Decided to improve your interior design with granite? Great choice, it is a highly durable, scratch-, chips, and heat-resistant material that is pretty easy to maintain. But what if we told you that your granite is not actually granite? Sadly, there are many suppliers in the market who take advantage of clients and sell a completely different stone as granite. To help you avoid such situations, Xiamen Aofei Building Materials experts prepared a list of ways to identify the real granite.

Fake Surface

One of the most common ways to trick someone into buying fake granite is to fake its surface. Laminates and vinyl countertop films are printed with a granite-like pattern and put over quartz or other solid surfaces. Even though after such manipulations the stone may look like granite, it's nothing like the actual appearance and durability of the actual granite slab.

HOW TO TELL

A thorough inspection of the pattern, color, appearance of the seams and the porosity of the stone will help to understand whether it is granite.

The granite countertop, tile, or a slab is already installed:

Appearance: color and pattern

Granite has much variations in color, and change in patterns, with some natural imperfections. If these factors are absent, you may be looking at something different from natural granite. Especially beware of repeated patterns, that is a strong indicator of artificial material.

Porosity

A great way to check a material's porosity is to put a few drops of water on its surface. If granite was not sealed, the surface will darken as it absorbs the water.

Before your granite tile, slab, or countertop is installed:

Listen to the stone

You will need a piece of metal of a tiny hammer for this little trick. Softly tap the back end of the stone slab — a natural stone will produce a ringing sound. On the other hand, the man-made stone will sound dull because of the synthetic resins in it.

The problem with this method is though it may be a natural stone, it does not have to necessarily be granite.

Price

Make sure the price is within the range for granite in the area where you buy it. If the price is too low, there is a chance that it is not granite or the quality of the stone is not the best.

Eager to know more about natural stone and trends in the industry? Check out the Ximen Aofi Building Materials blog.

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