The two places where Granite is most commonly used are in kitchens and cemeteries, however, the materials importance goes far beyond its uses because it forms the foundations of our continents!
Granite is an igneous rock which is composed of mostly two minerals, 20% alkali feldspar and 65% quartz. It is an intrusive rock, which means that it crystallized from magma that cooled far below the earth’s surface.
The name is adopted from the Latin word ‘granum’, which means ‘grain’, this refers to the easily-noticeable minerals in the rock.
Granite makes up a portion of the Earth’s crust and exists in virtually all land areas around the world. Granite forms the middle layer of the earth’s core, along with several other minerals and rocks.
There are two obvious physical properties of granite that determine what it looks like: its texture (the size of the individual mineral grains) and its colour. The variability in these two properties leads to a wide range of the appearance of granite.
The individual minerals in granite grow into visible grains because the magma cools slowly many miles below the surface. It is the size of the grains of different minerals that imparts the ‘speckled’ look to the rock.
Granite is drilled, chiselled and blasted out of quarries in large blocks, and special milling machines then cut it into workable slabs. It takes about 24-48 hours to slice one huge block into individual slabs with gang saws. It then takes about 2 days to apply the resin and cure it in the oven.
Polishing granite is done in multi stages, starting with a very rough course diamond polishing pad the granite begins the first stage of polishing. Once the first stage is complete the process is repeated using a less course diamond polishing pad and repeated a number of times using finer grade pads.
Contact us Mole Valley Masonry today to find out more about our quality crafted granite worktops. At Mole Valley Masonry we tailor our services to fit your needs, whether you have a concept that needs refining, or a detailed plan, we work with you to take your design from conception to completion.
Mole Valley’s artisan masons have a combined one hundred years’ of experience, so you can be confident your project is in very safe, and steady hands. Everything we produce is made in-house, and we’re passionate about creating exceptional and distinctive pieces from the materials we work with.
Granite is drilled, chiselled and blasted out of quarries in large blocks, and special milling machines then cut it into workable slabs. It takes about 24-48 hours to slice one huge block into individual slabs with gang saws. It then takes about 2 days to apply the resin and cure it in the oven.
