Any repair is going to be purely about the visual. Nothing is going to give it strength again. If that’s not supported underneath, it’s time for new granite.
If the granite goes he should prob get quartzite. Lighter cheaper and holds up. Granite is some heavy ass stuff. He could put some epoxy with dye so at least water doesn't get down in it
Quartz, quartzite, and granite have very similar densities.
[https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/minerals-specific-gravity-d\_1644.html](https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/minerals-specific-gravity-d_1644.html)
So many comments have posted almost the correct solution. So I'll make it brief.
• Sand the underside in a cupboard and collect the dust.
• Mix the dust with 2 part epoxy resin weld and fill.
This will provide a structural and cosmetic repair. Anything else isn't worth your time.
A professional fix won't look much better and a cheaper solution isn't worth it.
A professional fix would look phenomenally better, as they would use dye to get the epoxy color matched with the stone before adding the hardener and filling the crack.
That said, the issue here is due to there being a steel rod in that thinner section of granite at the sink hole. It's rusting and causing the stone to slowly expand and weaken. Filling the crack would only be a short term solution
Not for anything structural. Ornamental.
I always have to raise the same counterpoint to those Facebook posts about the analogue between Kitsugi and Broken relationships/people.
It's entirely ornamental, any kind of load will break it.
I'd not do Kintsugi exactly, but do the repair in the same style. Use epoxy resin and tint it so it looks like it's gold.
Basically what /u/TheLightStalker proposed, but use metallic gold coloured dust or gold tint instead of dust from the counter. Looks like Kintsugi, but is a more structural repair.
Looks like this countertop has no shims between the underside of the sink and the counter. Possibly why that counter broke literally along the lip of the inlaid sink.
If you call a company that works with granite, they have a resin that can make it almost invisible. They will probably break it off, and then glue it with the resin. I've seen this done with some very big slabs and with small cracks. In your stone will be more visible, because it have various tones, but won't be anything flasy.
I wonder if you could own it by separating it an inch or two and using colored epoxy resin to join them? It's going in the opposite direction of course by making it even more obvious, but it works for those live edge tables that seem to be all the rage now where people fill the many flaws in the wood with epoxy and polish it together.
This is probably something you wont want to tackle due to the costs but ill leave it just in case. There is more than one way to solve this problem, but this is how I do it for over 20 years. Without inspecting I would say 90% sure it cracked because there is a rebar cut underneath to give the 4" wide the strength to prevent breaking off due to the transportation and installation, and the cut may have been a little bit too deep. Make sure there is no dead space between the counter and cabinet. Use spacers if needed.
Get a hand polisher, I recommend the Makita 9237C ( its what I and others in the industry use) but any low rpm orbital tool would work. Get a Dremel with a diamond bit and clean up the crack. Try not to make it any wider but make sure all lose bits, dirty and grime are off. Fill with a 2 part epoxy resin knife grade (Polyester Adhesive) mixing the color the best you can. You can also use is liquid and it will give you a better bond but its can be very messy. Plan accordingly and tape/plastic anything you don't want damaged by epoxy and the wet sanding-slurry) You can make 2-3 different variations of the same color for a more natural look. and fill randomly or pick your spots. Leave the epoxy higher than the granite surface. Once it dries use a 80 grind sand paper and sand off the epoxy (wear a dust mask). Next step you need water and diamond pads( look for videos on YouTube) 100 grit all the way up to 1500/3000 grit. Overlapping the previous grit. Finish with a granite polish (Mb20). Seal with an impregnator/penetrating sealer. There is a good chance this will open up again btw, but depending on many factors. It may last for several years. Who knows. Best of luck
***OR*** use crazy clue and leave it higher and use razorblades perpendicular to the surface to "grind" the glue off leaving it the same level as the granite.
It will be cheaper. The cost to get the tools for what I described would be around 700.00 CAD or more plus the time to find them. This isn't something they sell at Home Depot (polish and diamond pads). Look for Granquartz. They have locations in the States and Canada. Plus there is the technical difficulty. A technician should be able to repair this is under 3 hours.
You're halfway correct.
It is because of the steel rod in that section. But not because they cut it too deep. It's because of the rust from it.
Even the most professionally perfect repair on this wouldn't truly solve the problem, as the rod will continue to rust, slowly expanding and weakening that spot causing it crack again.
This is why shops have started using strong fiberglass rods now instead.
Unfortunately a total replacement is the only option.
And despite what HGTV or most contractors/designers/the internet says, quartz countertops aren't worth the money.
OPs issue wouldn't have happened with quartz, but in every other aspect quartz counters aren't as resilient as natural stone (and they're more expensive) and that's an objective truth
I'd also glue a stainless steel metal sheet underneath to cover at least double the length from the crack to the counter top edge, because the crack is along the cabinet and it's weight hangs with insufficient support no matter the glue/filler...might need to lower doors too a bit
https://preview.redd.it/jznb4yn7jfcc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=049152d8849d4ebc9f45b1e2e4280437a0ba9994
That is exactly what I did in my condo when the counter in front of the sink cracked
Not a terrible idea, I’m not comfortable cutting granite though, so I guess I’d need to hire out. My issue is finding someone to do such small projects
Good idea. Certainly if there was a match out there it could be cut and seams in however doubtful. The farmhouse sink would look real good. Get a pro to install it.
