The Washington Post - 19.03.2020

the washington post

.

thursday, march

19

,

2020

dC

2

columnists:

Adrian Higgins, Meghan Leahy

email: [email protected]

telephone: 202-334-4409

Mail:

local living section,

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AdVertIsIng

doug Coffelt, 202-334-4440

on tHe coVer

Illlustration by Peggy Nille for the

Washington Post

editor:

Kendra Nichols

deputy editors:

elizabeth Chang, Amy Joyce,

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Art director:

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designer:

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Photo editor:

Jennifer Beeson Gregory

staff writers:

Helen Carefoot, Jura Koncius

locAl lIVIng

BY JEANNE HUBER

Q: Some time ago, the granite

counter around the kitchen sink

was assaulted by a frozen pack

of chicken drumsticks, and the

granite wound up cracked. I

tried to repair the cracks with

an epoxy recommended by a

professional installer, but the

repairs did not meet with

approval from those in charge.

In the interests of domestic

tranquility, is there anything I

can do now to make this look

better?

Washington

A: Your options are limited.

Although it is possible to repair

cracked granite countertops

with epoxy, there are several

challenges with your situation.

First, the stone you have is

dark. “Epoxy doesn’t work with

dark colors. We usually

recommend replacement,” said

Kadir Ozdemir, sales manager

for Granite System in Chantilly

(202-956-9156;

granitesystem.com ). “You always

see the cracks.” Granite System

is mostly a fabricator and does

repairs only on stone that it

installs. But Ozdemir said the

more repair-focused

professionals he knows also shy

away from working on dark

granite. “I don’t think anybody

would take that risk.”

Adding to the complications

in your case, there’s the fact that

you have already filled the gaps

with epoxy. Barry Adkins, a

technician for FixIt Countertop

in Rockville (800-989-6604;

fixitcountertop.com ), which

specializes in repairs to

countertops installed by other

companies, said he would not

attempt a re-repair. “We don’t

typically do jobs that have had

repair attempts by other

companies or homeowners,

especially homeowners,” he said.

He looked at the pictures you

sent and said he would not take

on the job. It takes too much

time to get out the old epoxy,

and it isn’t really possible to get

it all out.

“That stuff isn’t meant to

come off,” he said. “It’s not the

money. It’s about us trying to

give a certain result — not just

for the client’s eye, but our eye,

too. We don’t want to have them

come in and spend more money

and not get the quality results

they deserve.”

Adkins said he doubts that

your countertop cracked just

because of the thermal shock

from a package of frozen

chicken drumsticks. “They may

think it was from cold chicken,

but the only way that would

happen is if the countertop was

really hot, and then they put

cold chicken on it.” He noted

that granite countertops

typically stay rather cold.

More likely, he said, the real

culprit is moisture getting

under the countertop’s “bridge”

— the thin strip of stone in front

of the sink — because of a gap in

the caulking around the sink.

Because the bridge is fragile,

fabricators often reinforce it by

inserting a piece of steel into the

bottom surface of the stone. If

moisture gets to that, the steel

starts to rust. Because rust takes

up more space than bare steel,

the expansion splits the stone.

“A thermal crack would be a

hairline,” Adkins said. “But

rusting steel rod is what would

make it wider.”

He suggested that short of

replacing the countertop, you

might investigate whether you

could replace your sink with a

farmhouse sink, perhaps one

made of stainless steel. If the

current sink cutout is small

enough, you could have the

bridge — and the cracks in it —

cut out to accommodate the

new sink. You would need to do

some math first to make sure

that the cost of the new sink,

cutting out the countertop and

installing the sink wouldn’t cost

more than replacing the

countertop section that includes

the sink.

Replacing the countertop, or

at least the sink section,

definitely makes the most sense,

said Matt Kucukkazdal, project

manager for Granite Center in

Sterling (703-439-1040;

granitecenterva.com ). His

company would be willing to go

to your house to try to make the

existing repairs look better, but

workers could only fill in

remaining gaps and polish the

surface to make it more smooth.

“We can buff it up, but you will

100 percent see the cracks,” he

said. It might cost $400 to $500,

and you probably wouldn’t be

happy with the result.

Instead, he recommended

that you call the company for a

free estimate. From the pictures

you sent, he thinks your granite

might be a type called Ubatuba,

which he said was very popular

about 20 years ago. He said his

company still has pieces,

although they might be slightly

darker. If your kitchen is around

50 square feet, you could

probably replace all of the

countertops with this stone or

one of the others that the

company includes in its

package deals. Removing and

hauling away the old

countertops, installing new

countertops, and buying and

installing a new undermount

sink (which would look better

than the drop-in type you have

now) would probably be

around $2,800, he said. Or, if

the color match is acceptable to

you, the company could replace

just the sink section.

Kucukkazdal would still

recommend a new sink.

Including that and the

plumbing, this might be less

than $1,200, depending on how

your kitchen is laid out.

Would it be possible to use an

artist brush and dab on bits of

varying colors to try to mask the

existing patches? Professional

granite-repair companies don’t

do that. They do mix colorants

with epoxy to try to make

patches blend in as well as

possible, but this happens at the

beginning — before the

hardener is added. Touch-up

painting might “look like paint-

by-numbers on your

countertop,” Adkins said.

But there’s no harm in trying

— as long as you don’t expect

much.

 Have a problem in your home?

Send questions to

[email protected]. Put “How

to ” in the subject line, tell us where

you live and try to include a photo.

How to

Repairs won’t hide the cracks in your granite kitchen countertops

reAder PHoto

A reader wants to repair this cracked granite countertop. The reader has tried to repair it with an

epoxy; however, “epoxy doesn’t work with dark colors,” said Kadir Ozdemir of Granite System.

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