Although granite can handle its fair share of wear and tear, it is not invincible and can still be subject to chips, holes, and cracks. Obviously the parts of your granite that experiences the most traffic and/or the areas around your sink are more common and susceptible to having damage. If you are currently experiencing some damage to your granite, before you panic and go ripping out all of your stone, let me introduce you to a product called “epoxy”.
Epoxy is an adhesive that is made of compounds and hardening material that will bond two items together. So how do you determine if the damage on your granite can be repaired with epoxy or not? Well, lets go over the different problems that can occur:
Chips, holes, and sizable cracks are all repairable with epoxy. When repairing these areas, it is important to have it thoroughly cleaned and allow time for it to adequately dry before applying the epoxy. Some professionals recommend putting tape around the damaged area to allow somewhat of a well for the epoxy to go into. This will prevent the epoxy from being spread out unnecessarily onto undamaged areas and will cut down on the amount of sanding that will need to take place after the epoxy has been cured. It is also important to mix the epoxy and the coloring in a separate cup until the desirable color you are trying to match has been reached.
Unfortunately, if you are trying to fix a hairline crack in your granite, epoxy won’t help. Hairline cracks don’t provide enough space to be filled with epoxy. As previously stated, epoxy’s purpose is to bond both sides of the cracked granite back together which is why with a hairline crack, you will end up getting more epoxy on the surfaces rather then actually inside the crack.