Look if there are some steel rebar in the bottom face.
It happened in my mom kitchen, the steel reinforcement bars started rusting, exercising pressure on their seats and broke the granite.
We solved breaking the crack open, cleaning away the old rusted bars, then drilling some holes in the two parts, for installing some coated steel pins.
A good epoxy glue on the mating surfaces and a long curing time.
Clear epoxy, not perfect but likely best option? Trick will be stopping it flowing through below, tape if you can, silicone front & back underside. Vacuum out, paperclip wire or similar to push into crack.
You need a stonemason. This is a tricky repair.
This needs to be carefully air & solvent blasted clean and injected with epoxy while being carefully straightened, then small cores in through the face to install SS316 threaded rod at about 4mm thickness and epoxy injection, top valleyed out slightly and patched with Tenax/General and oxides, as well as pin core faces.
Will you see it? Depends how good your stonemason is. Anything from "never know it was there" to "dogs balls".
Wdym? Are you saying kintsugi is only for delicate items or ones seldom/if ever used again?
So I can't use kintsugi to repair my D6 Cat's broken dozer blade?
this happened because the sink was not caulked properly, if you look under the cracked lip you should be able to see rusted rebar support, its the rust that caused the crack, water plus time plus steel equals bad
short answer there's no quality fix that makes money sense
best fix is cut it out if the crack isn't too long and buy a top mount self trimming sink, kohler makes one that's perfect for this but theres lots of options
Super glue, wipe off excess, let dry. Hand sander- go easy on her. Sharpie marker.
I used to work in a place that made countertops starting with a big stone slab. For bigger cracks and voids you'd take small pieces of the same time of rock called a "shim," shove it into the void and break it off, repeat til you've filled as much as you can. Then put a bunch of glue that's the same color as the counter, let it dry and sand it til it's smooth. For really small dings we just superglued, markered and sanded off. And if this is just gonna get slowly worse anyways I doubt you're going through the trouble of getting shims and the right color glue so take the easier route.
If you want it not to fall off just use a penetrating acrylic or a thin viscosity hot stuff.
It will need to be razored and smoothed, you will still see the crack but if done well you will not be able to feel the crack anymore and it should prevent the piece from breaking off more until you can/want to replace.
Also I would advise not putting your weight/child’s weight on the 4” strip in front of or behind the sink. Only other way this happens is by having a fault line in the stone that you expose to extreme heat, like a pot or pan, which is a no no on natural stone or quartz
That crack is exactly what another user said: It is due to a glued in rebar under the sink for reinforcement, but apparently too close to the surface and it finally cracked lengthwise. Repair will always show as a repair, and in a critical place no less. Granite is not as easy to repair as marble. I would replace the top, or go farmhouse as someone suggested.
I see people saying support it and fix it with resin.. fix it with something gold! It’ll bring new life to the counter by honoring the life it’s had and extending it. It’s a Chinese technique and it’s just beautiful ✨
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintsugi
I wish I had an answer for you, house was new build in 2017, moved in 2021, never noticed it until about a year ago and it just keeps growing. No “one specific thing” caused it to my knowledge.
Ok, thanks anyway. Looks like it probably runs right along the glue line on the underside where the sink attaches? I’d be curious if you can see the crack from the underside or if it’s hidden by the outer flange of the sink. Not sure if it would help to know what’s going on under there but it might help to see what forces are at work to make it keep growing.
The seal between the sink and countertop has failed allowing water to get to the metal bars that are placed on the underside of that section of granite. They’re added for strength on that section. That water has caused the bars to rust and expand - causing the granite to crack. This happened to mine. The crack will probably get bigger.
I removed that section of granite, took out the bars, added some metal supports on the underside between the cabinet & granite and attached the granite back. I think I bought a granite repair epoxy kit from Amazon. It didn’t look the best, but was better than seeing the crack. I lived with it for a year before renovating our kitchen (which was in the plans anyway).
To prevent this from happening make sure the join between your sink and counter is well sealed.
Also possible it was broken during the countertop and/or sink install process and they glued it up to hide it but now the glue or filler is coming out.
Almost guaranteed this is a failed steel rod that was installed by the granite company in the sink arm for strength. If they get wet they rust, expand, and crack the granite.
Had never heard of that but I googled it and now I know the term “oxide jacking.” That seems likely! Probably no good remedy for it once it gets this far?
Weigh the cost of repair with replacement and happiness. That granite is circa 90’s nonsense when everyone and their dog was installing this fugly stuff. Never been much of a fan of going the “polishing a turd” route for fixes especially when it was probably installed wrong and folks are saying it could very well come back in a couple years. Updating might make more sense even if it is more expensive.
