quartz counters and heat resistance

[katilac]

7 hours ago, Carrie12345 said:

My body reacted negatively just reading that, lol.  I still worry that hot items larger than trivets will melt mine with their radiant heat!  Which I do realize is a bit over the top, but that’s where I’m at, lol.

It makes my dh twitch as well. 

[fairfarmhand]

3 hours ago, TexasProud said:

The problem is you are not supposed to put anything on it for 24 hours after you seal it. That is why I don’t do it often. Not using the kitchen for 24 hours is an issue

I'm thinking mine said like 10-12 hours. I did it right before going to bed.

[Clarita]

I agree with the sealing granite is super easy. The biggest hurdle is clearing the counter for the sealing, the single reason for our family not doing this maintenance item. 

[TexasProud]

10 minutes ago, fairfarmhand said:

I'm thinking mine said like 10-12 hours. I did it right before going to bed.

We have always done it before leaving on vacation since our young adult/teens were up past midnight and I am up at 4am. 😀

With empty nest, should be easier. 

[KatieJ]

On 1/8/2022 at 7:14 AM, TexasProud said:

I agree. Totally smooth. If it is rough, there is food on it. 

Well, the guy was out today.  The countertops have been rough since the day we moved in, therefore it was never food.

Granite is sealed with resin during the manufacturing process. All the little holes are supposed to be filled in. He said mine are white with gray, black and gold and that is going to have more rough spots as the many colors are also different hardness..with soft next to hard, you get more texture.  Well, I didn't like that answer either, as isn't that what polishing is for?  But I haven't noticed any issues like that.

 

Sometimes the resin lifts above the granite and that has to be shaved off.  That was my problem.  He first used some steel wool and then started to put sealant on.  I ran my hands over them and said, nope, they are still rough.  He then got a razor and went over all of them again..and then sealed them.

They look beautiful finally!

 

The sealant he used..he said we could use them right away. No waiting periods.

When I asked how to care for them..he told me to treat them like glass and use Windex!  Yeah, no, I have Norwex in my house, not Windex. He just stared at me.    I will just continue to wipe them down and then polish with a dry dishtowel afterwards.

I actually really just wanted to know about sealant.  He said we should never have to seal them.  If we start noticing water soaking in..then give the company a call and they will come out and seal them.

[Annie G]

We have quartz and the manufacturer is local and they gave us some 1 ft square pieces to use as trivets. They blend right in and I use one to put my crockpot on since I didn’t know how hot it would get under it. Anyway, ds puts hot from the stove pans on the pieces, as well as cookie sheets from the oven. And it looks perfect- the heat hasn’t damaged it. Now, I’m not going to put hot pans right on my counters, but I was pretty surprised the sample piece is holding up.   Durability might depend on manufacturer. What we bought was almost twice the price as the cheaper kind the place sold.  3 years in,  no regrets…counters look brand new. 

[TexasProud]

7 hours ago, KatieInMN said:

Well, the guy was out today.  The countertops have been rough since the day we moved in, therefore it was never food.

Granite is sealed with resin during the manufacturing process. All the little holes are supposed to be filled in. He said mine are white with gray, black and gold and that is going to have more rough spots as the many colors are also different hardness..with soft next to hard, you get more texture.  Well, I didn't like that answer either, as isn't that what polishing is for?  But I haven't noticed any issues like that.

 

Sometimes the resin lifts above the granite and that has to be shaved off.  That was my problem.  He first used some steel wool and then started to put sealant on.  I ran my hands over them and said, nope, they are still rough.  He then got a razor and went over all of them again..and then sealed them.

They look beautiful finally!

 

The sealant he used..he said we could use them right away. No waiting periods.

When I asked how to care for them..he told me to treat them like glass and use Windex!  Yeah, no, I have Norwex in my house, not Windex. He just stared at me.    I will just continue to wipe them down and then polish with a dry dishtowel afterwards.

I actually really just wanted to know about sealant.  He said we should never have to seal them.  If we start noticing water soaking in..then give the company a call and they will come out and seal them.

