After conducting some research have you narrowed down to granite or quartz as your material to be used for your kitchen countertop? But you are not sure which one is better and therefore you are in a dilemma. If this is the situation that you are involved in, I am sure you are in a difficult situation and will not be able to get out of your problem very easily. So, you please read this article and come equipped with knowledge about the pros and cons of both these materials so that you can decide whether you need granite countertops or not . In this article I am going to study the pros and the cons of granite as well as quarts.
Most often the manufacturers of granite and quartz tout each other stating that their product is very hard, natural and obtained from the crust of the earth.
What are their differences?
Natural: Let us examine one by one. Granite are extracted from quarries and they are 100 percent natural. They are cut to convenient sizes and are honed down till they attain the required smoothness. Quartz is 97 % natural according to the popular beliefs. But one of the top quartz countertops manufacturers opines that it is only 93 % natural and the remaining 7 % comes from polymer resins and color pigments. Particles are bound together by the resins.
Cost: Bargaining will not give any positive results as far as these two products are concerned. You can save money only if you decide to avoid these two materials and go for something like Laminates for your kitchen countertop. Price of countertop materials like granite and quartz are regularly changing as they are coming from other countries. So whenever there is considerable change in the price of petroleum, the price of these products also changes. Base price of granite can be around $60 per square foot and it varies exponentially from there. Price of quarts varies from $65 to $90 per square foot.
Radon
A radioactive element called radon which is linked to cancer in the lungs is found in both quartz and granite countertops. But as its traces are very little house owners need not feel worried about its presence while using in kitchen counter tops. A scare in this regard was widespread in the US during the period prior to 2008. A publication named Consumer Reports has reported that no radon is released from granite and it is very little in the case of quartz.
Maintenance
One naturally feels that stones do not require any maintenance, whether it is engineered or natural. This is not true in the case of quartz and granite. Both these substance require maintenance. Granite is considered to be requiring more maintenance than quartz. Granite needs sealing on installation and then it has to be repeated on regular basis. But quartz is an exemption and it does not need any kind of sealing whether it is initial or continued.
Durability: Presence of resins makes quartz more flawless. There will be no invisible striations in it that can lead to cracks. Quartz is prone to staining as it contains resins in it. Granite which is a natural stone has all its beauty. Though it has some imperfections and flaws home owners love for its beauty. Granite can get stained when red wine falls on it.
Recommendation
Quartz is designed for rigorous conditions prevailing in the kitchen. It is not a quarry material. So quartz countertops rockville, MD are preferable.