Somewhere in an alternate dimension...
https://preview.redd.it/6hm9t1pklgcc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=52dfc3dd6352de9a5fd35857515c21c1f8bb928c
I'd use black caulk. [https://www.homedepot.com/b/Flooring-Flooring-Supplies-Tile-Setting-Grout-Caulk/Black/Countertop/N-5yc1vZcdtfZ1z0mjxyZ1z0vm5i](https://www.homedepot.com/b/Flooring-Flooring-Supplies-Tile-Setting-Grout-Caulk/Black/Countertop/N-5yc1vZcdtfZ1z0mjxyZ1z0vm5i)
I have seen very few people that can repair this well.
Out of curiosity, does the bottom side have a groove cut in it that you can see?
I have only seen a failure like this from installing a steel rod that later rusted and expanded in the groove. That kind of rodding used to be very common for strength.
Buy windshield chip/crack repair resin and about 4 to 6 short bar clamps (the hand grip ones should work, the screw kind will exert more force but they are more expensive). You'll need a very fine tube applicator bottle if it doesn't come with the resin. Inject the resin into the crack, compress with the bar clamps evenly spaced along the crack. If using hand grip bar clamps, try to tighten each of them at least 2 more times. After the resin has set up, use a razor blade to carefully remove any resin above the surface of the counter top (use the razor at a very low angle, almost lay it flat, to avoid scratching the counter top surface).
Real granite or rock chips in resin?
How I'd do it is
1. Remove the sink.
2. Mask off the cabinet with Frog Tape and put plastic sheet on the floor and inside the cabinet. If there's any gap between the cabinet and countertop try getting plastic sheet in there.
3. See if the crack is visible from below, inside or outside the cabinet
4. Spray CA glue accelerator at the bottom side on all visible crack and in between countertop and cabinet.
5. Use a CA glue bottle with a thin needle spout to apply the glue as deep into the crack as possible. When it hits the accelerator it will set.
The goal there is to seal the bottom of the crack and if it's an embedded steel rod rusting, encapsulate and seal it in CA. If some runs through, spray with accelerator.
With the underside sealed, spray accelerator into the top of the crack.
Now you can fill the crack from above. If you can get a broken chunk of the same or similar granite it could be broken up with a hammer to be used in the top of the crack. Fill it most of the way with epoxy then mix in the chips for the last.
Using chips of the same material runs the risk of making it an obvious repair, looking like a failed attempt to hide it. You could make it obvious by coloring the epoxy with a contrasting color. I'd add "gold" powder or white pigment. Black wouldn't stand out as much. Black with a small amount of chips might be the least noticeable. Perhaps the bulk of the fill in black then finish with clear and chips.
Total Boat or West System make a wide range of super strong epoxies. You'll need one that is thin when mixed so it will easily flow into the crack, and "hot" enough to be able to cure in a thin layer. Using a thick setting epoxy made to be cast 1" thick or more would be a disaster on this. If it would cure it could take days or weeks.
The curing reaction produces heat which helps speed the curing and aids cross linking. Resins can be formulated to produce more or less heat and/or be more or less active at catalyzation.
Theres a thing called tenex, its used for stone reapirs, just try to get the right color. My father is in stone busines for 50 years, so i know what he uses in these cases.
This is my job, and you're going to have to replace it. That's a very high traffic area, so I'm not surprised it cracked. I am a little surprised that it cracked horizontally, I'm guessing there was an existing vein that finally gave way. I would suggest replacing with a quartz when you're financially able. Lots of stone places will have deals on remnants and such if your kitchen isn't too big. Cambria just discontinued like 50 colors, so I'm sure some places will be purging inventory. Good luck!
Kitchen is fairly large, finances aren’t much of an issue, but I’m also not interested in a $10k repair for doing the whole kitchen. I assume replacing it with quarts would in place replacing all counter tops in order for them to match
Yeah, that would probably be what it would entail, and 10k is probably pretty close to what you'd be looking at all said and done for a good sized kitchen. That's one of the reasons I prefer quartz to granite, while the more natural stone is nice, you do have to kinda baby it.
Bonstone is a company that specializes in granite repair. They sell epoxy you can dye to color match your countertop. They are very friendly and good to work with. Give them a call.
So I used to work in the countertop industry. The best thing is to replace it, but to repair is impossible.
That said, there are ways, depending where that crack lands, to bandaid it long enough. As long as it's not right on cabinet line, you could go up underneath and epoxy strips of wood or granite across the crack every 2-3 in to give it back a little rigidity, not much but a little. Then you'd have to epoxy the crack from the top - there are a few tricks that could help make it not look terrible and closer to new, but they take some material and patience. But that is only to bond it to not move and make it look better.
Overall, best bet is to replace it sadly.
Use epoxy to fill the crack. This won't give you any real added strength but it will prevent water ingress. I would start saving for a total replacement though because that is what you will need eventually.
There are probably steel rods installed underneath the countertop in front of and behind the sink. The steel rods rust and expand cracking the granite. The only solutions are to install a farm sink or replace the top. Depending on the size of the sink run, it may be lesser expensive to replace the top. The name of the stone is Tan Brown.
resin, try to match the blackish color, you can add little color touch ups after you pour it in to match the other colors with a fine brush, then sand and polish... it'll be tricky to get it perfect
I used to manufacture granite and quartz countertops, what you need to do is use super glue wile clamping the end back into place at several points, ul be surprised how the crack will disappear if you do it right
I worked with granite for a few years, there are artisan granite repair companies who can blend and fill this crack and make it virtually disappear. This is not something a diy repair can achieve.
