Granite Countertops: What Are Resin-Impregnated Slabs?

Resin Impregnated Granite Countertops Slabs

• When it comes to residential countertops, granite slabs are often a popular choice.
• Many homeowners may not be aware, though, that there is an alternative to traditional granite slabs: resin-impregnated slabs.
• Here’s what you need to know about them.

Granite’s beauty stems from its individuality, but granite’s character and appeal extend well beyond aesthetics. With so many various kinds of granite available these days, the most frequent homeowner interest is performance: how well does it resist stains, scratches, and etching?

However, when it comes to purchasing any type of granite for your house remodel, you must know what epoxy resin treatment is and how it affects durability and performance.

Granite is available in a range of colors, forms, and textures. Unfortunately, many slabs have natural imperfections such as fractures, pitting, and superficial surface holes. While polyester resins have been used to fill and strengthen travertine and other varieties of marble for over 50 years, epoxy resin is a more recent technique.

Another reason epoxy resin is used for granite improvement and repair, according to Stone World, is that it can be utilized to repair cracks in the stone. In addition to the option of saving as many slabs as possible, there are additional benefits to using epoxy resin for granite restoration and improvement, including:

• Natural micro-fissures in many kinds of granites reduce the beauty of the material by compromising the final polished effect.
• Fissures (cracks) passing through the granite slabs decrease the slab strength, and pose a hazard under some applications, such as outside paneling.

What are the benefits?

Epoxy resin is a powerful adhesive that can be used to fill minute cracks and pitting on granite. The high bonding strength repairs structural faults, resulting in a solid stone with a long-lasting finish. This extremely strong and highly elastic adhesive flexes to the thermal strain of the stone, allowing it to endure a wide range of temperatures indoors and outdoors

Safety and durability

One concern many homeowners have is epoxy resin treated granite’s durability and safety as a material for kitchen countertops – will the finish sustain damage if a homeowner places hot items on the surface? Because granite treated with epoxy resin must comply with the latest FDA rules for food contact, the material is safe for kitchen use.

While epoxy tends to soften in the presence of high temperatures, small fractures are not affected by heat application, and visible epoxy glue will return to its original state when normal temperatures resume.

This recent epoxy resin bonding technology improves the qualities of natural granite, ensuring that beautiful stone is now available on a larger scale at an affordable cost, and virtually free of defects.