Yeah, I am not sure your guy knows what he is talking about. Our island is white with gray and tons of other colors. It has always been smooth. 

[Carrie12345]

10 hours ago, KatieInMN said:

Well, the guy was out today.  The countertops have been rough since the day we moved in, therefore it was never food.

Granite is sealed with resin during the manufacturing process. All the little holes are supposed to be filled in. He said mine are white with gray, black and gold and that is going to have more rough spots as the many colors are also different hardness..with soft next to hard, you get more texture.  Well, I didn't like that answer either, as isn't that what polishing is for?  But I haven't noticed any issues like that.

 

Sometimes the resin lifts above the granite and that has to be shaved off.  That was my problem.  He first used some steel wool and then started to put sealant on.  I ran my hands over them and said, nope, they are still rough.  He then got a razor and went over all of them again..and then sealed them.

They look beautiful finally!

 

The sealant he used..he said we could use them right away. No waiting periods.

When I asked how to care for them..he told me to treat them like glass and use Windex!  Yeah, no, I have Norwex in my house, not Windex. He just stared at me.    I will just continue to wipe them down and then polish with a dry dishtowel afterwards.

I actually really just wanted to know about sealant.  He said we should never have to seal them.  If we start noticing water soaking in..then give the company a call and they will come out and seal them.

 

2 hours ago, TexasProud said:

Yeah, I am not sure your guy knows what he is talking about. Our island is white with gray and tons of other colors. It has always been smooth. 

It does seem a bit off.

I don’t *have granite right now, but I have definitely fondled my black/gray/white (no gold) granite pretty extensively in my builder’s showroom, and there was no texture.

However, I did find this. https://rockdoctor.com/why-is-there-resin-in-my-granite/  If a company that sells granite sealer says that resined granite might not need sealer, I’m inclined to believe them. 

[Emba]

On 1/7/2022 at 10:36 AM, SusanC said:

Others inside my house do not do this ever. Apparently only *I* can see the crumbs and drips and bits of trash that get left behind. My grumble campaign has not made a difference. I may need to plus it up. 😃

Others in my house have the same problem.  If they are in charge of wiping down the counter, I guarantee there are crumbs and ooky stuff left behind.

[KatieJ]

5 hours ago, Carrie12345 said:

 

It does seem a bit off.

I don’t *have granite right now, but I have definitely fondled my black/gray/white (no gold) granite pretty extensively in my builder’s showroom, and there was no texture.

However, I did find this. https://rockdoctor.com/why-is-there-resin-in-my-granite/  If a company that sells granite sealer says that resined granite might not need sealer, I’m inclined to believe them. 

Well, there are two issues I brought up here. Sorry for the confusion.  He was saying that my granite could possibly have rough surface because of the hard colors and soft colors..altho he didn't specify.  I DO NOT have that issue.  I know what he meant because we saw it in a house we looked at before buying this one.  There was a defect  in the counter top in the gray vein , the white was fine.

 

My issue with the surface being rough was definitely the resin that was  put in to the fill the holes before it was cut into countertops.  We were told that by a friend who works in a local granite business that is NOT connected to the company who installed our countertops.  We then called the owner of the company that installed it ( we bought the house finished..we had no say in what was installed)... and he also said it was likely the issue as it happens during storage. He then sent over the guy who fixed it yesterday.  My countertops were never smooth, I just didn't know what the issue was.

 

I just threw it into the conversation here in case anyone had surface issues..that now I know you can scrape the surfaces with a razor ...

 

 

Edited January 11, 2022 by KatieInMN

[Carol in Cal.]

2 hours ago, KatieInMN said:

Well, there are two issues I brought up here. Sorry for the confusion.  He was saying that my granite could possibly have rough surface because of the hard colors and soft colors..altho he didn't specify.  I DO NOT have that issue.  I know what he meant because we saw it in a house we looked at before buying this one.  There was a defect  in the counter top in the gray vein , the white was fine.

 

 

 

This makes sense from a materials science standpoint because granite is sedimentary rock, and that means that color changes are indicative of variations in composition.