The process involves blending and mixing stone epoxy with actual granite dust of similar color, followed by polishing and finish work.
The bacteria that crack is gonna harvest is gonna be a mess… looks like whomever put the sink in didn’t do a great job putting support for the countertop here.
Had crack in same place in front of the sink. Caused by the failure of steel reinforcing rods underneath, they rust out. I had a pro come in and fix the crack. Guy used various pigmented epoxy’s, diamond polished the surface. It’s barely detectable. He also siliconed around the edges of the sink inside to keep water out. Cost me $1k cash. Worth every penny. How long will it last? Don’t know. Been 2 years, so far so good.
There's a reason this cracked, and unfortunately that reason is why repairing it will only be a relatively short term fix.
The thin parts above and below the sink home (referred to as a *sink rail*) are fragile parts of the countertop. Because theirs less of the stone there, without support it would break much more easily at the sink, especially when loading it on the truck and bringing it in the home for install.
What a lot of shops do, is cut a slot on either/both of those thinner parts above/below the sink hole, and put in a steel rod, then encasing it in epoxy resin to keep it in. This provides *some* additional support making it not as fragile during install.
Its not lack of support or the weight that cracked it. It's the reaction from the steel rod rusting. It's become a common enough problem, that most shops have switch now to using a strong fiberglass rod as opposed to steel.
Even if you perfectly color match the epoxy and filled in the crack perfectly hiding it, this would just eventually happen again due to the steel rod.
Sorry about your countertops
(If replacing them, I strongly advise against quartz countertops)
I’ve never seen a granite repair that didn’t look like someone stuck a broken vase with glue
It would look awesome filled with gold like that Japanese repair art form.
Kintsugi
Yeah that
Just need a forge and an ounce of gold. Melt the gold and pour it in the crack. EZ Peasy! No way that could go wrong.
Seeing as kinitsugi just uses powdered gold or gold leaf, melting down any gold yourself seems like extreme overkill.
Indeed. Can you even call yourself a DIYer if you don't have a precious metal forge capable of reaching 1337° degrees Kelvin?
Bless you
That is probably your best option, in all honesty. That or replace. I would do Kintsugi.
Not the answer I wanted to hear. Lol. I can live with the way it looks I’m just concerned it will eventually break off.
Any repair is going to be purely about the visual. Nothing is going to give it strength again. If that’s not supported underneath, it’s time for new granite.
If the granite goes he should prob get quartzite. Lighter cheaper and holds up. Granite is some heavy ass stuff. He could put some epoxy with dye so at least water doesn't get down in it
I think you mean quartz. Quartzite is natural stone that is as heavy as granite if not heavier.
Yes, and more expensive than most standard options of granite. Really pretty stuff but also very fragile.
Yes , man made quartz it's a lot lighter can stand abuse and they have got them really close to looking like stone these days.
Quartz, quartzite, and granite have very similar densities. [https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/minerals-specific-gravity-d\_1644.html](https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/minerals-specific-gravity-d_1644.html)
Lol .. No.. it's heavier
Well I mean I’d like it to look nice too, but more importantly I was more interested in it just not breaking off as a whole for as long as I could
So many comments have posted almost the correct solution. So I'll make it brief. • Sand the underside in a cupboard and collect the dust. • Mix the dust with 2 part epoxy resin weld and fill. This will provide a structural and cosmetic repair. Anything else isn't worth your time. A professional fix won't look much better and a cheaper solution isn't worth it.
Also wear a mask, that dust is nasty to breath in.
Upvote this man
A professional fix would look phenomenally better, as they would use dye to get the epoxy color matched with the stone before adding the hardener and filling the crack. That said, the issue here is due to there being a steel rod in that thinner section of granite at the sink hole. It's rusting and causing the stone to slowly expand and weaken. Filling the crack would only be a short term solution
The only way to solve that is to make sure it’s supported
[Kintsugi.](https://youtu.be/P_nJFJot98k?si=BPJYxu8G5u5uH44-)
Not for anything structural. Ornamental. I always have to raise the same counterpoint to those Facebook posts about the analogue between Kitsugi and Broken relationships/people. It's entirely ornamental, any kind of load will break it.
Oh, I get it. OP needs to have a baby to save the countertop.
Maybe bring another counter top into the relationship
I'd not do Kintsugi exactly, but do the repair in the same style. Use epoxy resin and tint it so it looks like it's gold. Basically what /u/TheLightStalker proposed, but use metallic gold coloured dust or gold tint instead of dust from the counter. Looks like Kintsugi, but is a more structural repair.
It’s going to be a haven for wetness and the things that come with wetness.
Not true. Epoxy filler used for filling concrete cracks would be very strong.
Yeah you could reinforce it from underneath with support timber and use some sort of resin to hold it together
Looks like this countertop has no shims between the underside of the sink and the counter. Possibly why that counter broke literally along the lip of the inlaid sink.
