue, once again it is something that I'd rather stay out of. It's all about balancing the pros and cons and the different ways different people feel about the same subject.

Now remember, it's never too early to think about the proper maintenance of your stone. The issue of what you'll be doing day in and day out to your stone is – as it should be intuitive – vastly more important than its sealing (if and when possible and/or advisable) and it's all too often neglected. As you can tell by reading many of this site's postings, you're not likely to get good information about routine care from your dealer or installer. Don't become another statistic! By logging into the Helpful Hints section of our website at:   http://www.mbstone.com/HH_promo/helpful_hints.htm , you will be able to get the short version of our maintenance guidelines at no charge. The full version of it – a 7-page document considered by many as an industry benchmark – is available in pay-per-download format in our Educational Literature section at:   http://www.mbstone.com/literature/literature.htm .  

And remember, every single penny of the cost of the literature will be used to support this site and its cause: your cause.

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Thank you  

Ciao and good luck,

Mauri zio Bertoli

 

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