Cracking Natural Stone Countertop

Hey all,

Picture attached.  It doesn't show up that well, but the crack is about 12 inches long now.  At the beginning of the week it was only about 6 and less pronounced.

House is new construction, closed escrow 21 months ago.

Customer service guy said he talked to his boss, no dice.  Customer service guy says stone company  only covers for 1 year, but waiting to hear back about what they can do to patch the crack.


Any insight on what happens from here?  Any suggestions on what I can do?

Thanks!

Sorry to see that happen to you! That's just awful. At the 10 year mark you'll be receiving solicitations in the mail from lawyers asking to participate in a neighborhood class action lawsuit against the builder for building defects. Make sure you join in the lawsuit, if you still own the home.

I didn't participate in the class action lawsuit at my last home and regretted it. My neighbor joined and he received around $6k-$7k.

Are you sure that's natural stone?  Looks like e-stone/Zodiaq/ Caesarstone to me.

Anyhow, the crack is due to the way the corner was cut.  It is too sharp and should have been more rounded.  The sharp corner created inherent weakness and the countertop probably does not sit totally flat.  The torsion effect then causes the countertop to split at its weakest point.

It can probably be patched but I'm guessing the problem will recur.  I'd threaten to sue if the builder doesn't replace the whole thing.

Oh, that sucks. I'm sorry.

Are you sure it's natural stone? I downloaded the pic & zoomed in. Looks more like quartz.

I had a similar problem when having a slab granite counter installed. Stress fracture. First, they tried to pass it off as a natural stone "fisure" rather than a crack. When that didn't fly with me, they offered to fix it. The fix sucked worse than the crack. They filled it and buffed it. Only problem is they will never be able to match the polish done when the slab was made. You'll always see hazy, swirly marks burned into the counter. At first, I didn't even notice it until my husband pointed it out from certain angles. Then I couldn't stop staring at it! I sold the house a week later. Not because of that.  But if I was in that situation again, I'd make them rip it out and put in a counter that was NOT seamless. It's better to have a seam than a crack.

Get a level and check the surface and then keep your eye on the level for a few days.  My guess is that your cabinets are sinking a bit and that is what caused the crack. 

We have a farmhouse sink and cabinet maker didnt build the proper support so it is pulling the slabs down.  Dealing with fixing that now but it has made me much more aware of cabinet builds and the lack of proper support for the sink.  Even a regular lightweight metal sink with a ton of dishes needs much better support than a standard sink cabinet box.

Thanks everyone for your insight so far, super interesting.

The people who questioned it being natural stone are right for doing so.  It's caesarstone quartz.  My bad.

The level approach sounded interesting so I took some samples, photos attached.  Seems okay along the long side.  Looks like some bowing along the short sides.  The bowing seems uniform between the sink and the outer edge.

I tried to get some pictures of how the sink is braced, but it's pretty dark/sung in there and I don't really know what I'm looking for :-/

Does any of this change opinions?

Edit: Tried to fix photos.  No idea why they flip when uploaded.

If it is due to cabinets sinking, then it isnt a stone issue and its a poor installation and builder is back on hook.

Look at cabinet bottoms and see if you can spot any warping.  Ours was obviously sinking down so it was easy to spot.  The biggest area to show it was the floor of the cabinet holding the sink as it bowed downward. 

I had a look around the cabinets as best as I could, nothing stood out to me :-/

Someguy, what kind of sink do you have? Looks like a regular s/s under-mount sink from the pic?

I have a farmhouse (enamel-coated cast iron, not Fireclay). That sucker is heavy! I bet my sink cabinet would have buckled like Rkp's if it hadn't been reinforced. My installer cut some boards. He put one in each corner to back up the brace that was in there. 

This type of damage should not be happening within 21 months of COE. The customer service person is doing their job - deflecting per their policy. In all customer service interactions, the squeaky wheel always gets the grease so don't hesitate to escalate and challenge them.

A family member of mine complained to the builder on how the tile and grout was done in a guest bathroom. The builder refused to fix and said it was correctly done. My family member brought in a 3rd party expert who said that the tile was not placed correctly, and the builder relented.

Moral of the story, don't give up so easily. Go online and try to find contacts for the builder - the person who 'owns' the region, a President of Sales, even the CEO. Send them an email with your feedback and what you've done to try and resolve. Ding them on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Yelp)...as they should have people monitoring those channels.