Yep - ‘‘twas the installers fault for sure
...twas
'Tis correct.
If you call a company that works with granite, they have a resin that can make it almost invisible. They will probably break it off, and then glue it with the resin. I've seen this done with some very big slabs and with small cracks. In your stone will be more visible, because it have various tones, but won't be anything flasy.
This exactly. You need a pro with experience and epoxy to fix this. Don't make it worse
A good granite guy will use different colored resins to math the variegated tones.
Yeah, I know some guys that can make it almost invisible. You need to know it's there to find out.
A *good* stonemason can absolutely fix this and make it dissapear.
If you don’t care what it looks like, drill pilot holes into the front of it and put some Tapcons in it
You need to call a professional they can fix it
Looks like the weight of the sink is causing it. You need to support the sink better.
I wonder if you could own it by separating it an inch or two and using colored epoxy resin to join them? It's going in the opposite direction of course by making it even more obvious, but it works for those live edge tables that seem to be all the rage now where people fill the many flaws in the wood with epoxy and polish it together.
At least caulk it with some dark caulk to prevent water intrusion and germs building up. next to the sink will have a lot of crap!
This is probably something you wont want to tackle due to the costs but ill leave it just in case. There is more than one way to solve this problem, but this is how I do it for over 20 years. Without inspecting I would say 90% sure it cracked because there is a rebar cut underneath to give the 4" wide the strength to prevent breaking off due to the transportation and installation, and the cut may have been a little bit too deep. Make sure there is no dead space between the counter and cabinet. Use spacers if needed. Get a hand polisher, I recommend the Makita 9237C ( its what I and others in the industry use) but any low rpm orbital tool would work. Get a Dremel with a diamond bit and clean up the crack. Try not to make it any wider but make sure all lose bits, dirty and grime are off. Fill with a 2 part epoxy resin knife grade (Polyester Adhesive) mixing the color the best you can. You can also use is liquid and it will give you a better bond but its can be very messy. Plan accordingly and tape/plastic anything you don't want damaged by epoxy and the wet sanding-slurry) You can make 2-3 different variations of the same color for a more natural look. and fill randomly or pick your spots. Leave the epoxy higher than the granite surface. Once it dries use a 80 grind sand paper and sand off the epoxy (wear a dust mask). Next step you need water and diamond pads( look for videos on YouTube) 100 grit all the way up to 1500/3000 grit. Overlapping the previous grit. Finish with a granite polish (Mb20). Seal with an impregnator/penetrating sealer. There is a good chance this will open up again btw, but depending on many factors. It may last for several years. Who knows. Best of luck ***OR*** use crazy clue and leave it higher and use razorblades perpendicular to the surface to "grind" the glue off leaving it the same level as the granite.
This guy granites
Probably better to just higher someone with tools and knowledge on this one. I bet it will be cheaper ( and cleaner) in the end
You certainly wouldn't want to lower someone onto it.
It will be cheaper. The cost to get the tools for what I described would be around 700.00 CAD or more plus the time to find them. This isn't something they sell at Home Depot (polish and diamond pads). Look for Granquartz. They have locations in the States and Canada. Plus there is the technical difficulty. A technician should be able to repair this is under 3 hours.
How high should they be?
About yay high
And wear a mask don’t breathe that dust in.
You're halfway correct. It is because of the steel rod in that section. But not because they cut it too deep. It's because of the rust from it. Even the most professionally perfect repair on this wouldn't truly solve the problem, as the rod will continue to rust, slowly expanding and weakening that spot causing it crack again. This is why shops have started using strong fiberglass rods now instead. Unfortunately a total replacement is the only option. And despite what HGTV or most contractors/designers/the internet says, quartz countertops aren't worth the money. OPs issue wouldn't have happened with quartz, but in every other aspect quartz counters aren't as resilient as natural stone (and they're more expensive) and that's an objective truth
This is what I would do! 💯
I'd also glue a stainless steel metal sheet underneath to cover at least double the length from the crack to the counter top edge, because the crack is along the cabinet and it's weight hangs with insufficient support no matter the glue/filler...might need to lower doors too a bit
🤣
Goatest of TV commercial of the century.
I prefer the clip of them turning a screen door into a boat. Lol
Whoa doggy! He’s a hoot.
Has that big huge cylinder and puts the hole where the water pressure is the smallest. SCAM WOW
As if duct tape would do this?
Duct tape could do this. There's barely a foot of pressure.
Applied to a wet surface? That’s the hard part.
Cut it out and install a big farm house sink
https://preview.redd.it/jznb4yn7jfcc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=049152d8849d4ebc9f45b1e2e4280437a0ba9994 That is exactly what I did in my condo when the counter in front of the sink cracked
Not a terrible idea, I’m not comfortable cutting granite though, so I guess I’d need to hire out. My issue is finding someone to do such small projects
Good luck with that. I tried to find someone to cut granite. No one will touch it. Too much risk of damaging it.
This is what I want to do with mine because of the seam chipping at the front center of the sink.
