Anyone know anything about granite?

[Nasty_Deeds]

there is now a 4 in hairline fracture on one side where the cleaner was.

Something you mentioned in an earlier post is potentially a bigger problem than cooking oil stains. If your counter top has an actual crack, (hairline or not), it could eventually break. If there is a crack, you should address that issue first with the contractor.

There are ways to clean oil stains from stone, any kind of stone. If your counter tops are real granite, even though they are cut in the shape of a counter top, your granite counter tops will clean like any other piece of granite. It might be helpful to research how to clean granite, (or stone), rather than researching how to clean counter tops.

Whatever your course, it is going to take patience, and you might even have to get creative with cleaning the granite. In general when cleaning oil from stone, you have to dilute the oil, (and make it a less viscous), and then use something like an absorbent powder to draw the oil out of the stone. It may take several applications to actually clean the stone well enough to seal it.

 

[bambikiller]

Countertops, The composit stones are exstreamly durable.
They are usaly a quartz material and an epoxy composite.
Of course they are one of the most exspensive materials out there at this time.
There is so much expoxy resin in them they real don't need to be sealed.

I still love granite. I have it in my house you just have to mantian it.
Now that I think about it when I first put mine in it wasn't sealed ether and of course we spilled oil on it.
I think the wife put baking soda on it and put a plastic cover over it, or was it a wet rag.
I don't remember.

Do not do a tile counter, grout joints I shouldn't have to say more.

Corion or a simular plastic product does scratch and will burn but it can be repaired but so can stone. Since everyone wants stone now it's cheaper to get stone.

Marble NO to porous for a kitchen.

Concrete same as granite, same problems and costs more unless you do it yourself.

Now I've put in Stainless steel looks great of course it scractes up.
I did a house with a granite island Stainless steel counter tops with a grinite backsplash going all the up to the upper cabinites, looked great.

Let's talk floors.
I put in wood, easy on the feet looks great.
If you got kids, fuck I've already sanded and refinished mine once and they need it again.
Water kills them.
Ceramic is pretty indistructable just hard on the feet.
Cork and bamboo same as wood but more $.

Then there is the type of structure you are putting it in, single family house, condo or town house and the type of construction used.
You might want to put a membrain in if it's a concrete floor and you want tile.

It's not that I read a lot about construction and even now take classes to increase my knowlege it's that I've been around so long that I've almost seen it all and yet am still surprized sometimes when I rip open a wall and say what the F--- is that.

 

[bambikiller]

The installer should be able to mix a color matched epoxy mix to fill in any crack you may have.

 

[bailadora]

My guess is somthing with baking soda but I realy don't know.
I seal my stone before hand and I advise my customers to keep it up.
I think your best bet is to call a suppler they probably have an in stock item to take it out.
You could also have it steamed out I beleive.
You should go to a site that has people in the business help you not a site like this that has a bunch of perverts to help you.
Not to insult my fellow pervert, we are a deverse group but you might want to try somewhere else.
Did you look up www.jondon.com ?

I really appreciate the leads, BK. I did look up the website you suggested but didn't see anything labeled pumice. Then again, this is new territory for me, so I might have been staring right at it and not known it. I AM veerrry interested in their heavy duty sealer though.

I will also contact a local supplier, but I'm also grateful for the knowledge from my fellow pervs. At least I'll have *some* idea of what questions I should be asking.

I don't mean to hijack your thread, Bailadora, but it seems to have attracted a bunch of people with a lot of knowledge on materials. Feel free to kick me to the New Thread curb if my questions are too disruptive, though.

<snip>

Apart from cost and durability, I'd also like counters, floors and sink that generally look clean, even when they aren't spotless. We keep our kitchen pretty clean, but I don't want every little thing to show or spend a ton of time scrubbing, polishing, dusting, etc., our new stuff.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

No problem, Erika - I don't mind sharing.

Um, I can't give you any advice in terms of cost because these materials were already installed, but from a consumer's perspective, I've generally been happy with granite counters and tile floors. Setting aside my problems with my current stone, my previous granite was very durable and I didn't have any problems with stains (oil or otherwise) and this is after cooking, sitting down to eat and then going back to clean up after an hour or so.

The colors you choose for your surfaces obviously plays a part in masking some of the day to day wear. My previous granite hid crumbs and smears very well. In fact, sometimes the only way I could locate them was to crouch down at an angle to the counter. The break in the reflection of the light off the surface let me know which areas needed extra attention. The surfaces I have in this house tend to be the lighter cream colors as opposed to the sandy tones I had previously. While it's a great contrast with the dark cabinets, I'm doing MUCH more wiping and sweeping than I did previously (3-4 times a day as opposed to once or twice).

If tile is too cost prohibitive, you might want to look at wood laminate. We replaced the kitchen and dining room floor in our first home and while my husband wasn't very enamored with it (it didn't look as much like real wood as he had hoped), I was actually quite happy. This was about 13 years ago and I'm told that laminates have gotten much better over the years.

With regard to the sink: I've had stainless steel for the last 8 years and have been very happy with it. Most of the time, a quick spritz with the spray function of the faucet head gets it looking "clean enough" until I can give it some love.

Stepping aside now to let the experts chime in.

 

[bambikiller]

p 185 stone care restoration jondon buyer's guide
J. stone tech klenz all alkaline
1-800-556-6366

 

[klippert]

These stains are caused by cooking.....the builder will more than likely balk at any repair cost out of his pocket. jondon stone restoration guide is a very good start. damage cause by cooking, is not going to be covered under the home warranty. Certainly a good builder, not some hack flip that house artist, would at least work with you too resolve this issue.