Stone or artificial and natural stone slabs are among the particularly robust elements in bathroom and kitchen construction, as well as in interior design. Of course, different materials are suitable for the various areas of application, such as wet rooms, kitchen covers, floors, walls or stairs, depending on the requirements and also visual ideas. What they all have in common, however, is that they are generally hardly susceptible to major damage such as cracks.

Extreme mechanical or thermal influences, however, can affect even the most robust stone – cracks can be the result. With such an aesthetic product as stone, cracks are of course particularly undesirable, so even hairline cracks bother stone lovers immensely. So what should you do if you discover a crack in your stone slab?

Do I need to have a fracture, crack or hairline crack in the stone slab repaired?

First of all, there is no need to worry should you discover a crack or hairline fracture in your stone slab. At least not as far as your safety is concerned. Stone slabs are usually installed by professionals and will retain adequate stability even with simple cracks. In the long run, however, you should use a repair service, as a professional can identify the severity of the crack, as well as its cause, and fix it if necessary, so that the crack does not widen into a fracture or return after repair.

From a purely visual point of view, of course, the question cannot be answered unambiguously. Here, the subjective feeling or the question of how much the crack displeases is decisive. Of course, a stone slab is a very aesthetic product, so a crack can quickly disturb, especially if it is visible accordingly. In addition, the sealing of the stone may be impaired at the crack site, especially if small splinters have broken out of the slab in addition to the crack. Here the stone is without protection, or very susceptible to further damage, which is why repair service is the right choice here as well.

Have a crack in the stone slab repaired

If you want to have a crack in your stone slab repaired, a specialist is required. It is important not only to have a good hand, but also to have sufficient expertise and experience with different materials. An expert can evaluate the various parameters, such as the nature of the material or the intensity of the damage, and determine the optimal measure for repair.

At Real Stein, we have a service team consisting of just such experts. Through our repair service, you can now easily send a non-binding service request by phone, e-mail or directly through our request form, our service team will be happy to inform you about all the possibilities. By e-mail and also via our inquiry form you can also directly send photos of your damaged stone slab, so that our repair team can send you very precise offers and information.

The repair work on the stone, or the repairs are then either carried out directly on site, or depending on the severity of the damage in our workshops. It is also possible to replace a section or the entire piece, such as a kitchen cover.

Stone, or artificial and natural stone is a very robust material, which is why cracks that occur through use are rather a rarity. However, whether you have a granite or marble countertop, or slabs of artificial stone / composites — all artificial and natural stonecounters can also be damaged in daily use. Especially in such demanding locations as a kitchen.

Here they are exposed to daily stresses, such as heat during cooking, impacts from kitchen appliances or chemicals such as cleaners or acids in food. Of course, there are differences in the sturdiness of the stones. For example, kitchen tops made of granite are once again significantly harder than those made of marble, but even the sturdiest stone can suffer damage if subjected to the appropriate stress.

Fractures and cracks in the kitchen worktop made of granite, marble and co.

A very classic example of damage is the crack in the stone slab, or in the kitchen worktop. It is usually the result of too high, mechanical or thermal load. That is, impact from blows, weight, vibrations and the like, as well as extreme heat. The three main causes of cracks in the stone are:

1 ) Cracks due to tension (or other, mechanical loads).
2 ) Cracks due to material fatigue
3 ) Cracks due to thermal stress (heat)

Stress cracks in the stone slab

Tension can be caused, for example, by the, under the stone slab, construction, or a sagging of the kitchen cabinet or cooking island, as a result of which the countertop could not properly rest at the necessary points. But do not worry too much about stress cracks in the stone slab in the stone slab: stone is a dead material, that is, it does not work by itself (as, for example, wood), and therefore it can not cause stress cracks without external action.

Cracks due to material fatigue

Vibrations, such as the permanent lifting and lowering of an old wooden floor under the kitchen counter, can cause material fatigue in the stone in the long run. This means that the smallest parts of the stone permanently rub against each other due to the up and down movement and thus become brittle. However, it is a long way until a stone fatigues, which is why there must be very unusual problems in the subsoil. A professional, such as a specialist from our installation team, will of course always take the conditions on site into account during an installation.

Cracks in the countertop due to heat

High, thermal stress, can also cause cracks in the stone, even if that, like the stress crack, occurs very rarely. A crack in the stone countertop due to heat can be caused, for example, when extremely hot kitchen utensils, such as pans or roasters from the oven, lead to extremely rapid heat differences at perhaps already sensitive points on the stone countertop, i.e. abrupt heating to extremely high temperatures, as well as very rapid cooling. We are talking here about temperatures from 200 degrees Celsius upwards. Accordingly, cooking pots are harmless, while particularly hot pans or roasters from the oven are more likely to cause such effects. We therefore recommend that you always use the appropriate supports or trays.

Cracks or hairline cracks in the kitchen countertop — that’s what you can do.

In most cases, the resulting cracks are very small. This does not mean their length, but the width of the visible crack line. We are talking about the so-called hairline crack in the stone slab. It is not uncommon for these to become noticeable only after a while, since the crack line is very thin and thus sometimes hardly visible. depending on the texture, color, pattern or thickness of the crack, the visibility varies. If the crack is not very visible, a simple surface treatment of the stone may be sufficient to repair it.

For more noticeable cracks, a surface treatment is usually no longer sufficient. And if you would have trusted yourself to treat the surface of the stone with the appropriate care products, you will have to call in a professional for larger cracks at the latest. Now there is no general description of how to repair a crack. The chosen method depends on the nature of the stone slab and the crack. However, our repair service team can quickly provide you with the right answer.