Chip in Granite - Any suggestions to fill or just leave alone?

[fishcakes]

Hello - We got about a quarter inch round chip in our Uba Tuba Granite when a glass salt shaker fell from the top cabinet. Does anyone have any suggestions or home remedies that the do it yourselfer could try to fill the chip. I noticed there may be some professional granite fill products, but they seem complicated. I'm not too worried about an exact color match, just looking for something to fill the hole as it is unfortunately in a very noticeable section of the counter. I was thinking like clear silicon, but then thought that may not stick to it or be good for a food prep area. What is generally done about chips of this size, or is the answer simply leave it alone and live with it.

Also, any recommendation on what brand or type of sealer to use on Uba Tuba granite would be appreciated.

Kind regards to all that help or share their view.

[Toller]

Can't help you, but you made me feel better about not getting granite when we redid our kitchen. Granite was beautiful, but corian just seemed more practical. Sorry about your problem, but thanks for sharing.

[fishcakes]

about a quarter inch round chip in our Uba Tuba Granite

Toller - thanks. We were struggling with granite vs corian or silestone as well. There really wasn't that much difference in price, granite a tiny bit more, but the deciding factor was certainly the appearance but also the contractor told us that granite is also virtually indestructible and that it just needs to be sealed occasionally. Well, we learned our lesson, any natural stone is prone to cracks or chips if hit in the right/weak place. I don't know if there are different grades of granite, if there is, maybe just got a bad piece. The contractor wants no part of fixing the problem; said there is nothing to do about it except replace the piece.....at OUR expense! I don't want to pursue it with them anyway, I can't imagine ripping out our entire counter to replace it again and upset everything else in the kitchen which is brand new. Next kitchen, 30 years from now..Corian or silestone...

[Chris Lewis]

According to fishcakes :

Probably the best "amateur" fix for this would be to use epoxy, mixed with small amounts of dye/color (eg: artist dye powders) to make it less glaringly obvious. 5 minute epoxy would do, but it'd be better to use one of the longer open time formulations that's not nearly as thick. The West Systems sample kit (around $10 at marine supply, canoe builder supply, many woodworking hobby stores etc) probably has enough material to do the job.

If you use something thick, you'll need to force it level (eg: wax paper under a wooden block) and squeeze out will be a PITA. West will self-level. If you end up having to sand it, you'll have to polish the result to get some gloss back.

After a day or two, the repair will be almost as hard as the rest of the countertop. Silicone is just too soft.

[Chris Lewis]

Out of curiousity, for the Corian users out there... I've personally not seen much installed Corian, and all of the stuff I've seen just looks, er, grubby. Minor scratches - driven in dirt. Ends up looking like a stained plastic cutting board.

Yes, I know, the scratches can be buffed/sanded out (if you can figure out some way to match gloss level). And yes, all of the in-use counters I've seen have been white, accentuating the grubby, and other colors/patterns would hide much of it.

It just seems to me to be a bit too soft for a countertop. Even white laminate stands up better.

Still happy with Corian?

[Stephen M]

I agree with Chris. Silicone is way too soft and epoxy is the way to go. I have a buddy with granite counters and the pro install. They filled seam with a pigmented epoxy and it looks really good. I imagine that a granite pro could fill your chip the same way.

For DIY approach, I would be tempted to go with clear. The natural color will show through, although the sheen will likely be different. I have used this approach to fix minor tearout on in furniture construction and it works well.

To get epoxy to "flow into the hole" warm the stone first with a hair dryer or heat gun. Not hot, just warm. Warm epoxy has a much lower viscosity. Fill it just a bit proud of the counter surface

As the Epoxy cures, you will be able to trim it flush with a razor blade. The key is to catch it at the right hardness, too soon and it will be gummy, too late it will be tough to trim. When you can barely dent it with a fingernail, trim.

-Steve

[EXT]

I agree with this method. Get the liquid stuff and add colour. UbaTuba should be easy to match with it being predominately green. Do you have the black/green or the brown/green with black and gold flecks? Probably black would be sufficient for a 1/4 inch round chip. Surround it with thin scotch tape several layers wide and use a razor blade to level the surface. When it starts setting and is not fully hard, remove the tape and see if you can plane off the extra with a razor blade. Buffing afterwards should make it disappear unless you know exactly where it is. Be sure to thoroughly clean the area first and make sure it is totally dry before adding the epoxy.

[hallerb]

Hide quoted text -

granite countertops sometimes require seams.... they have a special matching epoxy resin with ground up granite, the mark will disappear, seams are nearly invisible.

call some local places, you have a large investment, might as well keep it looking good, and repaired its less likely to spread.

[Dan Espen]

Very.

Six years now, the counter is speckled gray. Looks a bit like stone. No scratches at all. We had one big crack due to cooking a turkey in a microwave sitting on the counter.

Corian came in and fixed it. There is no way to see the repair.

I also like the way the corian sink seems to be seamless even when it's a different color.

No way I'd have white.

[Richard J Kinch]

Ordinary epoxy loaded with the same stone dust. An installer should have plenty of dust from sawing. To patch right, you have to overfill and then grind and polish. Although you might match the color and have a smooth repair, the fine structural patterns won't match so it won't be absolutely invisible.

[Joe]

Sorry for your loss...but that settles it for me. Our new countertops will absolutely be stone-patterned Formica. With kids and clumsy friends the real stone is just way too fragile. Never heard of anyone waxing or sealing Formica either. And it won't be too $$ painful to change either when the real granite fad is old stuff or we just want a different color.

Joe