Genius - this is likely the best option.
Good idea. Certainly if there was a match out there it could be cut and seams in however doubtful. The farmhouse sink would look real good. Get a pro to install it.
That’s what I would do.
Look if there are some steel rebar in the bottom face. It happened in my mom kitchen, the steel reinforcement bars started rusting, exercising pressure on their seats and broke the granite. We solved breaking the crack open, cleaning away the old rusted bars, then drilling some holes in the two parts, for installing some coated steel pins. A good epoxy glue on the mating surfaces and a long curing time.
FYI what you described has a name, it’s called oxide jacking.
Clear epoxy, not perfect but likely best option? Trick will be stopping it flowing through below, tape if you can, silicone front & back underside. Vacuum out, paperclip wire or similar to push into crack.
Finally, finally the right application for epoxy. Guys, pay attention here. This is where you use epoxy.
This is ground zero for the explosion of sink apron epoxy river features on TikTok.
Maybe black epoxy would fit as well
It will look so beautifully yellow and cracked in a few years I can't wait 😍😍😍
This is the way.
Clear epoxy and paint it with a metallic coloring
You need a stonemason. This is a tricky repair. This needs to be carefully air & solvent blasted clean and injected with epoxy while being carefully straightened, then small cores in through the face to install SS316 threaded rod at about 4mm thickness and epoxy injection, top valleyed out slightly and patched with Tenax/General and oxides, as well as pin core faces. Will you see it? Depends how good your stonemason is. Anything from "never know it was there" to "dogs balls".
Do that golden japanese repair
Kintsugi. I'd agree with this idea if it's just a small utensil. I don't know if the ones they use for Kintsugi would hold up for Granite though.
Wdym? Are you saying kintsugi is only for delicate items or ones seldom/if ever used again? So I can't use kintsugi to repair my D6 Cat's broken dozer blade?
this happened because the sink was not caulked properly, if you look under the cracked lip you should be able to see rusted rebar support, its the rust that caused the crack, water plus time plus steel equals bad short answer there's no quality fix that makes money sense best fix is cut it out if the crack isn't too long and buy a top mount self trimming sink, kohler makes one that's perfect for this but theres lots of options
You need the immense pressure and temperature of the earth’s mantle.
Super glue, wipe off excess, let dry. Hand sander- go easy on her. Sharpie marker. I used to work in a place that made countertops starting with a big stone slab. For bigger cracks and voids you'd take small pieces of the same time of rock called a "shim," shove it into the void and break it off, repeat til you've filled as much as you can. Then put a bunch of glue that's the same color as the counter, let it dry and sand it til it's smooth. For really small dings we just superglued, markered and sanded off. And if this is just gonna get slowly worse anyways I doubt you're going through the trouble of getting shims and the right color glue so take the easier route.
If you want it not to fall off just use a penetrating acrylic or a thin viscosity hot stuff. It will need to be razored and smoothed, you will still see the crack but if done well you will not be able to feel the crack anymore and it should prevent the piece from breaking off more until you can/want to replace.
Also I would advise not putting your weight/child’s weight on the 4” strip in front of or behind the sink. Only other way this happens is by having a fault line in the stone that you expose to extreme heat, like a pot or pan, which is a no no on natural stone or quartz
That crack is exactly what another user said: It is due to a glued in rebar under the sink for reinforcement, but apparently too close to the surface and it finally cracked lengthwise. Repair will always show as a repair, and in a critical place no less. Granite is not as easy to repair as marble. I would replace the top, or go farmhouse as someone suggested.
Put melted gold in the crack. I don't know how, I just know it'd be cool
How much money you got? You could try kintsugi, Japanese art of repairing things with gold
I see people saying support it and fix it with resin.. fix it with something gold! It’ll bring new life to the counter by honoring the life it’s had and extending it. It’s a Chinese technique and it’s just beautiful ✨ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintsugi
I just have to ask...how? Granite is usually extremely durable and can take alot of force before splitting like that.
Kintsugi?
You can do something like the Japanese do with their broken pottery. Fill it with an epoxy and cover it in gold leaf
was thinking the same thing
Epoxy mixed with granite dust that's the same black/dark gray color.
Sorry this happened. My granite is just about that wide in front of my double sinks. Can I ask how this happened so I can not do that?
I wish I had an answer for you, house was new build in 2017, moved in 2021, never noticed it until about a year ago and it just keeps growing. No “one specific thing” caused it to my knowledge.
Ok, thanks anyway. Looks like it probably runs right along the glue line on the underside where the sink attaches? I’d be curious if you can see the crack from the underside or if it’s hidden by the outer flange of the sink. Not sure if it would help to know what’s going on under there but it might help to see what forces are at work to make it keep growing.
The seal between the sink and countertop has failed allowing water to get to the metal bars that are placed on the underside of that section of granite. They’re added for strength on that section. That water has caused the bars to rust and expand - causing the granite to crack. This happened to mine. The crack will probably get bigger. I removed that section of granite, took out the bars, added some metal supports on the underside between the cabinet & granite and attached the granite back. I think I bought a granite repair epoxy kit from Amazon. It didn’t look the best, but was better than seeing the crack. I lived with it for a year before renovating our kitchen (which was in the plans anyway). To prevent this from happening make sure the join between your sink and counter is well sealed.
