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Is Engineered Marble Sustainable? Execs and Cons


For over a millennium, marble has been an expensive materials beloved by artists and royalty worldwide. Due to its excessive standing, marble is extraordinarily widespread as a cultured countertop choice for these with cash to spare. It additionally has many benefits over different kitchen counter tops, together with pure temperature regulation that makes it good for baking and pastry prep.

Nonetheless, marble has a grimy secret: the quarrying course of has an enormous environmental affect. Accessing these stones requires deforestation, which destroys pure habitats, whereas eradicating the marble creates mud that pollutes the soil and groundwater. Reducing and refining the marble additional damages the atmosphere as it is rather energy-intensive.

Given these points, many are in search of to duplicate the feel and appear of marble with out its severe environmental impacts. One choice shortly gaining momentum is engineered marble, which binds smaller items of marble collectively utilizing resin. This text will discover the environmental affect of engineered marble, together with its professionals and cons, with the intention to make an knowledgeable choice about your sustainable house reworking.

Engineered Marble

What Is Engineered Marble?

Engineered marble is made from about 90% recycled marble chips with 10% resin. The marble chips are crushed into finer items for a smoother end after which blended with a liquid polyester resin. Engineers can even add tints and pigments at this stage to create a extra distinctive look that matches the shopper’s preferences.

Subsequent, the combination is poured right into a mould that precisely matches the patron’s specs. In contrast to pure marble, there’s no want to chop off extra or form the perimeters: the mould will come out of the curing oven able to go. The mould is then positioned within the oven and heated till it hardens. As soon as cooled and faraway from the mould, the engineered marble shall be sanded to take away any imperfections, then coated with a transparent end. This end might be shiny or satin, relying on the client’s preferences.

Cultured marble is an in depth cousin of engineered marble, nevertheless it makes use of much less precise marble and extra resin. This offers a extra uniform look and makes it cheaper. Nonetheless, these in search of customized counter tops with that stylish look can be greatest served by discovering an awesome engineered marble installer, as this feature makes use of extra pure supplies and extra intently resembles pure marble.

Execs of Engineered Marble

This versatile materials is a superb budget-friendly choice for marble aficionados, particularly attributable to the truth that it makes use of supplies that will in any other case be wasted.

Engineered Marble Makes use of Waste Supplies

With pure marble, so much should be eliminated to search out that good piece. One solely wants to consider a sculptor painstakingly chipping at a marble block to contemplate how a lot of this valuable useful resource could possibly be thrown away with out engineered marble. By reusing smaller marble fragments, these counter tops defend our pure atmosphere with out sacrificing model.

These Counter tops Can Simply Be Repaired

The “scale back, reuse, recycle” mantra additionally considers extending the lifespan of our current possessions, which is simple with engineered marble. As a result of the countertop is made from smaller marble items sure by resin, it’s a lot easier to repair cracking or chipping. You solely must match the colour, create a brand new combination, add extra resin to fill the hole, after which refinish the floor.

Engineered Marble Saves Cash With out Skimping on Performance

Apart from sustainability, engineered marble presents benefits in your pockets, too. This countertop choice is less expensive than pure marble and might be custom-made in accordance with your preferences, because of tinting and shade components. Its uniform construction additionally makes it smoother than naturally mined marble.

Engineered marble is water and stain-resistant, making it straightforward to wash. With correct upkeep, these counter tops can face up to the take a look at of time.

Cons of Engineered Marble

After all, each materials has its downsides, and that features engineered marble. It isn’t 100% sustainable attributable to its use of artificial supplies, and these resins dampen a number of the advantages of pure marble.

Engineered Marble Makes use of Resins, Which Can Trigger Air pollution

Resin is ubiquitous within the engineering house as a binding agent and sealant. Nonetheless, producing resin causes some air pollution, together with risky natural compounds (VOCs). These VOCs contribute to local weather change and can even pollute groundwater close to manufacturing crops.

It’s vital to notice that engineered marble makes use of much less resin than different engineered counter tops, together with cultured marble and laminate counter tops. Because of this, though it isn’t fairly as sustainable as one thing like 100% reclaimed wooden counter tops, it does reduce the environmental affect of your kitchen renovation.

The Manufacturing Course of Reduces A few of Marble’s Advantages

Marble is beloved as a countertop materials due to its temperature-regulating properties. As a consequence of its densely packed molecules and excessive warmth conductivity, it stays chilly to the contact irrespective of the ambient temperature, making it good for pastry cooks who must roll out dough.

Whereas engineered marble has comparatively excessive warmth conductivity, it’s not fairly as robust as unaltered marble. The resin additionally makes it much less sturdy, and it might be extra liable to chips or stains.

Engineered Marble Strikes a Steadiness Between Affordability, Environmental-Consciousness, and Aesthetics

The downsides talked about, like warmth conductivity and sturdiness, are hardly ever an issue for the typical prepare dinner who merely desires to make an awesome meal for his or her household. Engineered marble is rather more reasonably priced than pure, unaltered marble, and it makes use of supplies which will in any other case be discarded, which improves its sustainability rating. As such, this countertop would be the good choice for individuals who wish to be gentler on the atmosphere whereas nonetheless creating a cultured kitchen.

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