Repair A Chip In Your Granite Countertop With This Brilliant Tip

When you look at your granite countertop, do you immediately think of a volcano? Do pictures of boiling hot magma fill your mind as you're dicing onions and carrots? Probably not, but granite is an exceptionally hard, durable surface that is created deep under the earth's surface from said magma. It's made up of quartz, feldspar, and sparkling little glints of mica, and yet, despite its amazing strength, it can occasionally chip. Although there are a few methods to repair a chip, including professional restoration, one brilliant tip is to use super glue.

If you've gained confidence from successfully implementing other DIY repairs around the house and generally tackle projects with detailed attention, these tips will work well for you. An advantage of granite countertops in lighter colors with variegated patterns is that imperfections — which you'll now fill — are hard to spot, especially when the repair is transparent. Overall, keeping your granite countertop in pristine condition is easier than you think, but you need to be mindful of what cleaners you use because the stone is porous.

To repair a chip, gather a granite-friendly cleaner (and a soap dish, water, a microfiber cloth, and clear water rinse), masking tape, super glue or clear epoxy, a razor blade, and fine-grain sandpaper. Clean and dry the area, then place masking tape around the chip to easily find it, as if cordoning off the affected area. Fill the chip with epoxy or glue until it's level with the counter's surface and allow 24 hours to dry (or longer per epoxy curing instructions). If there's excess glue bubbling above the countertop surface, scrape it off with a razor, then with fine sandpaper, gently sand the area to smooth it out. Clean off sandpaper dust.

Alternatively, if your countertop is a darker single color, a clear filler will be conspicuous. Using a diamond-tip drill bit in an inconspicuous place (i.e., under the counter), drill to capture a teaspoon's worth of granite dust. Mix it with the glue and continue as above.

Another option is to use a repair kit called Light Cure Acrylic, a food-safe and non-toxic option. After cleaning the surface and filling it with the provided syringe of acrylic, place a curing strip over the area, then cure the area with a provided blue LED light for five to seven minutes. Remove the curing strip, then sand and polish.