Why Should You Care? Why would the storage method of stone be of concern as a purchaser? As a purchaser, you are making an investment, and you want your material to be of the best quality by a company that cares.
Let’s consider this example: Let's say you want to buy a car. You have two options: one car that has been stored in a garage while another car has been sitting outside in the elements. Based on the care taken by the seller, it’s safe to assume the garaged vehicle was maintained with oil changes, etc, while the non-garaged vehicle maybe wasn’t. - Which car would you buy?
Natural stone slabs will fade if left out in direct sunlight. Ultraviolet radiation can cause you to get a sunburn, therefore, natural stone exposed to UV lights will cause discoloration.
Some natural stones are treated with dyes to enhance their colors. The dyes in the stone will react to the UV rays and the color will fade rapidly. Also, natural stone has naturally occurring pits and fissures. At the quarry, “filler” material is used to fill in these pits so that the slab is nice and smooth. If kept outside, the filler will yellow and sometimes bead-up on the surface, giving a rough texture.
Quartz, also known as engineered stone, is held together with resins and glues. Unfortunately, the resins will react when exposed to direct sunlight and begin to fade and discolor. I myself did an experiment and put quartz on my outdoor patio table and within days it changed color and started to flake. This table was under my patio and did not have direct sunlight!
In addition, stone distributors always recommend that fabricators store the stone inside, especially quartz, due to the glues, but only 5% of fabricators follow those instructions.
As a locally owned and family operated company, ACE Granite keeps all our slabs indoors because we care and want to protect your investment, so you can enjoy your countertops for many years to come!
Our slabs stored in our state-of-the-art warehouse in Las Cruces