If you would like to know all about granite countertop including its basic key characteristics, and the processing of granite at quarry, you may find this article quite informative.
Granite is a natural stone that is extremely durable, making it ideal for many interior and exterior applications. Granite makes an excellent choice for stone countertops, due its beautiful patterns and colors, as well as its durable characteristics.
When it comes to the origins of granite, you may be surprised to know that granite is formed deep inside the earth. Due to the extreme heat and pressure applied by the surrounding over millions of years, liquid magma is molten between other layers of rock, and then hardened as it cools down. Therefore, Granite is considered an igneous rock that is extremely hard, scratch, acid, and heat resistant.
Granite Kitchen Island
Granite consists of different elements in nature, such as feldspar, mica, quartz, and other minerals. The process of cooling process is very slow. The suspended mineral elements inside the magma result in the crystalline look of granite. Granite is hard in nature due to its harsh origins and lengthy process that suspends several stabilizing elements within it.
As soon as the raw granite is removed from the earth, the first stage of granite processing starts, known as cutting. Here, the large portions of granite cut into manageable blocks. Thereafter, these blocks of granite are cut into slabs with various thicknesses, for their market . Sizes of the slabs vary depending on the size of the block that the quarry was able to process. Thickness of slabs for countertop use varies throughout the US. Part of the country use 2cm (3/4″) slabs for countertops, while in Washington DC metro area a 3cm (1 1/4″) slabs are more common.
Once granite blocks are cut into slabs, they are resin coated and then each slab undergoes large multi-head polishing machines that brings out the shine to one side of the granite slabs.
Northwood CNC Machine used for cutting and shaping stone edge into the desired edge profile.
Once the process of cutting and polishing is over, six or seven slabs from the same granite block, called bundle, are crated together and get shipped to the stone importers and fabricators across the globe. Stone fabricators, such as Euro Stone Craft factory in Herndon VA, are the last stage for transforming granite slabs into countertops. Through sophisticated CNC machines and waterjets, the slabs are cut to the custom shape of each countertop, edges are profiled and polished, and finally installed at your home, for your enjoyment.
Granite countertops are ideal for kitchen countertops. Due to the characteristics of the granite, of being scratch, stain, heat, and etch resistant, granite countertops require very little maintenance, and they keep their original appearance for many years to come.
Care and maintenance of the granite countertops is very simple. A mild PH balance cleaner should be used to clean your countertops. Although the granite countertops are relatively non-porous, we recommend sealing the granite, with a high-quality sealer impregnator.
