The Counters Blog

With more serious dullness, though, you may need to call a professional for assistance. The powder is slightly abrasive, so it removes shallow scratches, stains and other residue that might be causing the granite to look dull. Instead, use a soft cloth to apply acetone to the dull areas. After scrubbing the countertop with the acetone, rinse with warm water. If the surface of the stone beneath is still in good condition, however, you usually can repair the countertop by resealing the granite. You can use a rag or a spray bottle to apply it, but work slowly to ensure that you cover the granite in an even coat. You can also prevent fading before it happens by resealing your counter each year to renew the protective coating. In that case, the faded areas must be completely refinished or repolished to remove the etched surface. Contract your installer to see if he offers repolishing services or can recommend a stone restorer for the job. In some cases, you can take of the problem yourself by using the right product to clean the surface. To use the powder, you usually must mix it with water to create a paste that you can work into the granite with burlap or a felt pad.Rinsing the area with water and an ordinary household detergent may not be enough to break down and remove the film. Because acetone works as a solvent, it is extremely effective in dissolving thick, greasy stains. Be sure to use a sealer product that is recommended by your counter’s manufacturer or installer, and thoroughly clean the surface before applying the sealer. After the sealer had dried completely, you can apply as many as three additional coats to provide the most effective protection for your countertop. Because granite is such a hard stone, though, it requires specialized equipment like a grinder or stone polisher, so it’s usually best to hire professional stone restorer to handle the project.

Installing Granite Or Cabinet Refacing: Which Comes First? by archcitygranite.com

But you are not very happy about the color of your cabinets. In fact, cabinet refacing professionals recommend having your granite countertop installed first if no other structural changes will be made to the cabinetry. These variations usually aren’t major, or even very noticeable. The degree of levelness in the cabinets will also not change. In the projects like above, you will be doing some structural or replacement work on the cabinets. Granite countertops are not only heavy, but natural granite contains veins and striations that might have weak points that could crack if the supporting structures underneath are disturbed. The seams in granite or quartz countertops are tightly pulled together and glued not only to have a nice and clean look but also to hold the two seamed counters structurally together. and also the underside of stone countertops are attached with epoxy blocks to the cabinets in certain important locations so that they do not move under normal usage. Keep in mind that you can wait to reface or do the exterior work on the new or altered cabinets until after the granite has been installed. Natural granite comes in a wide variety of color variations . Nevertheless, even slight changes might affect what you had in mind for your cabinets. If you are just refacing the cabinets, keep in mind that any gaps or imperfections between the cabinet back panel and the wall will remain the same. However, even if you are not replacing the cabinets, these problems can be addressed during refacing by simply installing a matching trim across the gap. In these situations, the cabinets must be finished and anchored to the floor before installing the granite countertops. In fact, we rarely recommend removing an existing granite countertop from a set of cabinets. These epoxy joints need to be carefully ripped off before the installed granite countertops can be taken from the cabinets. We only advise to even attempt this because the home insurance companies insist on salvaging anything including the stone countertops. The main factor is that the cabinets need to be anchored and structurally sound before the granite is installed.

Granite Polishing and Resurfacing by idealrefinishing.com

If you have tried buffing and polishing your granite countertops and have achieved only marginal or short lived results you are not alone. Delivering a factory grade honed or polished finish requires your stone to be finished the same way it was originally finished – with resin bond diamond polishing pads and professional abrasive polishing agents. In fact, when done right, there should be no topical residue of any kind on your stone surface. Granite is a very popular stone choice for kitchen countertops and bathroom vanities not only for its rich color and natural finish, but also for its durability and resistance to scratches and damage. Given it is a natural stone and there are hundreds, even thousand of types and sources, the inherent resiliance of each stone can vary. The most typical form of visible impairment to the stone is either “wear” in form of scratches from knives, dishes, pots and pans, or hard water damage near and around sinks. First, the damaged areas are resurfaced with resin bond diamond pads. From here we work up to a 1800 grit pad and then a 3400 grit finishing pad for the entire surface. The whole of your granite countertop surface is polished using a proprietary blend of polishing agents and abrasives specially formulated for serpentine, mercantile granite and granite. This process is wet to dry and requires considerable pressure on the pad for efficacy. All stones are porous at some level, though many are more porous than others. The stone itself, through the polishing process is sealed naturally. Once the excess sealer has been removed from the surface, the job is complete! In most cases we can give you an estimate right over the phone, but we are happy to come to you! All workspaces are properly sealed and ventilated with a portable fume extraction exhaust unit. Small scratches from pans, knives, dishes and hard water can erode the surface and cause the area to appear dull or even damaged. We know just what to do to restore your countertops to their original hone or luster. Topical compounds and spray polishes promise results but fall short on delivering – because they are just that, topical. Nothing you can “apply” to your granite will deliver the same luster and shine as the natural stone itself can provide. Granite resurfacing, also known as granite polishing and granite refinishing , is the process of restoring a granite surface to its original, factory beauty. Granite is a very hard stone, with much less porosity than marble. There are two typical forms of impairment to a granite countertop finish. The first step in our process is to repair the damaged area by cutting the stone. Depending on the depth of the damage, we “wet sand” the area starting typically with a 400 or 800 grit resin bond diamond pad. Next, the entire surface is polished with a professional abrasive compound. This is applied using a variable speed polishing tool and a hogs hair pad. Finally, an impregnating sealer is applied to ensure the stone is sealed. When properly done, by the time we reach this final step, nearly all of your surface is impregnable. However, to be completely sure we apply an impregnating sealer, to saturation, on the stone. Ready to restore the original luster to your granite? The safety and health of your household and our employees is extremely important to us. Years of use can diminish the finish of your granite countertops. We come to you for a free in-home consultation, estimate, explanation of our process, and instructions for proper surface care. Did you know we can refinish just about any surface?