SoCal - I bet your sink weighs quite a bit!  Yep, you're correct on mine -it's is some kind of stainless steal, mounted under the counter/on top of the wood support, no extra bracing.

I hear ya potsticker (mmm potstickers....), I try to be kind to the customer service guy, he's always been very kind and helpful to me.  I don't pay his salary though, so I get he has to look out for what's best for him & his company.  I won't rule out being a little more squeaky.

Customer service got back to me, they're going to send the counter top installer out to fix the crack & the builder will cover the cost. 

If you guys were in the same situation, would you push back at all?  I don't know if I have anything to go on other than it's unfortunate that the counter cracked.  Is the bowing something to point out?

OmG. I just saw your post w/ pics regarding the bowed counter. I'm sorry you're having to deal with this.

Okay, here's what I would do: Start with asking yourself this question - "What does an ideal outcome look like?"

If you could wave a magic wand and have them cater to your every wish, would you want them to seal the crack and leave it alone? Or do you want the mess and hassle of having someone in your home to replace the counter? If they would comply, would you want the whole cabinet replaced? Or would you be alright with an "I'm sorry" check / partial refund.

I've ripped out granite counters. It's a mess. You have to cover everything and can't be near the site. They take a hammer and beat the crap out of it. I'm serious. They break it up into pieces. Since the countertop is heavy, it's easier for them to move that way. Quartz fractures like granite. It gets debris everywhere. You won't be able to use your kitchen during this time. If you have a backsplash, that's going to get broken, too. In some cases, even cabinets get broken but that's usually if they're older.

How about this: Let them try to fix it. Maybe since it's a quartz product, that will improve your chances of an okay-looking fix. My hope is that since it's bonded together with resin, they might be able to melt it together and it will disappear. After all, this is one reason why some folks choose Corian -- resin with easy, seamless repairs. I still don't know how the polish will look afterwards but it's worth a shot. Then at least you can say you let them try. If you're not happy with it, take it to the next step.... selling the house. 

Just "thinking out loud" here. The more I think about it, why don't you ask if they can shim the cabinet/s.

If they could, that would be great. I don't know the location of this cabinet - if it's sandwiched or not. If they could just pull the toe-kick and quarter-round off, shim the cabinet, get it level and then deal with the counter, that would be best. A fix may not last and a new counter may crack once again if they don't deal with the underlying issue. I would e-mail those photos you took with the level to customer service. They were supposed to make sure it's level before installing the counter.

Very sorry to hear this happen to you Someguy.

Caesarstone has a 10 year warranty, 10 years from the date of the original installation, so they should either repair or replace it.  The initial custom service's response of only 1 year warranty just don't make sense. 
http://www.caesarstoneus.com/en/Customer_Service/Pages/Residential-Warranty.aspx

Hope everything work out well for you.  Good luck.

Word, thanks everyone, much appreciated!

lnc said:

Very sorry to hear this happen to you Someguy.

Caesarstone has a 10 year warranty, 10 years from the date of the original installation, so they should either repair or replace it.  The initial custom service's response of only 1 year warranty just don't make sense. 
http://www.caesarstoneus.com/en/Customer_Service/Pages/Residential-Warranty.aspx

Hope everything work out well for you.  Good luck.

Click to expand...

The builder will only cover it for a year.

Now someguy has to go directly to Caesarstone to see if they cover as they have a ton of "ifs" and exclusions in their warranty.

Just an update.

The counter manufacturer sent out a repairman.  His work was detailed and careful.  He said this is a 1 in many thousand kind of occurrence based on his 30 years of repair work.  He carefully filled the crack with a plastic resin.

The crack is now barely noticeable to me.  Likely not something anyone else would notice unless it was pointed out to them or they were looking specifically for counter top cracks.

He noted on his paperwork the crack may spread even after the repair.  If it does, he couldn't say exactly what the company would do, only that again, the company always makes it's customers very happy.

All of this has only cost me some time.  Zero dollars.  Builder was very helpful in reaching out to manufacturer.  Manufacturer's repairman did great IMO.

I'll update with new info as it happens.  Cheers everyone.

Next time use a step ladder to change the bulb over the sink instead of climbing on the countertop.