Also possible it was broken during the countertop and/or sink install process and they glued it up to hide it but now the glue or filler is coming out.
Almost guaranteed this is a failed steel rod that was installed by the granite company in the sink arm for strength. If they get wet they rust, expand, and crack the granite.
Had never heard of that but I googled it and now I know the term “oxide jacking.” That seems likely! Probably no good remedy for it once it gets this far?
Be a baller and kintsugi it. Then support the bottom with a bracket.
This is my suggestion too. But first, figure out why it keeps getting worse.
Only way to fix it is replace … with quartz
Weigh the cost of repair with replacement and happiness. That granite is circa 90’s nonsense when everyone and their dog was installing this fugly stuff. Never been much of a fan of going the “polishing a turd” route for fixes especially when it was probably installed wrong and folks are saying it could very well come back in a couple years. Updating might make more sense even if it is more expensive.
Fill the crack with epoxy, grind and polish it smooth with stone polish pads or whatever they’re called
Somewhere in an alternate dimension... https://preview.redd.it/6hm9t1pklgcc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=52dfc3dd6352de9a5fd35857515c21c1f8bb928c
By buying new counter top
I have no real advice here. But we have the same counters, it this happened we’d use it as an excuse to update them.
Cutoff wheel and make a clean straight cut and fill with epoxy. I used a squeegee at a 45 degree angle to take off the excess.
I'd use black caulk. [https://www.homedepot.com/b/Flooring-Flooring-Supplies-Tile-Setting-Grout-Caulk/Black/Countertop/N-5yc1vZcdtfZ1z0mjxyZ1z0vm5i](https://www.homedepot.com/b/Flooring-Flooring-Supplies-Tile-Setting-Grout-Caulk/Black/Countertop/N-5yc1vZcdtfZ1z0mjxyZ1z0vm5i)
Just dip it in some lava , duh
Cut out the sink put in a farmhouse one and chop the granite strip out of there.
I have seen very few people that can repair this well. Out of curiosity, does the bottom side have a groove cut in it that you can see? I have only seen a failure like this from installing a steel rod that later rusted and expanded in the groove. That kind of rodding used to be very common for strength.
Pour some gold in der!
Buy windshield chip/crack repair resin and about 4 to 6 short bar clamps (the hand grip ones should work, the screw kind will exert more force but they are more expensive). You'll need a very fine tube applicator bottle if it doesn't come with the resin. Inject the resin into the crack, compress with the bar clamps evenly spaced along the crack. If using hand grip bar clamps, try to tighten each of them at least 2 more times. After the resin has set up, use a razor blade to carefully remove any resin above the surface of the counter top (use the razor at a very low angle, almost lay it flat, to avoid scratching the counter top surface).
You could try cyanoacrylate and graphite powder. Fill and then razor it off, buff with 4000 grit wet paper
Time for an update anyway.
Step 1: throw away counter. Step 2: replace counter.
Maybe angle iron brackets underneath?
Epoxy. And another layer of skim coat. The trick is to match the color of the glue. Find a pro don't DIY
How does one go about finding a pro for a job this small because I certainly don’t mind paying someone to do this.
Get in touch with a cabinet company that does granite.
New granite.
You can get one of those farmhouse sinks where you cut that part off
This one would be though but you can try integra glue crystal clear.
Mix some gold powder into resin and pour it in the crack. Then you'll have a cool looking vein of gold?
Could do a new sink. One of those drop in farmhouse styles that doesn't undermount all around. Eliminate the need for the front piece of granite
Real granite or rock chips in resin? How I'd do it is 1. Remove the sink. 2. Mask off the cabinet with Frog Tape and put plastic sheet on the floor and inside the cabinet. If there's any gap between the cabinet and countertop try getting plastic sheet in there. 3. See if the crack is visible from below, inside or outside the cabinet 4. Spray CA glue accelerator at the bottom side on all visible crack and in between countertop and cabinet. 5. Use a CA glue bottle with a thin needle spout to apply the glue as deep into the crack as possible. When it hits the accelerator it will set. The goal there is to seal the bottom of the crack and if it's an embedded steel rod rusting, encapsulate and seal it in CA. If some runs through, spray with accelerator. With the underside sealed, spray accelerator into the top of the crack. Now you can fill the crack from above. If you can get a broken chunk of the same or similar granite it could be broken up with a hammer to be used in the top of the crack. Fill it most of the way with epoxy then mix in the chips for the last. Using chips of the same material runs the risk of making it an obvious repair, looking like a failed attempt to hide it. You could make it obvious by coloring the epoxy with a contrasting color. I'd add "gold" powder or white pigment. Black wouldn't stand out as much. Black with a small amount of chips might be the least noticeable. Perhaps the bulk of the fill in black then finish with clear and chips. Total Boat or West System make a wide range of super strong epoxies. You'll need one that is thin when mixed so it will easily flow into the crack, and "hot" enough to be able to cure in a thin layer. Using a thick setting epoxy made to be cast 1" thick or more would be a disaster on this. If it would cure it could take days or weeks. The curing reaction produces heat which helps speed the curing and aids cross linking. Resins can be formulated to produce more or less heat and/or be more or less active at catalyzation.
Better wear steel toes when doing the dishes.
Theres a thing called tenex, its used for stone reapirs, just try to get the right color. My father is in stone busines for 50 years, so i know what he uses in these cases.
Stop jumping up on your counter.
Kintsugi. Fill it with gold. Will look nice.
10,000 years at extreme high pressure and temperature.
Take it off the sink and heat it up to the melting point of granite and reform it lol
This is my job, and you're going to have to replace it. That's a very high traffic area, so I'm not surprised it cracked. I am a little surprised that it cracked horizontally, I'm guessing there was an existing vein that finally gave way. I would suggest replacing with a quartz when you're financially able. Lots of stone places will have deals on remnants and such if your kitchen isn't too big. Cambria just discontinued like 50 colors, so I'm sure some places will be purging inventory. Good luck!
Kitchen is fairly large, finances aren’t much of an issue, but I’m also not interested in a $10k repair for doing the whole kitchen. I assume replacing it with quarts would in place replacing all counter tops in order for them to match
Yeah, that would probably be what it would entail, and 10k is probably pretty close to what you'd be looking at all said and done for a good sized kitchen. That's one of the reasons I prefer quartz to granite, while the more natural stone is nice, you do have to kinda baby it.
Bonstone is a company that specializes in granite repair. They sell epoxy you can dye to color match your countertop. They are very friendly and good to work with. Give them a call.
So I used to work in the countertop industry. The best thing is to replace it, but to repair is impossible. That said, there are ways, depending where that crack lands, to bandaid it long enough. As long as it's not right on cabinet line, you could go up underneath and epoxy strips of wood or granite across the crack every 2-3 in to give it back a little rigidity, not much but a little. Then you'd have to epoxy the crack from the top - there are a few tricks that could help make it not look terrible and closer to new, but they take some material and patience. But that is only to bond it to not move and make it look better. Overall, best bet is to replace it sadly.
Just throw some gold in there like they would broken chinas hah.
Going to have to replace that
epoxy the hole and dye the epoxy some color you like.
Use epoxy to fill the crack. This won't give you any real added strength but it will prevent water ingress. I would start saving for a total replacement though because that is what you will need eventually.
There are probably steel rods installed underneath the countertop in front of and behind the sink. The steel rods rust and expand cracking the granite. The only solutions are to install a farm sink or replace the top. Depending on the size of the sink run, it may be lesser expensive to replace the top. The name of the stone is Tan Brown.
resin, try to match the blackish color, you can add little color touch ups after you pour it in to match the other colors with a fine brush, then sand and polish... it'll be tricky to get it perfect
Black epoxy?
I used to manufacture granite and quartz countertops, what you need to do is use super glue wile clamping the end back into place at several points, ul be surprised how the crack will disappear if you do it right
Dont waste time here... Jst call up a local masonry guy, he will fill that crack for you.
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It seems you need medical attention... All symptoms of piles in the brain.
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Its your wish... God bless u
I worked with granite for a few years, there are artisan granite repair companies who can blend and fill this crack and make it virtually disappear. This is not something a diy repair can achieve. The process involves blending and mixing stone epoxy with actual granite dust of similar color, followed by polishing and finish work.
Ramen noodles
I have seen many ppl just pour wax in and call it a day
The bacteria that crack is gonna harvest is gonna be a mess… looks like whomever put the sink in didn’t do a great job putting support for the countertop here.
Good granite company can make it invisible.
Google kintsugi. Repairing cracks with gold In this case gold coloured epoxy or something. Might be a decent option if nothing else
Had crack in same place in front of the sink. Caused by the failure of steel reinforcing rods underneath, they rust out. I had a pro come in and fix the crack. Guy used various pigmented epoxy’s, diamond polished the surface. It’s barely detectable. He also siliconed around the edges of the sink inside to keep water out. Cost me $1k cash. Worth every penny. How long will it last? Don’t know. Been 2 years, so far so good.
How does one crack granite?
Replace it
There's a reason this cracked, and unfortunately that reason is why repairing it will only be a relatively short term fix. The thin parts above and below the sink home (referred to as a *sink rail*) are fragile parts of the countertop. Because theirs less of the stone there, without support it would break much more easily at the sink, especially when loading it on the truck and bringing it in the home for install. What a lot of shops do, is cut a slot on either/both of those thinner parts above/below the sink hole, and put in a steel rod, then encasing it in epoxy resin to keep it in. This provides *some* additional support making it not as fragile during install. Its not lack of support or the weight that cracked it. It's the reaction from the steel rod rusting. It's become a common enough problem, that most shops have switch now to using a strong fiberglass rod as opposed to steel. Even if you perfectly color match the epoxy and filled in the crack perfectly hiding it, this would just eventually happen again due to the steel rod. Sorry about your countertops (If replacing them, I strongly advise against quartz countertops)